IB Visual Arts is designed to provide students with a structured studio experience in which they can develop their technical abilities and increase their skills as communicators through the use of sophisticated concepts and visual images.

The course will provide opportunities to explore and study visual art of the past and present, as well as emerging trends. Through the utilization of a wide variety of art-making techniques and the development of a inverstigation workbook students will create works of art with an emphasis on form and content. This personal expression will be the result of the student’s synthesis of knowledge acquired through direct study and research, exposure to a variety of art forms, styles and periods, as well as personal experience. Art appreciation will be fostered through school-sponsored field trips, and required independent visits to local area galleries, museums, and performance art productions. Evaluation and analysis of a variety of works of art will be required throughout the course. This will include formal critical essays and group critiques. In addition, written self and peer evaluations will provide students with the opportunity to reflect on the strengths and limitations of their work. This type of critical response is intended to increase the students’ ability to judge work based on its conceptual and artistic merit.

International Mindedness: International mindedness will be conscientiously addressed throughout the course and utilized to foster an open-minded understanding of world cultures. Students will discover firsthand how art serves as a common language for the transference of information and emotion between differing cultures. Students will begin with an examination the social and ethnic cultures of their immediate commutity. They will then explore other cultures through museum visits, visiting artists, and the study of the art of world cultures. Through independent research in their Investigational Workbooks students will further their exploration of diverse world cultures and utilize their findings to inform and articulate their own personal work. Finally, through this study students will come to recognize the role of the artist becomes that of the carrier of one’s culture.

Student assessment and evaluation is designed to encourage the in-depth exploration of student generated themes with a focus on the IB criteria for both studio work and the investigation workbook. Internal assessment will consist of critical essays, self and peer evaluations, and group critiques. The external assessment will be conducted by a professional artist either working in the community or at the university level.