CAMPUSNINJA / THE STUDY DESK

JAMB ArtStudy notes & practice

Build visual vocabulary, understand art processes and practise analysing Nigerian and wider art traditions.

01 Learn02 Practise03 Come back stronger

Foundation revision notes and original practice. These lessons introduce art terms, methods and traditions. They do not replace drawing, design and practical studio work.

What these revision notes cover
  • These lessons introduce art terms, methods and traditions. They do not replace drawing, design and practical studio work.
  • More labelled visual examples and detailed work-by-work study are needed for complete preparation.

01 Foundations

Branches and purposes of art

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What you should be able to do

  • Classify visual, performing and literary art
  • Distinguish form, medium and function

Understand it

Visual arts communicate through things we see, such as drawings, paintings, sculpture and design. Performing arts include music, dance and drama. Literary arts use language in forms such as poetry and prose. A festival or film can combine several branches.

Fine art often emphasises expression and aesthetic exploration; applied art connects design to a practical purpose, as in textiles, packaging or furniture. This distinction is useful, but works can have both expressive and practical functions.

Medium is the material or means used, such as clay or watercolour. Technique is how it is used, such as modelling or a wash. Subject is what a work depicts; function is what it does in a social setting. Keep these descriptions separate when analysing a work.

Work through an example

Describe a decorated clay water pot by medium, technique and function.

Explanation: Clay is the medium; modelling or coiling may be the technique; storing water is a practical function, with decoration adding aesthetic meaning.

Watch out: A work can belong to more than one artistic setting.

2 practice questions with answers

Try each question before opening its answer. These are original CampusNinja practice questions.

Question 1

Which is primarily a performing art?

  1. Dance
  2. Weaving
  3. Painting
  4. Pottery
Show answer and explanation

Answer A: Dance

Dance is a performing art because movement is presented as a performance. Painting, weaving and pottery primarily produce visual objects. A festival can combine several art forms, but the question asks for the main category of each listed activity.

Question 2

What does medium identify?

  1. The process used to make a work
  2. The purpose a work serves
  3. The object depicted in a work
  4. The material or means used
Show answer and explanation

Answer D: The material or means used

Medium identifies the material or means used, such as charcoal, clay or digital media. The purpose is the function; the making process is the technique; what is depicted is the subject. Keeping these four terms separate makes an analysis precise.

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02 Foundations

Elements of design

Read this lesson

What you should be able to do

  • Distinguish line, shape, form, texture and space
  • Explain value in an image

Understand it

A line can describe an edge, imply movement or divide space. Shape is a two-dimensional area; form has or suggests three dimensions. A circle is a shape, while a sphere is a form. Negative space is the area around and between subjects.

Texture describes surface quality. Actual texture can be felt; implied texture is suggested visually. Value describes lightness and darkness. A drawing can suggest volume through gradual value changes even when it uses no colour.

Colour has hue, value and intensity. Hue names a colour family; value is its lightness; intensity is its strength or dullness. A useful analysis identifies the element and explains its effect, rather than simply listing every element.

Work through an example

A pencil drawing makes a smooth ball look rounded. Which element mainly creates this effect?

Explanation: Value changes describe the lit and shaded surfaces, giving an impression of volume.

Watch out: Shape and form are related but not identical.

2 practice questions with answers

Try each question before opening its answer. These are original CampusNinja practice questions.

Question 1

Which term describes the area around a subject?

  1. Positive form
  2. Focal point
  3. Negative space
  4. Picture plane
Show answer and explanation

Answer C: Negative space

Negative space surrounds and separates positive forms.

Question 2

A painted rough-looking surface that feels smooth has what?

  1. Incised texture
  2. Actual rough texture
  3. Relief texture
  4. Implied texture
Show answer and explanation

Answer D: Implied texture

Its texture is suggested to the eye rather than physically present.

Link to this topic

03 Foundations

Principles of composition

Read this lesson

What you should be able to do

  • Analyse balance and emphasis
  • Distinguish rhythm, proportion and unity

Understand it

Balance is the distribution of visual weight. Symmetrical balance uses corresponding arrangements around an axis; asymmetrical balance uses unlike elements that still feel stable. A small dark shape can balance a larger light one because visual weight is not just physical size.

