By ISB High School art teacher Joseph Stewart
Published on Thursday, November 14, 2024
Often when people think about art in schools, they envision the product. Paintings, drawings, and sculptures that look nice and brighten up corridors. But engaging in the artistic process teaches students much more than you may think. The subject is an invaluable vehicle to learn about our connections to the world, understand different cultural perspectives, develop literacy, and gain a deeper understanding of self.
At ISB, art provides joyful and challenging learning opportunities that students benefit from long after they leave art studios. While ISB’s oldest students continue to excel in International Baccalaureate (IB) courses and gain acceptance to top art institutions around the world, students of all ages build key academic and life skills each time they engage in the art making process.
Eco literacy
A good example comes from the artist residency that we are currently enjoying at ISB. Niamh Cunningham is midway through a three-week visit. She is working with students in Elementary, Middle, and High School to make art from natural materials found on the school grounds. This will culminate in a multisensory exhibition featuring sound, forest smells, and an installation emulating tree roots. Niamh believes that engaging in these artistic processes will develop in students what she calls “eco literacy.”
“Eco literacy is fostering a deep shared understanding of how we are connected with nature. Creatives can play a pivotal role in shifting societal perspectives and guiding us toward regenerative futures.” Niamh Cunningham, ISB artist in residence
Photos by Joseph Stewart, Yvette Stride, Feifei Zhao, and Chen Chen
Prior to the residency, High School art teacher Yvette Stride arranged for two IB students to assist Niamh on the professional artist’s project collecting individual “tree stories” from around the world. This real-world learning really helped student understanding of the role of art in societies.
“Because many of my artworks feature tree elements, Niamh Cunningham is an artist I studied in my IB portfolio. Meeting her in person has been invaluable to me personally. This process has significantly enriched my understanding of art in society, improved our language skills, and deepened our understanding of culture.” Joy H, Grade 12
Yvette has also established community links so that Middle and High School students can exhibit their art outside of school. Through this experience of sharing work with a wider audience, our students are forming links with creative individuals from other schools and organizations and developing stronger understanding of the depth of thought that goes into curatorial decisions. They’re also building the kind of portfolios that help get many ISB graduates into top art university programs around the world.
Another recent example of this came in October, when eight ISB students from Grades 6 to 11 were selected to participate in an exhibition in the well-known CUBE gallery in Beijing’s 798 art district.
“I have been passionate about origami for three years, especially obsessed with paper airplanes. The reason origami fascinates me is because of the infinite changes brought by dimensionality and folding. At first, I started learning from children’s origami works, and then came into contact with modern and fashionable origami. Now, I’m focused on researching and designing origami paper airplanes... This exhibition [at CUBE] gave me an opportunity to showcase my own work and received a lot of attention and praise from professional audiences, which greatly encouraged me.” Alvin G, Grade 6
'The greatest affirmation'
As well as branching out, our programs require students to look inward. There has been much discussion recently about problems caused by excessive amounts of screen time. We believe visual arts can be an antidote. Students learn to slow down and explore issues and themes in depth. They see firsthand the value of patience and perseverance and how this helps them develop both technical artistic competence plus conceptual thinking and understanding of self.
Written reflections in art can also help learners better understand their own identities. Our IB course starts with a self-portrait project that challenges students to think deeply about who they are and where they have come from.
“Art is more than a word to me. It is how I connect to the world. While there are no right or wrong answers, it challenges me to think uniquely. Art allows me to explore myself and the world from different perspectives.” Eugene H, Grade 11
In a world where technologies are developing at exponential rates, visual arts remain a unique subject in schools for students to slow down and develop creative and innovative ways of thinking that can be later applied to future technologies yet to be invented.
“The process of creating art is like constantly debugging and solving persistent problems. Improvements only come when you tackle things you feel you are not good at. This can be a mental challenge but, if you persist, you will eventually see the ideal picture. This is the greatest affirmation of studying art.” Rachel C, Grade 11
At the other end of the grade levels, Elementary School art at ISB is first and foremost student centered. Our artists in Kindergarten are excited for an upcoming project based on the book Glad Monster, Sad Monster. The project begins by reading the story, looking at the pictures and asking the question, “How do you know what each monster is feeling?” Then, over the next few weeks, students make their own feeling monsters with collage and paint.
The Kindergarteners learn art skills, fine motor skills, proportion, and portraiture, but more importantly they begin to think more deeply about themselves and their artwork. They discover that their art has meaning and can communicate with others, and they begin to think about how they can shape that meaning intentionally.
Literacy in many forms
Art can develop written literacy skills in students too. When we write, we want to put images in people’s heads. And when we make images, we often want people to connect them with specific words. As art teachers, we explore the dynamic of this, constructing mind mapping and written research tasks that challenge students to develop visual metaphors and think deeply about the power of chosen words in text-based art.
A successful recent example of this was metaphorical poetry that Grade 10 students wrote about mythological creatures. This was part of the process of planning sculptures, and the written task allowed students to gain understanding of their subject and connect human emotions to mythologies of different cultures.
Opening night
While parts of the art making process provide opportunities for introspection, at ISB, we also find regular ways for community building through art. Visual art in some ways is its own language and allows individuals from different cultures to connect. In the last year, we have taken IB students to visit the Snowland Arts training center (pictured) in central China’s Gansu Province and hosted an exhibition of parents’ and teachers’ artworks on campus.
Artistic opportunities will keep on coming thick and fast at ISB. Snowland artists will visit us on campus next week to work with classes. The exhibition resulting from Niamh Cunningham’s residency opens on November 25 and will remain on display until the end of the semester on December 13. We hope plenty of ISB community members will join us at the show to not only see some beautiful artwork but to discover the wider role that the art plays in students’ lives and academics.