Ok, first of all I don't do hsc art. I was going to but when the final subject choices came around i had to choose between it and physics, and my art teacher was sending me insane (and that was only in year 10) so i decided against it. On some level I regret it, because I've always loved art and would love the opportunity to do a major, but on the other hand i know how stressed she would make me. I remember even in year 10 i got totally into a concept that had taken me ages to formulate, and then someone copied my idea entirely and i got mad and my teacher stood there and laughed at me. She was and is always so sarcastic, so stupid and so stubborn. Her inability to teach and to be constructive would send me home in tears. She always favoured painters and paint is just not my media. I have a couple of friends who are in the class now and it seems like she gotten worse, their last assessment (weighting 30%) there were only 2 people in a class of about 16 that passed, everyone else got around 6-10%. One person even got zero, they handed their stuff in on time, they did the work and got zero cos the teacher didnt like it. It's ridiculous. If I was the kind of person who could do art as a bludge subject i reckon it would be ok, because looking back it's pretty funny how stupid she is, the things she would say and do (oh i have stories), but i didn't find them that funny then- just frustrating.
But what I'm trying to say is that I understand how frustrating art as a subject can be. I've always had a problem with putting a mark on an artwork, it doesnt make sense to me. People tell you that teachers don't matter, and I can see what they're trying to say, but the nature of art and its subjectivity means that the subject is so incredibly personal, and if you don't get along with the teacher or if they're just idiots or control freaks or stubborn and set in their ideas or whatever, it can be incredibly hard not to be pulled down by it.
I don't really have any suggestions on how to make it easier, like i said i didnt even do it because i knew i was too impatient and it had such a potential to break me. But I want to encourage you all however to use your frustrations artistically and to persevere and not give up. Some of the best art that has ever been made has been made in times of intense emotions and as a vent of such things. Don't give up caring about it, that's the worst thing you could do. I hope you all have a not too stressful year, one day I'll force myself to get back into art, hopefully I haven't lost it entirely.