Visual Arts (167 total posts)

What Price Freedom of Expression?

October 31, 2018
It would be stretching things to call me a rebel, or subversive, or even a dissident, but I have recently had my words censored! Well, OK, maybe not ‘my’ words exactly, but the words of a student in two pages of a book I co-authored together with S. Poppy...

New Art Teacher? 5 Visual Arts Starting Points!

October 1, 2018
It’s September and in art rooms all over the world DP visual arts teachers are starting to teach this two year course. I recently received an email from an old friend who is now Associate Head of School at an IB school in North America. He wrote: ‘We have...

PP Reminders: Pictures and Process

September 19, 2018
Two PP points! 1. Show me pictures (“visual evidence”) There must be visual as well as written/text documentation of process. It should be obvious – but of course just writing comments and explanations is not enough: is there visual evidence of what has been...

Collaboration? Huh! What is it Good For?

September 10, 2018
Do you have your students work collaboratively on art-making projects? In December 2015 I posted a blog about collaboration (To collaborate, or not to collaborate – that is the question!) But the issue has come up again, this time with some questions from teachers in...

The Art of Protest

July 27, 2018
‘Raising awareness’ Art can do many things, and recently – certainly since the 1980s – we’ve seen a lot of artists focus on one thing in particular: the art of protest (or ‘raising awareness’). With seemingly more and more things to protest about and the...