Emphasis directs attention to a focal area using contrast, placement, scale or detail. Rhythm is a sense of organised movement, often built with repetition and variation. Repeating a motif can create rhythm, but excessive sameness may reduce interest.

Proportion concerns relationships of sizes within a work. Harmony links compatible elements, while contrast highlights difference. Unity makes parts feel connected. A design can combine unity and variety by repeating a colour family while changing shapes.

Work through an example

A poster uses one large headline above smaller details. Which principle helps readers know where to start?

Explanation: Emphasis: the large headline creates a clear starting point in the visual hierarchy.

Watch out: Balance does not always require identical objects on both sides.

2 practice questions with answers

Try each question before opening its answer. These are original CampusNinja practice questions.

Question 1

Which best describes proportion?

  1. Relationships of sizes
  2. Distribution of visual weight
  3. Direction of repeated forms
  4. Strength of a colour
Show answer and explanation

Answer A: Relationships of sizes

Proportion concerns relative sizes of parts and the whole.

Question 2

Repeated shapes with controlled variation most directly create what?

  1. Rhythm
  2. Perspective
  3. Chiaroscuro
  4. Proportion
Show answer and explanation

Answer A: Rhythm

Repetition and variation guide the eye through an organised visual pattern.

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04 Techniques

Colour and painting

Read this lesson

What you should be able to do

  • Explain colour relationships
  • Choose a painting approach for an effect

Understand it

In the traditional school pigment model, red, yellow and blue are primary colours. Mixing pairs gives orange, green and violet. This model should not be confused with the RGB model of coloured light or the CMYK model used in much printing.

Complementary colours sit opposite each other on a colour wheel; neighbouring colours are analogous. Adding white makes a tint and adding black makes a shade. Mixing complements can reduce intensity, though the exact result depends on pigments.

Watercolour commonly uses transparent washes and preserves the paper for bright areas. Opaque paint covers underlying colour more strongly. A composition benefits from planning light and dark areas before adding detail. Paint handling and cleaning depend on the actual medium, not one universal solvent.

Work through an example

How could an artist make a pale version of a paint colour?

Explanation: Mixing with white produces a tint in an opaque-paint exercise. Dilution may lighten a transparent watercolour by allowing more paper to show.

Watch out: The primary colours of light differ from the traditional pigment model.

2 practice questions with answers

Try each question before opening its answer. These are original CampusNinja practice questions.

Question 1

Adding white to a colour produces what?

  1. A secondary hue
  2. A shade
  3. A complementary pair
  4. A tint
Show answer and explanation

Answer D: A tint

A tint is a lighter colour made by adding white.

Question 2

Which is the complement of blue in the traditional RYB wheel?

  1. Violet
  2. Blue
  3. Green
  4. Orange
Show answer and explanation

Answer D: Orange

Orange lies opposite blue in the traditional red-yellow-blue colour wheel.

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05 Techniques

Drawing, tone and perspective

Read this lesson

What you should be able to do

  • Explain linear and aerial perspective
  • Use foreground and vanishing point correctly

Understand it

Observation drawing compares proportions, angles and negative spaces before details. Contour lines describe boundaries; hatching and cross-hatching build tone with lines. A silhouette shows an outline filled as a flat shape and leaves little interior detail.

Linear perspective represents depth using converging receding lines. In one-point perspective, one main set of parallel receding lines meets at a vanishing point on the horizon. The horizon represents eye level; changing it changes the viewer's apparent position.

Aerial perspective suggests distance with changes in clarity, contrast and colour. Foreground objects often overlap background objects. Foreshortening represents a form projecting towards or away from the viewer, making its visible length appear compressed.

Work through an example

Why do railway tracks appear to meet in a drawing of a distant straight track?

Explanation: Parallel receding lines are represented as converging towards a vanishing point, creating an illusion of depth.

Watch out: The tracks do not physically become narrower because the drawing converges.

2 practice questions with answers

Try each question before opening its answer. These are original CampusNinja practice questions.

