March 2015: the end is nigh!

If you are in your final year of DP visual arts, the end is near!

The final deadline for your visual arts files to be uploaded to the IB is next month – April 20 – but a lot needs to happen before then, and if you have to factor a March/April school holiday (Easter?) into the period it might get tricky. At my school we are having the exhibition before the holiday, which means the show goes up this month.

So these are some of the things my students are thinking about…

Review, refine, repair, rethink, rework etc

You may be refining and reworking pages from your investigation workbook, or pieces of studio work.

If you are inspired and have the time, you may even be embarking on new areas of workbook investigation or new artwork for your exhibition.

Plan your exhibition layout?

You may also be thinking about the design and layout of your show, and which artworks out of the collection made over two years will actually be chosen for final submission.

Exhibition posters?

Publicize your art show! Sometimes my students volunteer to design the poster advertising the exhibition and reception. Have you thought about doing this? (And sometimes I design it, so you could politely approach your teacher to see is he/she is interested in poster design!)

Overview photographs

Remember the importance of including one or two overview photographs of the exhibition. As an examiner, I find these shots useful and important, particularly if the ‘interview’ is audio-only or is in the form of a 1000-word text commentary.

They photographs are not a course requirement but there are upload ‘slots’ made available for these files on the IB visual arts website.

If you think that your teacher is not going to upload these exhibition photographs, it might be a good idea to remind him/her!

Celebrate!

And it’s a celebration!

Have a reception and get your family involved! Get other students and teachers to come along and see what you have been creating! Many teachers only think of their students in the context of their own subject and are often amazed to see the things that students do in addition to their work in their subject area.

You may also want to celebrate that the course is over (?), although in my experience students are invariably saddened that their visual arts classes are coming to an end.

Many say that visual arts is the most enjoyable of all their DP courses, as well as being the most challenging, rewarding and interesting.

My current class are asking if they can continue to come to art even if they no longer have to!

Finally – good luck!