Art and Design at ISB offers opportunities for pupils to develop their creativity and imagination through visual, tactile, and sensory experiences. This is achieved by developing students:

• practical and technical skills in creating artworks, where students learn to use and experiment with a wide range of mediums.
• to become critically aware of their immediate environment, society and culture
• skills to critically analyse the meaning, functional and aesthetic qualities of art forms from their own and other culture
• ability to use visual language to communicate their ideas and feelings meaningfully.
• aesthetic judgments and technical decisions, with the aim of enabling individuals in becoming actively involved in finding appropriate artistic solutions.
• capacity to express themselves visually in a personal and independent way.

Recent Events

Year 9 painted pygmy elephants in the style of famous artists

To see more up to date images and events visit the Head of Department's Visual Blog: Click here

Lower Secondary

In art, craft and design, pupils explore visual, tactile and other sensory experiences to communicate ideas and meanings. They work with traditional and new media, developing confidence, competence, imagination and creativity. They learn to appreciate and value images and artefacts across times and cultures, and to understand the contexts in which they were made. In art, craft and design, pupils reflect critically on their own and other people's work, judging quality, value and meaning. They learn to think and act as artists, craftspeople and designers, working creatively and intelligently.

Key processes of Art and design key stage 3

Key processes
These are the essential skills and processes in art, craft and design that pupils need to learn to make progress.

Explore and create

Pupils should be able to:

• develop ideas and intentions by working from first-hand observation, experience, inspiration, imagination and other sources

• investigate how to express and realise ideas using formal elements and the qualities of a range of media

• make purposeful images and artefacts, selecting from a range of materials, techniques and processes

• draw to express perception and invention, to communicate feelings, experiences and ideas, and for pleasure

• explore and develop ideas using sketchbooks, journals and other appropriate strategies.
   Understand and evaluate

Pupils should be able to:

• use research and investigative skills appropriate to art, craft and design

• appreciate how codes and conventions are used to convey ideas and meanings in and between different cultures and contexts

• reflect on and evaluate their own and others' work, adapting and refining their own images and artefacts at all stages of the creative process

• analyse, select and question critically, making reasoned choices when developing personal work

• develop ideas and intentions when creating images and artefacts

• organise and present their own material and information in appropriate forms.

All students in Year 7,8 and 9 are given Research Workbooks (sketchbooks). The students are encouraged to use these books as a visual diary of their journey in visual art. They will be given homework assignments that should be completed in these books.

IGCSE

Art and Design is offered as an examination option in Years 10 and 11. On the course, students follow the Cambridge IGCSE syllabus, which allows for a significant depth of knowledge in all areas of drawing, painting, tactile response and critical studies. The students are encouraged to independently explore a wide range of media, which allows them to develop a broad skill base, providing an excellent foundation for the IB Visual Arts course.

Course Summary

IGCSE Art and Design aims to encourage, stimulate and develop:

• An interest in, and enjoyment of, all aspects of Art and Design
• An ability to accurately represent images, whether they are from imagination or by drawing from direct observation
• Processes of investigation and research in the preparation of work
• A wide range of approaches to making artwork
• An opportunity to explore a range of media
• The means of viewing and responding to the world in a unique and interesting way
   

At ISB, students have the opportunity to choose from a range of areas of study, which includes painting and related media, three-dimensional studies, photography and printing.

Assessment Summary

IGCSE Art and Design is assessed by a combination of coursework and a final exam: based upon five assessment objectives. The final examination lasts for ten hours which the students have at least two weeks to prepare for.

International Baccalaureate (IB)

IB is an exciting program that endeavours to provide participating students with an opportunity to express themselves visually. IB provides a stimulating environment in which students can respond with confidence to personal, social-cultural and aesthetic experiences and communicate through an informed creative process. It establishes a process of exploring, analysing, researching, making and evaluating appropriate forms of expression in the visual arts. The course actively encourages students to take responsibility for the direction of their learning and artistic production.

The key aims of IB are to develop personal growth and commitment through the study of art and to highlight the relationship between research and the production of art.
The course is not just about 'making things'; rather it is a journey that allows students to develop a critical and intensely personal view of themselves in relation to the world. Along with technical proficiency, it rewards students who are committed, motivated, persistent, independent and ambitious. 

12

Self narrative

People, places and things

Multiculturalism

13

Solo project

Solo project

Exam

The aims of the Visual Arts Course at HL and SL are to develop students that are able to react artistically to their cultural experience in a creative, purposeful, personal and technically competent way.
This will be achieved by students investigating past, present and emerging forms of visual arts, examining historical and cultural events from a local, national and international perspective; critically analysing the function, meaning and significance of art; making independent hypothesis and observations of the world around them; at the same time as linking their personal investigation to the creative process of their studio work. 

The course is divided into two parts; Studio work and Investigation (investigation workbook).

The studio work will introduce students to the art concepts and techniques through practical work in the studio, while the investigation workbooks encourage personal investigation into the arts, which will be closely related to the studio work. The aims and objectives of Higher and Standard level programs are generally the same. However due to the differences in the amount of time available for each level (HL: 240hrs, SL: 150hrs), your ability to expand on ideas, technical skills and body of work will be affected accordingly.

