Mariam HassanAs a subject, visual arts is often thought of as “easy” by people who don’t learn it. However, it is extremely difficult due to how time consuming it is and how much energy it consumes. Although there is a grading criterion for everything, the grading may be a bit subjective since this is art, and different examiners have different ideas/opinions. Visual arts doesn’t have actual examination papers like most of the subjects, however it is still assessed through three different parts.
- The Comparative Study
- Art Exhibition
- Process Portfolio
The focus of this article will be on the art exhibition since it is the part which most effort and time is put into and what could inspire a student’s comparative study theme at the same time.
The Process
The exhibition process is anything but short and easy. It goes something like this:
- Picking a theme
- Drafting ideas
- Choosing materials and sizes
- Working on the art pieces
- Some failure that will happen no matter what, and it is the most normal thing in art (crucial part of the process that is much more useful than you think. The more the errors, the more you come up with different ways to do things/find new solutions, which results with the most jaw-dropping process portfolio)
- Writing the Exhibition Texts and the Rationale
- Presenting your works at the Exhibition (the happiest moment)
Don’t let this intimidate you in any way, take this as a chance to get familiar with the process so that when you go through it you don’t panic and pause everything, but know that you are doing perfectly fine.
Visual arts exhibition is mainly about trial and error until you get it right, this helps a lot with your process portfolio later as it shows that you tried different methods to achieve what you wanted to and have good experience and critical thinking skills.
Errors are actually a good thing in Visual Arts exhibition, just refine them and record it in your process portfolio and you are perfectly on track.
Pick a Theme
Many students go for the most repetitive ideas seen in art such as love, feminism, pain, heartbreak, and so on. The repetitiveness and broadness of these ideas may come off as too boring for some examiners and audience. When picking a theme, the first thing to do is to start thinking about it early. Sometimes the idea pops up on a random day because you got inspired by a movie, a song, or even a text a friend sent. If you’re already late, that is still fine because the next tip is just as important, if not more important, than the first tip, and it is to dig deep, make it personal, and specific.
Your theme does not need to be some out of the box idea that no one has never thought of. It can be the most ordinary thing that is right under everyone’s noses, but they just don’t notice it. Instead of just choosing “pain” as a theme, be more specific and do something like “loss of a childhood dream/innocence”, this is still a type of pain, but it is much more specific and universal which will have a much stronger impact on the viewers.
Your theme does not have to be this impactful. What if your passion in life is dogs? An art exhibition of dogs around the world in unusual contexts would be unique and eye-catching.
The most important thing above all that was said previously is that it must be a topic that interests you and which you connect to on a personal level, because otherwise you won’t have the motivation and might even face art-block.
Drafting and Executing
Start early.
They key to getting a good quality art exhibition is not cramming everything till the last minute, but taking your time and refining your works as much as you need. As soon as you start your DP1 academic year, you better already be drafting ideas, so you have time to execute them properly while still managing the rest of your IB subjects, which is challenging.
After you choose your theme, a good brain dump will start you off well until you start getting random inspirations every other day.
Any idea you get, literally ANYTHING, even if it seems too simple or lame, just draft it somewhere, write it down, or draw it even better on a piece of paper or your iPad.
As time goes by, these ideas could be built upon, and you will get inspired by random things you see or hear so those simple ideas could end up being one of your best pieces.
You do not have to have all your ideas for all your works figured out at the beginning, sometimes you get more inspiration from your own pieces while working on them, or you get better ideas as you keep working.
When you do have your ideas sorted out and start working, do NOT forget to take pictures of your process every single step of the way, every mistake included. This will fill up your process portfolio which the examiners love to see.
The key to this exhibition is taking your time and learn as you keep working.
If you feel a bit lost, Clastify and InThinking are a great websites to check out other students’ previous work and how they got graded for it, maybe you’ll get some great inspiration from there! TutorsPlus also has a great guide for the exhibition to help you from start to finish.
Never postpone working on your pieces, a better idea is just to work every day for a few minutes on it so that it doesn’t become forgotten, your inspiration is lost, and the exhibition is right at your doorstep.
Choosing Materials
Often materials do hold a significance in artworks, and this is something you should put into consideration.
If you are trying to express the fragility of a heart for example, why not try to use glass?
Talking about the rough paths of life? Use rough textured materials like sand, rocks, or even bricks.
The more the artistic and symbolic significances materials hold, the more special it can make your artwork and it is something that examiners pay attention to.
Presentation: The Final and Most Rewarding Part
Finally, after all the torture you went through trying to balance between art and the rest of the IB subjects, your time to shine has come.
This is your moment.
For the exhibition texts, focus on how to perfectly summarize your piece for the examiner. But remember, at the exhibition the stage is yours and you can freely express every single thought and detail that went into each of your artworks to the audience.
At the end, this is you expressing whatever you want and connecting with other people through your own creations.
Take your time, observe, write down/draft, execute, refine, constantly work and never stop, and eventually it will all be done.
Enjoy the process and don’t put extra pressure on yourself that you don’t need, it’ll lower the quality of your work and you will ruin the experience for yourself. Create and enjoy the feeling of people being fascinated by your works.
