FIS Upper School Visual Arts Department
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FIS Upper School Visual Arts Department |
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| Here you can learn about some of the recent museum trips, special projects and exhibitions outings that have been sponsored by the Upper School Visual Arts Department recently, as well as look at slide shows of our students engaging in activities that enhance their education in art beyond what is outlined in our curriculum.
Kalahari Experience: A Vernissage for a Very Special Student Exhibition On Wedneday, 12 December 2008, FIS celebrated the opening of a very unique exhibition of student work. Emir (a grade 12 student enrolled in the Diploma Level Visual Arts at FIS) returned in 2007 from his experience in the Kalahari desert, where FIS has been working with the local South African authorities for nearly 20 years to build schools, raise the eductaion level of the people of that area and develop closer global ties between their community and ours. During his time there, Emir had taken hundreds of stunning photos to form a photo essay of his impressions of the people and life in the Kalahari. With sponorship from both the Head of School, Mark Ulfers, and the Upper School Visual Arts Department, Emir assembled 24 large-scale, beautifully printed images from his photo essay for exhibition in the school's Arts, Science & Technology building from 3-19 December 2008. His images were for sale, with all proceeds of the sales going to support the continuing efforts of the Kalahari Experience project at FIS. Well done, Emir! Click here for more information on the FIS Kalahari Experience.
Susanne Wadle, gifted construction and installation artist, made a return to the Wiesbaden campus at the end of May to conduct a three-day workshop for students in the lower grades there. Working with Ms. Trebel and her Grades 2 to 6 artists, Susanne directed teams of busy workers in the construction of large-scale architectural forms made of different thicknesses of bamboo poles lashed together. Some of the critical joints needed additional structural enhancement and were reinforced with papier mache for extra strength and durability. several of the structures actually exceeded 3 meters (10 feet). Students learned about weight distribution, flexibility of materials and the effects of wind while striving to erect graceful geometric forms. Click here or on the images above for a slide show of their efforts. The finished sculptures, six in all, remained outside the school for a period of time beofre they were dismantled. Sections of three of them remain on display in the large interior spacde of the central atrium of the school. Another successful and creative workshop by Susanne and her 200 helpers. Well done, ISW artists! (Click here for Slide Show of Susanne's 2006 sculpture workshop at ISW)
FIS Students at Documenta XII, 13 Sept. 2007 For a slide show of the day's events, click here.
And so the day begins. A tense bus ride - two hours avoiding traffic jams and construction. Hessian fields and crumbling castles silhouetted against the hazy skies. And then we are there. Sporadic movement. Instructions. Guidance. Groups led off by hesitant teachers. Divided. One group heads for the Friedricianum and the other the Neue Gallerie. In the end we will all meet down in the valley in the Aue Pavilion.Yet our students seem to thrive on the stress of wanting to take it all in. They want to dare themselves to see it all. That's clear. They rush. They stop. Gawk. Ponder and move on. A sense of purpose. It lasts until dusk. There aren't many moments like this - precious few. One of the greatest art events of the decade, and our IB students are here to see it, to pick their way through the pavilions, skirt the collapsed arch, rake their hands through the dried poppy field and wait in line for their hand baggage at each exit. This is Documenta. Evasive. Informal. Clean. Marginally provocative. Humorous and engaging. Down to earth. Egalitarian, in its way. This is a day looking at contemporary art without blinking or giggling; it's one of the more memorable challenges our students will have in their high school education and one moment in their art education which will continue to benefit them for the next two years. It is a playground and a milestone at once.
Meet Examiner Ron Kim The gruelling two-year program in Visual Arts at the Diploma level culminates in the Candidate Interview - the "exam" for all intents and purposes - for all second year art students at FIS. The interview is conducted every year by a visiting external examiner, usually an experienced IB Diploma level art instructor from another international school like FIS. For the second consecutive year, we have been fortunate to have Ron Kim, Head of Visual Arts at the International School of Hilversum, Holland, as our visiting examiner. Ron brings his many years of IB art teaching experience, his keen knowledge of art, past and present, and a very friendly, supportive and objective interview style to FIS in April. The Art Department at FIS greatly appreciates his time, his talents and his commitment to the IB Art program. Click on the photo above for a slide show of Ron in action, examining students at FIS this past April.
