IB Visual Art

Jessie D'Aloia, Year 12, Ridegway Campus

Towards the end of February, the Year 11 and 12 IB Visual Arts cohort attended an IB Diploma Visual Arts Seminar at the City of Glen Eira Town Hall. This seminar included a display of artworks from high achieving students from the graduating class of 2024, as well as talks from students, examiners and local artists.  

I found the seminar to be incredibly enriching and inspiring, demonstrating not only what is possible for me to achieve in my own art making, but also broadening my appreciation for both the artistic process, and the social and emotional impact of art. Each of the local artists talks showcased their own individualism and specialty with lots of passion. The way each artist talked about how they approached their work, but more specifically, what ideas they were capturing, made the connection between art and the social world a lot more transparent. 

Walking through the gallery of past student art also made me realise that, although the process of making our final works will be long and strenuous, there is also a lot of opportunity to include our own personality. The different styles and takes on subject matter and meaning, as well as the varied use of materials and techniques was incredible to see. In addition, the variation of artworks that scored well has made me, and the rest of the cohort, much more enthusiastic about our own practices.  

Attending this seminar was entirely worth it and offered so much for us to gain and learn from. Not only was the day full of fun, talking to and learning from past students and other students from other schools in the same position as us, but it also made the trajectory for the rest of my time in the IB Visual Arts class more reassuring and exciting.