A studio-based, inquiry-driven programme for young artists who want to think deeply, create boldly, and understand the world through art.

IB Visual Arts at UWCSEA is an inquiry-led, studio-based programme that encourages students to explore ideas, experiment with materials, and develop a personal artistic voice. Through sustained creative practice, critical investigation, and reflective thinking, students become confident, independent learners capable of producing thoughtful and technically accomplished work.

Whether a student is already a committed artist or simply curious about visual expression, IB Visual Arts offers a rich, supportive environment to explore identity, culture, and global issues through the arts.

IB Visual Arts is a multidisciplinary, inquiry-based programme taught through a dynamic studio environment. Students engage with a wide range of techniques including drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, mixed media, and digital practices.

Throughout the course, students explore personal, social, cultural, and global themes through artistic inquiry. They learn how to investigate artists, experiment with materials, document their process, refine their ideas, and communicate meaning through visual language.

Students are encouraged to take creative risks, question assumptions, and develop artworks that reflect their interests, experiences, and perspectives.

Skills Development

IB Visual Arts develops students’ abilities to Create, Connect, and Communicate through a studio-based, inquiry-driven practice. Students build strong technical and conceptual foundations while engaging with the core course actions:

• Investigate: Students explore ideas, artists, materials, cultural contexts, and visual traditions to build a deep foundation for inquiry. They learn to analyse artworks, identify influences, and understand the role of art in society.
  
  

• Generate: Through studio experimentation, students produce visual and material tests that allow ideas to evolve. They work across drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, mixed media, and digital practices.
  
  

• Refine: Students evaluate their experiments, make purposeful artistic decisions, and refine techniques, compositions, and conceptual directions through feedback, reflection, and iteration.
  
  

• Synthesize: Students bring together research, experimentation, influences, and personal meaning to form coherent artistic intentions and visual strategies.
  
  

• Resolve: Students develop completed artworks that demonstrate clarity, ambition, and technical and conceptual strength. These final pieces form part of the Resolved Artworks component at HL/SL.
  
  

• Curate: Students learn how to select, arrange, and present both process and final artworks for assessment and exhibition. They consider audience, purpose, visual coherence, and communication of intent.
  
  

• Situate: Students position their work within broader artistic, cultural, social, and global contexts. They learn to make connections that strengthen both conceptual depth and personal voice.
  
  

Across these actions, students develop strong skills in problem-solving, time management, critical thinking, and creative exploration.

In studio work the examiner is looking for evidence of...

• experimentation and the development of ideas in artwork leading to successful resolution 

• the selection and use of a variety of artistic and cultural strategies, media and styles 

• an ongoing process of review, modification and refinement 

• inventive approaches to experimentation and exploration using diverse strategies, ideas, techniques and media 

• the ability to select and employ materials appropriately leading to coherent use of materials 

• the development of a sense of self in relation to other people, places and times 

• cultural and historical sources being used appropriately to inform and construct artwork 

• knowledge of how to make informed reflective, critical judgments, and use them when evaluating their own studio work (HLA/SLA) or the ability to pose questions and work towards solving their own problems (HLB/SLB)

Visual Arts Journal (Process & Inquiry) – Expectations

The Visual Arts Journal is not externally assessed, but it is a vital core of the new IB Visual Arts course.
Teachers use the journal to understand how students Investigate, Generate, Refine, Synthesize, Curate, Situate, Resolve, and how they Create, Connect, and Communicate through their artistic process.

The teacher-examiner looks for evidence of:

1. Depth and Breadth of Inquiry

Students demonstrate sustained engagement with ideas, artists, materials, contexts, and cultural references. Pages show curiosity, questioning, and exploration across both historical and contemporary art practices.

2. Individual, Coherent Investigative Strategies

Students show purposeful ways of exploring visual qualities, concepts, and processes—moving beyond description to analyse, compare, experiment, and test ideas in meaningful ways.

3. Diverse Methods of Investigation

Students use a range of theoretical and practical approaches to investigate artworks, including:

• visual analysis
  
  

• contextual research
  
  

• material experiments
  
  

• critical comparisons
  
  

• conceptual mapping
  
  

These strategies show how ideas develop from investigation to generation.

4. Accurate and Confident Art Vocabulary

Students use appropriate terminology when analysing artworks, discussing processes, or reflecting on decisions. Writing is clear, precise, and connected to specialist art language.