Expectations of an IB Visual Artist

To achieve success on the IB visual Arts course you have to be

• Committed – Having missed a full terms studio work, you will have to have the determination to catch up. Your attendance record will have to be exemplary, because studio time will be precious.
• Organised – To produce the expected amount of Studio Work and Investigation workbooks of sufficient quality, you will have to manage your time extremely well.
• Responsible – Your Art teacher can help you achieve success on this course, but the ultimate responsibility lies with you. Much of the IB Visual Arts course content is student directed so you must take considerable responsibility for how you develop on the course.
• Appreciation - a significant aspect of the Visual Arts course is about exploring the artwork of others. That does not mean you have to like it, but you should be able to appreciate the work in terms of context, form, process and intention.
• Persistent – Nobody is ‘born’ a great artist. Even people who are innately ‘gifted’ still have to work hard to overcome problems – in terms of ideas and practical difficulties.
• Insightful and inquisitive – The ability to research (with both breadth and depth), interpret information and form your own conclusions is vitally important. An exploratory and analytical approach to your own artwork and researching artworks of others is crucial.
• Original – It is important that you aim to approach the production of artwork in a personal and innovative way. IBO Art examiners see a huge amount of artwork and it is worth remembering that the well-trodden path of cliché and pastiche can only lead to disappointment.
• Skilful – You must be always developing  your technical competence and applying artistic qualities that challenge and extend your intellectual boundaries, technical competence and self direction
• Ambitious – if you struggle with technical aspects of the subject you must resolve to overcome those difficulties. If the thought of drawing/painting/sculpting/printing brings you out in a rash, then this is not the right course for you.

Student Guide

The IB Visual Arts course provides you with the opportunities to explore Art on a number of levels.

Aesthetic
Cultural
Social
Personal

You can produce work in drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, textile, mixed media, electronic media, and photography and through utilising found objects.

The course is not just about ‘making things’, rather it is a journey that will require your intellectual and emotional input. To be able to create art you must first acknowledge both your immediate personal surroundings, as well as appreciating other social and cultural situations.

‘Visual arts continually create new possibilities and can challenge traditional boundaries. This is evident both in the way we make art and in the way we understand artists from around the world The theory and practices in visual arts are dynamic, ever changing and connect many areas of study and human experience through individual and collaborative production and interpretation.’

Studying the IB Visual Arts course allows students to develop a critical and intensely personal view of themselves in relation to the world.

The course aims to encourage students to:

• Investigate past and present and emerging forms of visual arts and engage in producing, appreciating and evaluating these
• Develop an understanding of the visual arts from a local, national and international perspective.
• Build confidence in responding visually and creatively to personal and cultural experiences.
• Develop skills in, and sensitivity to, the creation of works that reflect active and individual involvement.
• Take responsibilities for the direction of their learning through the acquisition of effective working practices.

Course structure

Studio work

You will be expected to:

• Produce personally relevant works of Art that reveal evidence of exploration of ideas that reflect cultural and historical awareness
• Develop and demonstrate technical competence and artistic qualities that challenge and extend personal boundaries and technical competence and self direction.

Investigation Workbooks

You will be expected to:

• Respond to and analyse critically and contextually the function, meaning and artistic qualities of past, present and emerging art, using specialist vocabulary of visual arts.
• Develop and present independent ideas and practices, and explain the connections between these and the works of others.
• Explore and develop ideas and techniques for studio work through integrated contextual study and first hand observations.
• Develop and maintain a close relationship between investigation and purposeful, creative process in studio work.

Investigative Workbook Details

How the course works

Which ever option you choose, there are two compulsary parts…

Studio Work – practical exploration and artistic production

Investigation – Independent contextual, critical and visual investigation.

Assessment Outline
                  

The following points give you an overview on how you will be assessed…

Useful Weblinks

The Art History Archive: http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/

2D fundamentals: http://www.arts.ucsb.edu/faculty/beckman/2d.html

Mosaic artists: http://www.mosaicmasters.com/index.html

Aboriginal Art: http://www.aboriginal-art.de/art_deu/kunst.htm

Art encyclopaedia: http://www.aboriginal-art.de/art_deu/kunst.htm

Artefacts: http://www.artfacts.net/index.php/pageType/artists

Art Quotes: http://www.artquotes.net/

Art dictionary: http://www.artlex.com/

Arts images: http://www.artnet.com/

Australian National gallery: http://www.nga.gov.au/Home/08-WINTER/

MetroArt Museum: http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_Of_Art/index.asp

Chinese Art links: http://www.chinapage.com/paint1.html

Youth Artworks: http://browse.deviantart.com/photography/?view=1&order=5&limit=24

Fantasy Art: http://www.fantasyarts.net/

Art demonstrations: http://www.alifetimeofcolor.com/play/caveart/index.html

Impressionism: http://www.alifetimeofcolor.com/play/caveart/index.html

Mark Hardens Art images: http://artchive.com/ftp_site.htm

Photography: http://masters-of-photography.com/C/cunningham/cunningham_agave.html

The Artist: http://the-artists.org/index.cfm

Susanne Hilberry Gallery: http://www.susannehilberrygallery.com/ptgs_images.htm

MOMA: http://www.moma.org/

Contessa Gallery http://www.contessagallery.com/html/Detail.asp?WorkInvNum=1733&whatpage=artist