Question 1

The horizon line in linear perspective represents what?

  1. The outline of a foreground object
  2. The top edge of the picture
  3. The ground line in every view
  4. Eye level
Show answer and explanation

Answer D: Eye level

The horizon corresponds to the viewer’s eye level.

Question 2

Cross-hatching builds tone using what?

  1. Only erasing the outline
  2. Only a flat silhouette
  3. Intersecting sets of lines
  4. A single unshaded contour
Show answer and explanation

Answer C: Intersecting sets of lines

Cross-hatching layers lines in different directions to create darker values.

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06 Techniques

Graphics, printmaking and digital design

Read this lesson

What you should be able to do

  • Compare relief and screen printing
  • Distinguish raster and vector graphics

Understand it

Graphic design arranges images and text to communicate a message. Legible typography, alignment, contrast and suitable spacing help a reader understand an advertisement or poster. More decoration does not necessarily improve communication.

In relief printing, raised areas receive ink and print, while cut-away areas remain unprinted. A printed image commonly reverses the block image, so lettering requires care. Screen printing transfers ink through open areas of a stencil on mesh.

Raster images contain pixels; vector graphics describe paths and shapes mathematically. Vector artwork can scale cleanly for many logos, while photographs normally use pixels. Digital tools such as selection, shape, fill, text and alignment tools serve design aims; software does not make composition choices automatically.

Work through an example

Why should lettering on a relief block be planned in reverse?

Explanation: The printed impression reverses the block, so reversed lettering on the block becomes readable in the print.

Watch out: A high-resolution file does not fix poor layout or unreadable text.

2 practice questions with answers

Try each question before opening its answer. These are original CampusNinja practice questions.

Question 1

Which part prints in relief printing?

  1. Only the block’s outer border
  2. Uninked cut-away spaces
  3. Raised inked surface
  4. Recessed engraved lines
Show answer and explanation

Answer C: Raised inked surface

The raised surface contacts the paper and transfers ink.

Question 2

Which format type is built from pixels?

  1. Geometric path
  2. Bezier outline
  3. Raster
  4. Vector
Show answer and explanation

Answer C: Raster

Raster images are grids of pixels.

Link to this topic

07 Techniques

Textiles and repeat patterns

Read this lesson

What you should be able to do

  • Distinguish weaving and resist dyeing
  • Explain motifs and repeats

Understand it

Weaving interlaces warp and weft. Warp threads run lengthwise on the loom; weft passes across them. A fabric's appearance depends on yarn, colour, weave and finishing, not just its decorative motif.

A motif is a design unit. Repeating, rotating or reflecting it can produce a pattern. A repeat must join visually at its boundaries; careful spacing avoids accidental gaps or overcrowding when the design covers a large area.

Resist dyeing blocks dye from selected areas. Tying can protect folded parts; wax is used in batik. Printing applies a design to a surface through a block, stencil or screen. Dye and wax work need suitable supervision and material-specific safety precautions.

Work through an example

What is the difference between a motif and a repeat?

Explanation: The motif is the individual design unit; the repeat is the planned arrangement that allows the unit to continue across a surface.

Watch out: A textile pattern is not automatically a woven structure.

2 practice questions with answers

Try each question before opening its answer. These are original CampusNinja practice questions.

Question 1

Which threads run lengthwise on a loom?

  1. Selvedge
  2. Bias
  3. Weft
  4. Warp
Show answer and explanation

Answer D: Warp

Warp threads are held lengthwise; the weft crosses them.

Question 2

Wax preventing dye from entering selected areas illustrates what?

  1. Direct printing
  2. Weaving
  3. Discharge printing
  4. Resist dyeing
Show answer and explanation

Answer D: Resist dyeing

The wax acts as a resist that blocks dye penetration.

Link to this topic

08 Techniques

Sculpture, ceramics and casting

Read this lesson

What you should be able to do

  • Compare additive and subtractive processes
  • Use ceramic and casting terms

Understand it

Sculpture occupies or suggests three-dimensional space. Modelling adds and shapes material; carving removes it. Construction joins parts. An armature supports a model, particularly when soft material cannot support itself.