5. Effective Visual and Written Communication

Ideas are clearly communicated through a combination of text, image, diagrams, annotations, and layout. Pages are organised, intentional, and aesthetically coherent.

6. Articulate, Thoughtful, and Comprehensive Presentation

The journal reflects a mature and reflective artistic voice. Students show critical thinking, decision-making, and intention throughout their process.

7. Use of Primary and Secondary Sources (Fully Referenced)

Students include diverse sources such as artist studies, gallery visits, interviews, articles, books, and online archives. All references—images, quotes, and research—must be properly cited.

8. Practical Exploration of Media and Techniques

Students investigate materials through both experimental testing and sustained practice. Journal pages demonstrate the relationship between ideas and making, connecting process with artistic intention.

9. Skills in Responding to Artworks

Students show the ability to interpret, critique, compare, and respond to artworks using a range of analytical and reflective skills. Opinions are reasoned and supported by evidence.

10. Applying Concepts in Breadth and Depth

Students demonstrate their understanding of visual arts concepts across multiple contexts, showing both specialised depth and broad awareness of global artistic practices.

11. Making Connections

Students identify clear relationships between their own work and the work of others—artists, movements, cultural practices, or contemporary ideas—to situate their practice in meaningful context.

12. Linking Investigation to Studio Practice

Students show how research, experimentation, and reflection inform the development of artworks. The journal evidences the journey from inquiry to resolved art-making.

1. Visual Literacy & Observational Skills

Students develop strong visual literacy by learning to read, interpret, and analyse images with precision. Through focused observation and practical engagement, they learn to identify formal qualities, recognise visual strategies, and understand how artists communicate meaning through visual language. These skills underpin their ability to Create and Communicate effectively.

2. Visual Research & In-Depth Investigation

Students Investigate a wide range of artistic sources—artists, movements, material processes, global traditions, and contemporary practices. They conduct both broad and deep inquiry, using sketching, annotation, note-taking, artist analysis, and material exploration to build a strong foundation for their artistic direction.

3. Experimentation & Generating Visual Solutions

Students Generate ideas through purposeful experimentation. They test materials, techniques, compositions, and conceptual approaches to find effective ways of expressing meaning. This phase encourages curiosity, risk-taking, and independence as students work toward refining and resolving their artistic intentions.

4. Critical Analysis of Artworks

Students thoughtfully interpret and analyse artworks using appropriate art vocabulary and critical frameworks. They evaluate how artists use visual qualities, strategies, symbolism, and context to communicate meaning. This supports their ability to Situate their own practice within broader visual traditions.

5. Understanding Social, Historical, Geographical & Cultural Contexts

Students learn to Connect their work to wider cultural and historical narratives. They examine how art reflects and responds to place, identity, society, politics, belief systems, and global issues. By situating art within rich contexts, students strengthen the depth and relevance of their own visual inquiry.

Standard Level (SL)

1. Selected Resolved Artworks (SRAW) – 40%

Students submit a curated selection of resolved artworks that demonstrate technical skill, conceptual clarity, and personal expression. Works must show purposeful decision-making, coherence, and an ability to communicate ideas visually.

2. Art-Making Inquiry Portfolio (AIP) – 40%

The portfolio documents the student’s process of investigation, experimentation, research, and reflection. Students show how they develop ideas, respond to contextual influences, and build their visual language through inquiry.

3. Connections Study (CS) – 20%

Students produce a visual and written comparative study exploring relationships between artists, artworks, movements, or cultural contexts. They demonstrate the ability to situate their own practice within broader visual traditions.

Higher Level (HL)

1. Selected Resolved Artworks (SRAW) – 40%

HL students present a curated selection of resolved artworks demonstrating advanced technical ability, ambitious concepts, coherence, and confident visual communication.

2. Art-Making Inquiry Portfolio (AIP) – 30%

Students document their artistic investigation through research, experimentation, analysis, and reflection. They demonstrate sustained inquiry and increasingly sophisticated use of materials, ideas, and influences.

3. Artist Project (AP) – 30%

HL students complete a sustained, student-designed project exploring a theme or direction of personal significance. The project requires students to investigate, generate, refine, synthesize, resolve, curate, and situate a focused body of work, demonstrating independence, depth, and artistic maturity.