IB Art
This class can be completed as part of the diploma program or as a certificate. This is a two -year program, starting in grade 11. Everyone is welcome.
The following is description and overview of the course from IB:
The visual arts are an integral part of everyday life, permeating all levels of human creativity, expression, communication and understanding.
The IB Diploma Program visual arts course encourages students to challenge their own creative and cultural expectations and boundaries. It is a thought-provoking course in which students develop analytical skills in problem-solving and divergent thinking, while working towards technical proficiency and confidence as art-makers. In addition to exploring and comparing visual arts from different perspectives and in different contexts, students are expected to engage in, experiment with, and critically reflect upon a wide range of contemporary practices and media. The course is designed for students who want to go on to study visual arts in higher education as well as for those who are seeking lifelong enrichment through visual arts.
Supporting the International Baccalaureate mission statement and learner profile, the course encourages students to actively explore the visual arts within and across a variety of local, regional, national, international, and intercultural contexts. Through inquiry, investigation, reflection, and creative application, visual arts students develop an appreciation for the expressive and aesthetic diversity in the world around them, becoming critically informed makers and consumers of visual culture.
Key features of the curriculum model
To fully prepare students for the demands of the assessment tasks, teachers should ensure that their planning addresses each of the syllabus activities outlined below, the content and focus of which is not prescribed. Students are required to investigate:
VISUAL ARTS IN CONTEXT
VISUAL ARTS METHODS
COMMUNICATING VISUAL ARTS
Theoretical practice
Students examine and compare the work of artists from different cultural contexts. Students consider the contexts influencing their own work and the work of others.
Students look at different techniques for making art. Students investigate and compare how and why different techniques have evolved and the processes involved.
Students explore ways of communicating through visual and written means. Students make artistic choices about how to most effectively communicate knowledge and understanding.
Art-making practice
Students make art through a process of investigation, thinking critically and experimenting with techniques. Students apply identified techniques to their own developing work.
Students experiment with diverse media and explore techniques for making art. Students develop concepts through processes that are informed by skills, techniques and media.
Students produce a body of artwork through a process of reflection and evaluation, showing a synthesis of skill, media and concept.
Curatorial practice
Students develop an informed response to work and exhibitions they have seen and experienced. Students begin to formulate personal intentions for creating and displaying their own artworks.
Students evaluate how their ongoing work communicates meaning and purpose. Students consider the nature of “exhibition” and think about the process of selection and the potential impact of their work on different audiences.
Students select and present resolved works for exhibition. Students explain the ways in which the works are connected. Students discuss how artistic judgments impact the overall presentation.
Key features of the assessment model
Task 1: Comparative study
Students analyze and compare different artworks by different artists. This independent critical and contextual investigation explores artworks, objects, and artifacts from differing cultural contexts.
20% of IB Art exam grade. Compare at least 3 different artworks, by at least 2 different artists, with commentary over 10–15 slides.
Task 2: Process portfolio
Students submit carefully selected materials that show evidence of their experimentation, exploration, manipulation, and refinement of a variety of visual arts activities during the two-year course.
40% of IB Art exam grade. 9–18 slides. The submitted work should be in at least two different art-making forms.
Task 3: Exhibition
Students submit for assessment a selection of resolved artworks from their exhibition. The selected pieces should show evidence of their technical accomplishment during the visual arts course and an understanding of the use of materials, ideas and practices appropriate to visual communication.
40% of IB Art exam grade. 4–7 pieces with exhibition text for each. A curatorial rationale (400 words maximum).