Clay can be pinched, coiled, slab-built or thrown. Greenware is unfired clay work; firing changes clay irreversibly into ceramic material. Terracotta is fired clay, commonly unglazed. Slip is a liquid clay mixture; glaze forms a glassy coating when appropriately fired.

Lost-wax casting, or cire-perdue, uses a wax model to form a mould cavity that receives molten metal after the wax is removed. It is a skilled high-temperature process. Understanding the stages is different from safely operating a kiln or foundry.

Work through an example

An artist cuts a figure out of a wood block. Is the process additive or subtractive?

Explanation: Subtractive: material is removed from a larger mass to reveal the form.

Watch out: Greenware has not yet been fired; it is not the same as terracotta.

2 practice questions with answers

Try each question before opening its answer. These are original CampusNinja practice questions.

Question 1

What is an armature?

  1. A ceramic surface coating
  2. A supporting framework
  3. A cutting tool
  4. A mould cavity
Show answer and explanation

Answer B: A supporting framework

An armature supports the model or sculptural material.

Question 2

Cire-perdue is another name for what?

  1. Slab building
  2. Lost-wax casting
  3. Repoussé metalworking
  4. Direct stone carving
Show answer and explanation

Answer B: Lost-wax casting

The term refers to casting through a mould made around a wax model.

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09 Techniques

Materials, tools and studio care

Read this lesson

What you should be able to do

  • Match tools to tasks
  • Explain safe care and improvisation

Understand it

A tool performs work: brushes apply paint, cutters remove block material and calligraphic pens make controlled strokes. Materials become part of the work, such as pigment, fabric, wood or clay. Equipment includes larger resources such as a kiln or computer.

Choose a tool for the material and intended mark. A hard pencil makes different marks from charcoal; absorbent and smooth papers respond differently. Test combinations on a small sample before committing to the finished work.

Clean, dry and store tools according to their materials and instructions. Keep cutting edges directed away from the supporting hand and use appropriate ventilation for materials that require it. Improvisation adapts safe available resources; it does not justify building unsafe heating or electrical equipment.

Work through an example

Why test paint on a scrap of the intended paper?

Explanation: The paper’s absorbency and surface affect the paint, so a trial reveals bleeding, drying and colour behaviour.

Watch out: One cleaning solvent is not suitable for every paint or brush.

2 practice questions with answers

Try each question before opening its answer. These are original CampusNinja practice questions.

Question 1

Which is an art material rather than primarily a tool?

  1. A sharpening knife
  2. A ruler
  3. Charcoal used in a drawing
  4. A loom
Show answer and explanation

Answer C: Charcoal used in a drawing

The charcoal is deposited into the drawing as its medium.

Question 2

What is the best reason for tool maintenance?

  1. Replacing the need for suitable tools
  2. Preserving safe, predictable performance
  3. Changing the medium’s pigment strength
  4. Making a blunt cutter safer to force
Show answer and explanation

Answer B: Preserving safe, predictable performance

Maintained tools are safer and work more reliably.

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10 Art history

From prehistoric art to the Renaissance

Read this lesson

What you should be able to do

  • Compare broad historical approaches
  • Relate observation and patronage to art

Understand it

Prehistoric art includes painted surfaces, carvings and built structures made before written records in the relevant society. Archaeological context helps interpretation. A surviving image does not by itself prove its maker's exact intention.

Greek and Roman traditions developed sculpture and architecture with different emphases across time. Classical columns, arches, vaults and portrait traditions belong to specific contexts rather than one unchanging style. Medieval art includes architecture, manuscripts, surface decoration and calligraphy serving religious and civic settings.

Renaissance artists explored classical learning, anatomy, proportion and perspective. Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael worked in overlapping but distinct practices; Giotto is an important earlier figure in the development of Italian painting. Compare works by composition, handling of figures, material and purpose, not by memorising a name alone.

Work through an example

Why should a cave painting be interpreted with evidence from its archaeological setting?

Explanation: Location, materials and associated objects can support interpretation; a modern viewer’s guess alone cannot establish the original purpose.

