IB Visual Arts

IB Visual Arts is a two-year course of study during which students work in multiple media while selecting one of the following as their primary visual art: Ceramics, Graphic Design, Painting and Drawing, Photography, or Sculpture. Students develop analytical skills in problem-solving and divergent thinking while working towards technical proficiency and confidence as artists, and while learning to challenge their own creative and cultural expectations and boundaries. 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 instructor of the student’s primary art supervises the student’s IB work, the major components of which are the Comparative Study, the Process Portfolio, and the Exhibition. In the Comparative Study, students discover, explore, and compare artwork to enrich their knowledge of art. In the Process Portfolio, students explore and research an artistic theme of their choice while documenting their creative processes. The Exhibition component, completed by March of senior year, is a display of the student’s work.

The HL sequence requires 6 mods over two years, while the SL sequence requires 5 mods over two years. In either sequence, students take two IB-specific mods (one in 11th grade and one in 12th grade) in which they work at the intersection of their primary art and other visual arts disciplines. All IB Visual Arts students, HL or SL, also take at least two mods of their primary art in 11th grade and at least one mod of their primary art in 12th grade. For 12th grade HL students, the second discipline-specific mod can be in their primary art or in any of the IB visual arts disciplines: Ceramics, Graphic Design, Painting and Drawing, Photography, or Sculpture. Creative Transformation (ARV170C), while not an IB visual art, may also count as the second discipline-specific mod.

In addition, all IB visual arts students attend the IB Arts Block, which meets for 45 minutes weekly throughout the academic year, and attend five IB field trips scheduled on Sundays throughout the year.

Min-Max Credit Hours: 5.0-5.0