An exhibit featuring the work of Grade 12 students from the I.E. Weldon Secondary School IB Visual Arts program
EXHIBITION STATEMENT
In this two-year course students take an inquiry driven approach to art making. This means that rather than working from set assignments, students prepare imagery and explore ideas and materials that are of individual interest to them. Along the way they document this process and the technical skills and critical investigation that it includes with a focus on demonstrating how their work has developed and how their visual choices are meant to help them achieve specific artistic goals. Their exhibition, this process documentation and an art history comparative study are then documented and submitted to an IB evaluator (who could be located anywhere in the world) where their work is assessed based on these international expectations.
This year's student showcase features a diverse range of artistic approaches, each unique to the featured students. As students set up their exhibition they stood back and looked at the work they had prepared during the two-year program.
A common theme, and the title of our show, emerged: 'distortions'. Students were each asking questions with their art concerning this theme. Distorted senses of self, distorted expectations, distorted perceptions of time, of feelings, and even of reality. This theme is evident in recurring visual devices seen across each student's work such as the use of fragmented spaces, unlikely juxtapositions and visual realities that are either assembling or dissolving. Each student's work shares these recurring elements even as they independently explored a very personalized set of goals.
This exhibition is the final outcome of a great deal of unseen experimentations, revisions and creative risks. The challenges of an inquiry driven process are great, but so too are the rewards. Art students learning in this model develop skills in initiative, problem solving, research, self awareness, and visual communication. Congratulations to Ella, Brianna, Zohy, Jillian and Abigail on a successful exhibition.
– Paul Marshall, Visual Arts Teacher at IEWSS