Watch out: Historical periods overlap and vary by region.

2 practice questions with answers

Try each question before opening its answer. These are original CampusNinja practice questions.

Question 1

Which approach is most useful for comparing two historical works?

  1. Compare material, form, technique and context
  2. Judge all traditions by photographic realism
  3. Treat later works as necessarily more advanced
  4. Compare size and market price as the sole evidence
Show answer and explanation

Answer A: Compare material, form, technique and context

Several kinds of evidence reveal similarities and differences more reliably.

Question 2

Which subject was especially developed in Renaissance figure study?

  1. Human anatomy and proportion
  2. Mass-produced commercial imagery
  3. Industrial standardisation of products
  4. Purely non-representational gesture
Show answer and explanation

Answer A: Human anatomy and proportion

Renaissance artists studied anatomy and proportion to construct convincing figures.

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11 Art history

Modern art movements

Read this lesson

What you should be able to do

  • Distinguish major modern movements
  • Connect a formal feature to a movement cautiously

Understand it

Realism often addresses everyday people and conditions without idealisation. Impressionism explores changing light and visual impressions, often through visible brushwork. Fauvism uses strong, expressive colour that need not imitate observed colour.

Cubism restructures subjects through geometric planes and multiple views. Futurism explores modern life, speed and movement. Abstract Expressionism emphasises large-scale abstract approaches including gesture and colour fields; Pop art draws on popular and commercial imagery.

The Bauhaus connected art, craft, design and modern production through an influential school. These categories are guides, not rigid boxes. A single bright colour does not prove Fauvism, and a geometric shape alone does not prove Cubism: look at the whole work and its documented context.

Work through an example

A portrait is reorganised into angular planes showing several viewpoints. Which movement offers the closest comparison?

Explanation: Cubism, because it investigates fragmented forms and multiple perspectives rather than one conventional viewpoint.

Watch out: Do not identify a movement from one isolated feature alone.

2 practice questions with answers

Try each question before opening its answer. These are original CampusNinja practice questions.

Question 1

Which movement is closely associated with popular advertising imagery?

  1. Fauvism
  2. Pop art
  3. Impressionism
  4. Cubism
Show answer and explanation

Answer B: Pop art

Pop art uses imagery from popular culture, advertising and mass production.

Question 2

The Bauhaus is especially associated with linking what?

  1. Archaeology and prehistoric ritual alone
  2. Art, craft and design
  3. Court portraiture and hereditary patronage alone
  4. Landscape painting and outdoor light alone
Show answer and explanation

Answer B: Art, craft and design

The Bauhaus brought artistic and practical design education together.

Link to this topic

12 Art history

Reading traditional African art

Read this lesson

What you should be able to do

  • Interpret works through material and social context
  • Avoid treating African art as one style

Understand it

Traditional African art includes many distinct histories and living practices. Egypt, Asante, Dogon, Mossi, Fon, Senufo, Bamana, Mende, Kissi, Bamileke and Kuba traditions cannot be reduced to one universal style or function.

Material choices include clay, stone, wood, metal, fibre and textiles. Asante brass weights were used in weighing gold dust, showing how a small sculptural object can have economic as well as visual importance. A mask may belong to a performance with costume, movement and sound rather than be an isolated wall decoration.

Compare location, date, maker where known, material, technique and documented use. Stylisation may communicate ideas through selected or enlarged features; it is not proof that an artist lacked skill. Avoid assigning religious meaning solely from the appearance of an unfamiliar object.

Work through an example

Why can a museum photograph of a mask provide only part of its meaning?

Explanation: It may omit the costume, movement, music, audience and social occasion that give the object meaning in performance.

Watch out: African art is not a single uniform tradition.

2 practice questions with answers

Try each question before opening its answer. These are original CampusNinja practice questions.

Question 1

What does stylisation involve?

  1. Copying every observed detail exactly
  2. Deliberately selecting or altering visual features
  3. Determining an object’s market price
  4. Restoring accidental surface damage
Show answer and explanation

Answer B: Deliberately selecting or altering visual features

Stylisation simplifies or reshapes features for a particular visual or expressive purpose.

