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DP Visual Arts course outline

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I INTRODUCTION
 
Welcome to the IB Visual Arts Course which is both challenging and exciting, but it is up to you to make it happen. There can be no defined path or process that will insure you the be highly successful, equally you need to understand that the course is a continual process of personal self-development and an adventure of exploration and experimentation into your own creative growth and potential.
 
II ACADEMIC / CURRICULUM GOALS
 
AIMS:

As described by the IB Visual Arts subject guide, the aims of the arts subjects are to enable students to: 
  1. enjoy lifelong engagement with the arts
  2. become informed, reflective and critical practitioners in the arts 
  3. understand the dynamic and changing nature of the arts 
  4. explore and value the diversity of the arts across time, place and cultures 
  5. express ideas with confidence and competence 
  6. develop perceptual and analytical skills. 
In addition, the aims of the visual arts course at SL and HL are to enable students to: 
  1. make artwork that is influenced by personal and cultural contexts 
  2. become informed and critical observers and makers of visual culture and media 
  3. develop skills, techniques and processes in order to communicate concepts and ideas. 
III OBJECTIVES
  • Having followed the visual arts course at SL or HL, students will be expected to: 
  • Assessment objective 1: demonstrate knowledge and understanding of specified content 
  • Assessment objective 2: demonstrate application and analysis of knowledge and understanding 
  • Assessment objective 3: demonstrate synthesis and evaluation 
  • Assessment objective 4: select, use and apply a variety of appropriate skills and techniques 
IV COURSE DESCRIPTION AND CONTENT
 
As the IB Subject Guide (2015) states:
 
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 following three core areas, which have been designed to fully interlink with the assessment tasks, are central to the course. Students are required to understand the relationship between these areas and how each area informs and impacts their work in visual arts. 
  1. Visual arts in context 
    The visual arts in context part of the syllabus provides a lens through which students are encouraged to explore perspectives, theories and cultures that inform and influence visual arts practice. Students should be able to research, understand and appreciate a variety of contexts and traditions and be able to identify links between them. 
  2. Visual arts methods 
    The visual arts methods part of the syllabus addresses ways of making artwork through the exploration and acquisition of skills, techniques and processes, and through engagement with a variety of media and methods. 
  3. Communicating visual arts 
    The communicating visual arts part of the syllabus involves students investigating, understanding and applying the processes involved in selecting work for exhibition and public display. It engages students in making decisions about the selection of their own work. 
V DP Visual Arts ASSESSMENT:
 
External assessment
 
Part 1: Comparative study 
 
Students at SL analyse and compare different artworks by different artists. This independent critical and contextual investigation explores artworks, objects and artifacts from differing cultural contexts. 
SL students submit 10–15 screens which examine and compare at least three artworks, at least two of which should be by different artists. The work selected for comparison and analysis should come from contrasting contexts (local, national, international and/or intercultural). 
SL students submit a list of sources used. 
 
Students at HL analyse and compare different artworks by different artists. This independent critical and contextual investigation explores artworks, objects and artefacts from differing cultural contexts. 
HL students submit 10–15 screens which examine and compare at least three artworks, at least two of which need to be by different artists. The works selected for comparison and analysis should come from contrasting contexts (local, national, international and/or intercultural). 
 
HL students submit 3–5 screens which analyse the extent to which their work and practices have been influenced by the art and artists examined. 
 
HL students submit a list of sources used. 
Part 2: Process portfolio
  • Students at SL submit carefully selected materials which evidence their experimentation, exploration, manipulation and refinement of a variety of visual arts activities during the two-year course.
  • SL students submit 9–18 screens which evidence their sustained experimentation, exploration, manipulation and refinement of a variety of art-making activities. For SL students the submitted work must be in at least two art-making forms, each from separate columns of the art-making forms table. 
  • Students at HL submit carefully selected materials which evidence their experimentation, exploration, manipulation and refinement of a variety of visual arts activities during the two-year course. 
  • HL students submit 13–25 screens which evidence their sustained experimentation, exploration, manipulation and refinement of a variety of art-making activities. For
  • HL students the submitted work must have been created in at least three art-making forms, selected from a minimum of two columns of the art-making forms table. 
 
Internal assessment 
 
Exhibition 
 
This task is internally assessed by the teacher and externally moderated by the IB at the end of the course.
 
Students at SL 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. 
 
  • SL students submit a curatorial rationale that does not exceed 400 words.
  • SL students submit 4–7 artworks. 
  • SL students submit exhibition text (stating the title, medium, size and intention) for each selected artwork. 
  • SL students may submit two photographs of their overall exhibition. These exhibition photographs provide an understanding of the context of the exhibition and the size and scope of the works. 
Students at HL 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. 
  • HL students submit a curatorial rationale that does not exceed 700 words. 
  • HL students submit 8–11 artworks. 
  • HL students submit exhibition text (stating the title, medium, size and intention) for each selected artwork.
  • HL students may submit two photographs of their overall exhibition. These exhibition photographs provide an understanding of the context of the exhibition and the size and scope of the works.
VI GRADING POLICY:
 
·      Comparative Study  20%
·      Process Portfolio      40%
·      Exhibition                 40%
 
VII EXPECTATIONS
 
Throughout the course students at both SL and HL are required to maintain a visual arts journal. 
 
Students will 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.
 
Students are expected to:
  • Abide by the school rules
  • Abide by the classroom rules
  • Respect the classmates, their opinion and willingness to work
  • Respect the property (their own, classmates, school’s and teacher’s)
  • Show maturity: There is no catching up or revising at the last minute. The final exhibition should and will reflect a commitment and involvement over two years. Students should be ready to spend extra time within and after the school day on the studio work, in order to reach their full potential and achieve the best results.
 

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