Chadwick International School hosted its fifth annual Open Studio Art Show on Wednesday, November 16th from 5 to 6 PM.
Traditionally, the annual art shows give the school’s art students, ranging from middle schoolers to high schoolers in the IB program a chance to show their artwork and processes to their visitors.
Specifically, this year’s art show was the first one for 11th grade students at Chadwick. They have experienced a trimester full of rigorous projects, having one project due every two weeks in average. By the time the art show was held, they had been able to finish another project and presented the final outcome to their visitors while they were working on their artist statements for their art pieces.
To find out how the art show felt to this year’s 11th graders, an interview was conducted with Luna Hwang, a junior at Chadwick.
Q. What do you like about the IB HL (High Level) Visual Art course?
A. What I like about this course is that it allows me to experience all the processes of becoming a real artist. In our 2~3 week projects, we do everything from researching one artist and his background to reflecting on our ideas to create an original piece. This wide variety of tasks allows me to experience the process of producing art of a real artist. I also like how I am trained to make good decisions for my final artwork as I need to reflect on my ideas, think about what a type of art represents and consider what effects the audience will have from my final work. For example, in our most recent project called “Spirituality,” I needed to evaluate what my spirituality is, and how I am going to express it through a genre of art called assemblage. I think I spent four days on how I was going to do all of this.
Q. What are some challenges you faced in this course?
A. One challenge I continuously faced with was too much works in a short period. I agree that the IB HL Visual Art course is equivalent to two other HL courses regarding the required works. Since there were so much to do, we had assignments almost every week. However, I was sure that I was on the right track because our teacher gave us clear directions and tips what our course’s requirements were. My biggest concern is the personal exhibitions I need to prepare in the future.
Q. What did you like about the art show, and what did you feel about it?
A. While students in the IB Music courses conduct concerts regularly and have more opportunities to present themselves to the audience; the art course students do not have the same opportunities. I think the art show is valuable in that it not only allows us to show our visitors what we’ve been doing but also to have 1-on-1 conversations. Therefore, for me, the art show is a motivation which pushes me to produce artwork that is of higher quality.
As such, this interview indicates us that the art show is a valuable opportunity for HL Visual Art students to present their outcomes and communicate with their visitors. Therefore, the art show is an event that should continue as a school tradition, or even be introduced to other schools, for it helps student artists grow in diverse ways.
Yenah Jang, G11
Chadwick International
By Yenah Jang