Question 2

What should accompany visual analysis of a traditional object?

  1. Market value used as proof of purpose
  2. An assumed meaning from appearance alone
  3. Documented cultural context
  4. A modern title treated as the maker’s explanation
Show answer and explanation

Answer C: Documented cultural context

Context helps distinguish supported meaning from unsupported assumptions.

Link to this topic

13 Art history

Nigerian art traditions and crafts

Read this lesson

What you should be able to do

  • Compare Nok, Ife and Igbo-Ukwu examples
  • Recognise material and craft diversity

Understand it

Nok is associated with terracotta figures, including carefully worked heads and ornament. Many surviving pieces are fragments, so an isolated head was not necessarily designed as a head-only sculpture. Some meanings remain uncertain because archaeological context is incomplete.

Ife is known for naturalistic terracotta, metal and stone sculpture. Igbo-Ukwu is associated with intricate copper-alloy works including vessels and regalia. These are distinct traditions; sharing metalworking techniques does not prove that every work has the same function or origin.

The syllabus also names Benin, Esie, Igala, Jukun, Akwanshi and Mbari. Nigerian craft study includes pottery, weaving, wood carving, leatherwork, metalwork, beadwork and cane work. Identify a work from combined evidence of material, form and location rather than assuming every bronze is from Benin.

Work through an example

Why is “made of bronze, therefore Benin” an unreliable identification?

Explanation: Other Nigerian traditions also produced copper-alloy works. Style, provenance, technique and context must support the identification.

Watch out: Do not turn uncertain archaeological interpretation into a definite fact.

2 practice questions with answers

Try each question before opening its answer. These are original CampusNinja practice questions.

Question 1

Which material is strongly associated with Nok sculpture?

  1. Terracotta
  2. Brass
  3. Ivory
  4. Soapstone
Show answer and explanation

Answer A: Terracotta

Nok is especially known for fired-clay sculpture.

Question 2

Which tradition is associated with intricate metal vessels and regalia?

  1. Esie stone-figure tradition
  2. Nok terracotta tradition
  3. Akwanshi stone-monolith tradition
  4. Igbo-Ukwu
Show answer and explanation

Answer D: Igbo-Ukwu

Excavated Igbo-Ukwu works include highly detailed copper-alloy vessels and regalia.

Link to this topic

14 Art history

Contemporary Nigerian artists and learning centres

Read this lesson

What you should be able to do

  • Explain the role of art schools and workshops
  • Compare artist evidence responsibly

Understand it

Modern and contemporary Nigerian art developed through individual practice, formal schools, workshops, commissions and international exchange. The syllabus identifies Zaria, Nsukka and Osogbo as important centres or groups, but their histories and approaches should not be collapsed into one school.

Artist study should connect a named work, medium, technique and documented contribution. Aina Onabolu, Ben Enwonwu, S. I. Wangboje, Jimoh Akolo and Dele Jegede are among the syllabus figures. An artist can work in more than one medium, so a single label may be incomplete.

Museums preserve, study and interpret collections; galleries exhibit work and may also sell it. Art centres support making, learning or performance. Professional bodies and cultural institutions can organise exhibitions, education and advocacy. Their impact should be assessed through actual activities rather than titles alone.

Work through an example

What evidence would make a useful artist revision card?

Explanation: A verified name, representative work, medium, distinctive approach and contribution, with a source for the attribution.

Watch out: Do not invent an artwork title to complete an artist table.

2 practice questions with answers

Try each question before opening its answer. These are original CampusNinja practice questions.

Question 1

Which is a central museum function?

  1. Preserving and interpreting collections
  2. Guaranteeing authenticity through price alone
  3. Replacing provenance records with visual guesses
  4. Producing every object in its collection
Show answer and explanation

Answer A: Preserving and interpreting collections

Museums care for collections and support public understanding and research.

Question 2

Why can “painter” be an incomplete artist description?

  1. The label identifies one fixed historical style
  2. The label establishes membership of one art school
  3. The artist may also work in sculpture or other media
  4. The label proves every work uses oil paint
Show answer and explanation

Answer C: The artist may also work in sculpture or other media

Many artists have practices spanning several media and roles.

