“Lift Off” The Start or End of a Journey?
“Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another” John Dewey
With visual arts, we tend to make judgements on the ‘finished’ products that we see, whether they be a painting, a sculpture or a video. Philosopher John Dewey explained that all the experiences we have gained through our lives change the way we perceive or interpret a work of art. So when guests at our IB Visual Arts exhibition viewed our students’ wonderful work, they will have interpreted the pieces on many different levels. What is harder to see is the journey that students have travelled, in order to have arrived at the final outcome of a work of art. We were lucky to have curatorial rationales that often highlighted personal and difficult issues that needed to be confronted before the artworks were resolved. On reflection we start to get a sense of the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into making this eclectic mix of art. Every young artist in the exhibition has come a long way on their own creative journey and should rightly feel very proud of their achievements. Needless to say our guests, who numbered over 200, were very impressed with what they saw.