IB VISUAL ART VISUAL JOURNAL

REQUIREMENTS AND STANDARDS

How to start to do investigative work in your visual journal (AKA sketchbook, investigative workbook, investigative art journal).

LOOK BEYOND THE OBVIOUS, think laterally and MAKE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN IDEAS AND CONCEPTS.

Throughout the course students at both SL and HL are required to maintain a visual journal in a sketchbook. This is their own record of the two years of study and should be used to document:

1. the development of art-making skills and techniques

2. experiments with media and technologies

3. personal reflections

4. their responses to first-hand observations

5. creative ideas for exploration and development

6. their evaluations of art practices and art-making experiences

7. their responses to diverse stimuli and to artists and their works

8. detailed evaluations and critical analysis

9. records of valued feedback received

10. challenges they have faced and their achievements.

Students should be encouraged to find the most appropriate ways of recording their development and have free choice in deciding what form the visual arts journal should take. The aim of the visual arts journal is to support and nurture the acquisition of skills and ideas, to record developments, and to critique challenges and successes. It is expected that much of the written work submitted for the assessment tasks at the end of the course will have evolved and been drawn from the contents of the visual arts journal.

Although sections of the journal will be selected, adapted and presented for assessment, the journal itself is not directly assessed or moderated. It is, however, regarded as a fundamental activity of the course.

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• Sketchbook pages might be influenced by a number of factors such as the nature of the topic under consideration, historical events, cultural influences, past and present events and link it all whenever possible to personal interests.

• The more you are prepared to research in-depth through your own interests (as opposed to teacher driven) the more personally rewarding your work can become. Don’t forget there are many artists and cultural phenomena that you can consult, review, criticize and refer to in order to make your informed and critical judgements.

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YOU MUST:

WRITE YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION: On inside front cover, on the top left side clearly write your full name, address, phone number, school's name

WRITE IN BLACK PEN. It is easier to digitally photography the pages for the IB Exam. WRITING MUST BE LEGIBLE, not too small, not too large. If you have trouble writing legibly use a lined piece of paper to slip in-between the pages.

DATE AND NUMBER all pages and entries. (THIS IS A REQUIREMENT). It makes it easier for the teacher and for you to refer back to an idea previously explored.

Additional suggestions: Stick a large envelope on the inside cover of your Art Journal. Use this to collect odd cuttings, images, articles, etc. This will keep it neater and keep those small items from getting lost. They may also be useful at a later date.

ATTACH a copy of the ASSESSMENT CRITERIA in the back cover of your book for quick reference; you will be able to see if you are working at the level you should be.

How do I start?

Start by finding topic(s) or "jumping off points" of interest by looking at art books, the internet, going to museums and galleries, talking to other artists. Make notations of everything.

Read ALL the information provided on this website

Select two or more different cultures and historical time periods to focus on during the two year course

Research the artwork: what may have influenced the art, what was happening historically during that time period. Site all sources: books, internet, interviews, gallery and museums

Questions to consider: What is art? Why do artists create? What is the purpose of art? What does it mean to perceive? Where do artists get ideas?

What are the “elements of art” and “principles of art”? How are they applied in artwork and specifically to your artwork? Be specific and use proper art terms.

Consider a topic to explore (some suggestions are listed on the last pages). Relate that topic to various cultures, artists, and historical time periods.

What should I include in my sketchbook?

• 1. The development of TECHNICAL SKILLS. How can you improve what you have produced? Could the work have been better conceived by using a different medium?

  2. The REASON and STRATEGIES used to SOLVE VISUAL PROBLEMS, by learning new skills, visiting galleries and museums, or by trial and error and perseverance in personal experimentation

  3. The use of various MEDIA and MATERIALS and process of developing understanding of the potential of materials through experimentation, discovery, and by observing artwork of other artists who use similar media.

  4. The TOPICS that you explored. Documentation of how you developed your topics, i.e. a mind map, jotting down as many lateral thoughts and connected issues that interest you, current affairs, issues that touch you personally.