A Feast for the Eyes (only)! Grade 10 Students put on the 2006 Ceramic Desserts display in FIS Cafeteria - click here for a slide show of their creations! The Annual Feast for the Eyes (only!) display, which has delighted FIS audiences every spring for five years now, returned again for 2006 when Mr Trebel's Grade 10 Foundations Art class set up their ceramic works in the cafeteria during the weeks of 26 April to May 19. In an effort to get them to learn the possibilities and limitations of various common art materials, Mr Trebel asks each of the students in the Foundations class to create a delicious-looking dessert using clay, paint, varnishes, acrylic emulsion and acrylic modelling paste. The finished works must be realistic enough to lure viewers into thinking that they could eat them if they tried. The results, always a hit at FIS, speak for themsleves. Remember - look, but don't try to eat!
Click here for a slide show of last year's (May 2005) Feast for the Eyes exhibition.
The Feast for the Eyes (only!) exhibition 2006 was mouth-wateringly tantalizing art! also Grade 10 Abstractions 2007-08 Exhibit to Open in Upper School Art Department Gallery Click here to go to Student Work page where a gallery of Grade 10 Abstractions can be viewed.
The month of April is a high-pressure time for IB Art students in Europe, as Visiting Examiners - experienced art instructors from other European international schools appear in exhibition spaces to conduct their exams in Visual Arts. Mr Trebel, Head of Visual Arts at FIS, has been examining students for many years. This year, his responsibilities included trips to schools in Luxembourg, Stuttgart, Weimar, two locations in Denmark and Berlin. There he interviewed over 40 students in an attempt to help provide objective assessment of their studio work. Click here or on the image for a slide show of Mr. Trebel's efforts to interview the students at the Nelson Mandela State International School in Berlin in April 2008. Pictures courtesy of the school's art IB art instructor, Florentine Baumann. |
Mr. Andrew Fletcher, of the International School of Stuttgart, examines The artwork of Katie, a second year IB student at FIS. Click here for a slide show of images from the Mock Exams at FIS last year. Mock Exams 2009 Mock exams this year occurred 30 November to 2 December and featured visiting examiners from two prominent international schools in Germany. FIS welcomed Ms Katja Milker (Thuringia International School), and Mr Andrew Fletcher (International School of Stuttgart) for three days to its hallways to examine the 16 Diploma Level art students who are approaching graduation in May. This year, for the second time, we brought in two complete strangers - that is, objective observers - to give a more accurate assessment of our students. Making it real - that's what education at FIS is all about. And this year, the seniors had it VERY real. We extend our appreciation to our two distingushed and professional visiting mock examiners and we would like to extend an invitation to any experienced IB visual arts teacher to come to our school in the first week of December (perhaps as a professional development exercise) and mock examine our students. Please contact the Head of Visual Arts if you are interested in participating in our visting mock examiner program.
A brief video of the Mock Exam experience at FIS in 2008
40 Students in the IB Visual Arts program at FIS with Ms Murray in the Roemer Platz in Frankfurt on their excursion to the city's museums
Miriam, Greta and Karolin ask Mr. Trebel about some of the Contemporary pieces in the Staedel's Constellations I exhibit. IB Diploma Level classes visit the Staedel in Frankfurt, 20 October 2006 The annual tradition continues! Grade 11 and 12 students from FIS are accompanied every fall on a pilgrimage to the great museums of Frankfurt to see firsthand some of the best painting and sculpture that central Europe has to offer. This year's visit took us to the world-famous Staedel museum on the Main river in central Frankfurt, where for and entire day our students came face to face with Botticelli, Vermeer, Rembrandt and Tintoretto, as well as Klein, Kiefer, Richter and Serra. They were accompanied by Mr. Trebel, Ms. Murraya nd Mr. Sinclair (our vice-principal and resident art enthusiast). The students were given four serious and demanding tasks to complete in the museum, all designed to highlight Critical and Contextual Research in their sketchbooks. They were also asked to reflect upon their visit and to do an hour's skecthing from paintings they found in the galleries there. Click here for a slide show of the day's events in images.
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