Art Making
There are as many approaches to making art as there are artists.
IB Art students are encouraged to try out different materials and techniques and through this experimentation discover which media and materials are most appropriate to their own artistic intentions and abilities. The artists that you study, the materials you choose to work with and the concepts (ideas) that you decide to explore will all help to shape and guide your development as an artist.
This section of the website explores the many approaches to making art, with practical tips and lessons, invitations to create, and to discover your artistic strengths and preferences.
Art Making Forms Requirement Process Portfolio
All students are required to work across different art-making forms in their Process Portfolios in order to gain some familiarity with techniques and materials. The Art Making Forms Table specificies a range of art making forms that are divided into three columns:
Two Dimensional Forms
Three Dimensional Forms
Lens-based, Electronic and Screen-based Forms
No constraints on media for Exhibition
For the Exhibition students can choose whatever art making forms they feel most competent in or best suited to their expressive purposes. Work can be in a single medium or a variety of media.
The medium has a message
Choosing an appropriate medium that is best suited to your intentions is like finding the right words to express your ideas. The materials and techniques an artist uses, the way the medium is handled, the surfaces, the kind of mark making, all of these contribute to the mood and meaning of the work. Each medium has its unique visual qualities, but it also has conceptual connotations related to the physical nature of the material and to its’ cultural, historical and social significance.
A well-chosen medium can give an artwork further layers of associated meaning. An artist may intentionally reference an aspect of culture or history through the choice of a particular medium or style.
A material or medium may also have its own set of social or political signifiers: for example, embroidery carries associations with the feminine, gold symbolizes wealth and power, or the divine, depending on the cultural context. Artists may also use materials that have strong associations to personal experiences.
A sample of what is in this section... explore and discover!
Art Seed Bank Index
The Art Seed Bank is a collection of short, captivating invitations to create, to think about art, to try something different. Each seed has links to artists to explore critical thinking.
Emerging Media
Although emerging media often includes technology as part of the process, it isnt neccessarily digitally made. Emerging media is a term that refers to media that explores new territories, the crossroads...
Performance Art
Performance art is an interdisciplinary art form that combines visual art with dramatic performance or action. It has its' historical roots in futurism and dada and became widespread in the 60's and 70's....
Beyond the Studio
Use it! That means the woods, fields, and streets, not just your classroom can be a place for making art.Draw outside the studio, in cafes, on the street, in parks, in nature and in the city
Collaborative Projects
Collaborative projects may make interesting material for the PP, but if the students wish to use the piece in their exhibition, then they must be able to demonstrate clearly which part of the work is...
Drawing Vocabulary
this page is also under Lesson:Elements of Drawing Discover The Formal Elements of surface, mark making, space, composition, and scale through these exercises. Gain a better understanding of terminology...
Mark Making Activities
4 drawing exercises to get off the screen and in touch with the physical act of drawingThe materials required for these activities include pencil, eraser, charcoal, ink, and chalk, but you could substitute...
Tonal Painting
Art Vocabulary: Tonal values are the gradations of tone from light to dark.To get a better impression of tone, close your eyes halfway so that the lightest and darkest parts of the object or scene you...
Picturing Interiors
This is a good time to observe the intimacy of your surroundings. let's turn to the subject matter of interiors.... long a favorite among artists of many eras. This can be rich subject matter for visual...
Documentary and Street Photography
Taking pictures on the street using mobile phones is a common practice for most young people today. Why not take something your students already do naturally and willingly and bring a bit more focus and...
Time Machine Photoshop
Using photoshop to "update" or re-imagine images from the pastA photo project using digital technology that draws on personal memory and narrative.Take an image from an old analogue family photo album...
Collage!
Collage is a personal favorite of mine and a great medium for low budget art rooms. Revisit this medium with your students and discover new artists and ways of making collage, enrich the Process Portfolio,...
Installation Art
The term Installation art describes an artistic genre that involves a transformation of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas outdoor interventions are often called Land...
Mad Materials
This page is intended to inspire an experimental approach to materials and to think beyond the most obvious solutions. Expose students to the possibilities of materials used in contemporary art and invite...
Textiles: Boro and Sashiko
I hadn't either until I went to an exhibition of Boro at the Kobe Fashion Museum in Japan....And then I wanted to know more.Boro ( ragged) is a Japanese tradition of mended and patched clothing and bedding....
Fashion Design
Many students express an interest in fashion. If this is you, then you might want to acquire some background knowledge and understanding so you can develop original thinking in this field.You can pursue...
Selected Pages
Art Making
Art Seed Bank Free
The Art Seed Bank is a collection of short invitations to create, to think about art, to try something different.Choose...
Art Making
Essential Art Supplies
What do you need to have to experiment with a range of art making forms at home without spending too much money? To assemble...
Art Making
Art Making Forms
In order to encourage ample experimentation with a range of techniques and media, there is minimum requirement of art-making...
Art Making
Collaborative Projects
Collaborative projects may make interesting material for the PP, but if the students wish to use the piece in their exhibition,...
Art Making
Introducing Techniques and Processes
As there are no specifications as to which techniques within the Art Making Forms Requirements are taught in IB Art, the...
Art Making
Mad Materials
This page is intended to inspire an experimental approach to materials and to think beyond the most obvious solutions. Expose...