  5. Defining of visual arts PROBLEMS. As you read various articles, books, critical reviews, and research contemporary art practices, visit galleries, talk to practicing artists’ what similar problems have other artists faced? What problems have you faced?

  6. Make connections between CULTURES, HISTORY, and ARTISTS both in time and place and in context where possible. Other areas where you may find topics of interest or thought provoking issues for study include politics, gender, class and race. These are all topics that can be addressed in the categories mentioned in the models for looking at artworks.

  7. The inclusion and proper use of specific ART VOCABULARY TERMS.

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The level of achievement for the Sketchbook is based on the following criteria:

How well the student:

1. analyzes and compares perceptively art from different cultures and times, and considers it thoughtfully for its function and significance.

2. demonstrates the development of an appropriate range of effective skills, techniques and processes when making and analyzing images and artifacts

3. demonstrates coherent, focused and individual investigative strategies into visual qualities, ideas and their contexts, an appropriate range of different approaches towards their study, and some fresh connections between them.

4. demonstrates considerable depth and breath through the successful development and synthesis of ideas and thoroughly explained connections between the work and that of others

5. demonstrates effective and accurate use of the specialist vocabulary of visual arts

6. uses an appropriate range of sources and acknowledges the properly

7. presents the work effectively and creatively and demonstrates effective critical observation, reflection and discrimination

8. presents a close relationship between investigation and studio.

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Your sketchbook is a valuable repository of IDEAS, THOUGHTS, DISCOVERIES, RESEARCH and VISUAL EXPERIMENTATIONS and EXPLORATIONS.

You first entry on the first page of your sketchbook write about yourself based on these questions:

• Why do you want to do this course?

• What do you hope to achieve in this course?

• What strengths do you see in yourself?

• Are you skilled or confident in the arts such as in using color, ceramics, photography, computer graphics, animation, skilled in drawing, etc.

• What problems do you think you might face in following the course?

• Are you a slow or fast working? How might you overcome these perceived artistic problems?

• What interests do you have?

• Your comment should reflect your interest in the creative process and arts.

Your sketchbook is your record of ARTISTIC GROWTH throughout the course. Make your sketchbook a VISUAL DELIGHT.

Other subject areas may spark ideas - quotations may inspire you - maps, biological slides/drawings, mathematical progressions, etc.

Properly ACKNOWLEDGE web sites, authors, articles consulted, using MLA citation where appropriate

DO NOT LOOSE YOUR BOOK, put your name, address and telephone number in the front cover. You will not be able to replace a lost workbook.

READ the ASSESSMENT CRITERIA and BE FAMILIAR WITH THEM, by being familiar with them means you will understand what you are being asked to do.

USE YOUR CREATIVE THOUGHT PROCESSES to LINK INVESTIGATIVE INFORMATION and IDEAS to help you further DEVELOP NEW IDEAS for your own more personalized investigations and creative artworks.

Sketchbooks are Investigative Art Journals

• 1. You are a “cultural detective” on a voyage of visual discovery.

  2. You will make choices of direction along the way. You may make bad choices or find yourself on the right path or even going around in circles.

  3. What you will discover is directed by you but YOU ARE REQUIRED TO THINK, ANALYZE and UNDERSTAND what those findings might be.

  4. These discoveries may take almost any form, but you must reflect THE HOW and THE WHY

  5. Your personal discoveries will take form in your studio work and should demonstrate how you have developed your investigations into your art work(s). This may be in the form of a series of works or maybe one single answer.

WHO and WHAT INFLUENCED you on this “journey/product” will also be vital to DOCUMENTING THE PROCESS, and must be written in your sketchbook.

You must constantly think “How does this link into my work and ideas? What becomes the significance of my studio work in relation to my investigations and research?"

These findings must be presented both VISUALLY and WRITTEN.

REMEMBER there is a PAST, a PRESENT and a FUTURE which is defined CULTURALLY, INTERNATIONALLY and LOCALLY.