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15 Art and society

Festivals, appreciation and public communication

Read this lesson

What you should be able to do

  • Analyse art in a festival
  • Make an evidence-based appreciation

Understand it

Festivals can combine costume, sculpture, dance, music, procession and decorated spaces. The syllabus includes Argungu, Eyo, Egungun, New Yam, Durbar, Igue, Ekpo and Odo. Traditions differ, and practices within a named festival can vary across communities and time.

Appreciation begins with observation: describe visible material, form, colour, arrangement and technique. Then interpret using relevant context and evaluate how effectively the work serves its purpose. “I like it” states a preference; explaining how a focal point or rhythm works provides analysis.

Art can educate, commemorate, persuade, express belief, support livelihoods or provide recreation. In print and electronic media, an illustration or layout can clarify a message. Ethical communication requires accurate claims and appropriate use of others' images and cultural material.

Work through an example

A health poster has beautiful lettering but its message is unreadable at normal viewing distance. How should it be evaluated?

Explanation: Its decoration may be attractive, but it fails an important communication function. Readability is part of its effectiveness.

Watch out: Aesthetic quality and practical communication both matter in applied art.

2 practice questions with answers

Try each question before opening its answer. These are original CampusNinja practice questions.

Question 1

Which statement is an analysis rather than a bare preference?

  1. The repeated curved lines guide the eye towards the centre
  2. It is my favourite
  3. It is nice
  4. I like it
Show answer and explanation

Answer A: The repeated curved lines guide the eye towards the centre

It identifies a visual feature and explains its effect.

Question 2

Why should festival art be studied alongside performance?

  1. Performance determines the material of every object
  2. Movement and sound can be part of its meaning
  3. A still photograph always preserves its entire meaning
  4. All festival objects function only as decoration
Show answer and explanation

Answer B: Movement and sound can be part of its meaning

Art may function within a combined event rather than as a separate object.

Link to this topic

16 Art and society

Art enterprise and professional practice

Read this lesson

What you should be able to do

  • Match careers to services
  • Calculate costs and present work clearly

Understand it

Visual-art careers include illustration, ceramics, photography, textile design, sculpture, curation and industrial design. A curator researches and interprets collections; an illustrator creates images that explain or accompany ideas. Different careers require different training and responsibilities.

An art enterprise needs more than making skill. It needs an understanding of users, appropriate pricing, reliable delivery and records. Materials, time, equipment, overheads and packaging all contribute to cost. Revenue is the amount received; profit remains after relevant costs.

A portfolio presents selected work clearly with accurate descriptions. A commission should specify scope, dimensions, materials, deadlines, revisions and agreed usage. Copyright and permissions matter when using someone else's image or design; buying a physical object does not automatically transfer every reproduction right.

Work through an example

A product sells for ₦8,000 and its relevant costs total ₦6,500. What is the profit on those figures?

Explanation: ₦8,000 − ₦6,500 = ₦1,500. Ensure all relevant costs have been included before relying on the figure.

Watch out: Sales revenue is not the same as profit.

2 practice questions with answers

Try each question before opening its answer. These are original CampusNinja practice questions.

Question 1

Who researches and interprets objects in a collection?

  1. Art transporter
  2. Conservator specialising in physical treatment
  3. Curator
  4. Exhibition fabricator
Show answer and explanation

Answer C: Curator

Curation involves selecting, researching and interpreting collection material.

Question 2

What should a commission agreement clarify?

  1. Price alone, leaving reproduction rights assumed
  2. Scope and usage as well as price
  3. Materials alone, leaving revisions unlimited
  4. Dimensions alone, leaving delivery unspecified
Show answer and explanation

Answer B: Scope and usage as well as price

Clear terms reduce misunderstandings about the work and its permitted use.

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Syllabus source and learning material

Scope checked against JAMB’s IBASS source on 2026-10-16. Current IBASS file; not independently labelled 2027. Notes, examples and practice questions are original CampusNinja learning material, not authenticated JAMB past questions.

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