Visual Art
The Visual Art programme at the International School of Stuttgart (ISS) nurtures creativity, critical thinking, and personal expression across all grade levels. Through a variety of artistic techniques and media, students explore and reflect on their learning, developing skills that enhance their ability to communicate ideas visually.
The programme encourages exploration, risk-taking, and creative problem-solving, fostering a deep appreciation for art in both cultural and personal contexts. Students engage with the broader world of visual art, gaining insight into the connections between artistic practice, cultural history, and self-expression.
Early Years Programme
Exploring Creativity and Expression in Early Years Visual Art
In the Early Years Visual Art programme, children are introduced to simple tools and techniques to create art, exploring textures, primary colors, shapes, and lines found in everyday objects. They learn to express their feelings and ideas through both two- and three-dimensional artworks, developing an understanding of contrast, composition, and the elements of design.
Throughout this process, children document their creative growth, building confidence as young artists and gaining an appreciation for how art can communicate emotions and personal experiences.
Grade 3
Content:
- Design Cycle/Design Process
- Problem / issue identification
- Design proposal
- Idea/solution generation
- Testing methods
- Success evaluation
- Improvement explanation
Skills
- Creating/editing of 2D graphics
- Presenting / communicating
- Producing and editing film
- Developing brand / identity
- Using structure as function
Early Years 3
Content
- Simple tools and techniques to create art
- Textures of familiar objects
- Primary colors (light, dark)
- Shapes in everyday objects
- Curved and straight lines
- Contrast: large/small
- Feelings and ideas about works of art
- Documentation of their strengths as creators of art
Skills
Early Years 4
Content
- Simple tools and techniques to create art
- Textures of familiar objects
- Primary colors (light, dark)
- Shapes in everyday objects
- Curved and straight lines
- Contrast: large/small
- Feelings and ideas about works of art
- Documentation of their strengths as creators of art
Skills
- Tearing
- Cutting
- Gluing / Connecting
- Drawing
- Painting
- Modelling
Early Years 5
Content
- Primary colors (light, dark)
- Shapes in everyday objects
- Natural lines seen in everyday objects
- Contrast: light/dark
- Textures of objects
- Elements of design in artworks to communicate feelings
- Composition, using principles of design to create narrative artworks
- Two- and three-dimensional works of art that express feelings and ideas inspired by personal experiences
- Feelings and ideas about works of art
Skills
- Cutting
- Drawing / Sketching: pencil, wax crayon, and pastels
- Connecting (glue, tape, etc.)
- Painting techniques with tempera and watercolors
- Modelling: clay and wire
Primary Years Programme (PYP)
Exploring Creativity and Expression
International School of Stuttgart (ISS) Visual Art programme is closely connected with the transdisciplinary themes of Primary Years Programme (PYP). The students extend their learning from homeroom inquiry in the visual art class to reflect on and enhance their learning, explore various art media to express themselves visually and appreciate the work of others. The learning environment is designed to encourage student agency, which is crucial to develop student’s confidence, self-advocacy, perseverance, risk-taking, creativity, and curiosity.
The students are stimulated to think and to articulate their thoughts in new ways, and through a variety of media and technologies, the creative processes taking place as the driving force in learning through inquiry. Students are exposed to a broad range of experiences that illustrate the field of visual arts, including architecture, bookmaking, ceramics, collage, costume design, drawing, graphic design, film, illustration, industrial design, installation, jewellery, land art, mask making and more.
Grade 3
Content:
- Design Cycle/Design Process
- Problem / issue identification
- Design proposal
- Idea/solution generation
- Testing methods
- Success evaluation
- Improvement explanation
Skills
- Creating/editing of 2D graphics
- Presenting / communicating
- Producing and editing film
- Developing brand / identity
- Using structure as function
Grade 1
Content
- Elements of art
- Browser card and name tag design with a focus on font, color, and shape
- City landscape with a focus on value and space
- Fruit face collage and leaf art: art with natural materials and elements
- Lantern for St. Martin’s day
- Pinatas for festival
- Home and transportation craft: different types of home and/or transportation with cardboard and other materials
- Force in art: different types of force-related art
- Product packing design
- Landscape observational drawing
Skills
- Self-organizing skills: following instruction and cleaning routine
- Drawing skills: drawing with pencil/pastel/marker
- Painting skills: painting with various materials (watercolor, tempera color, etc.)
- Craftsmanship: using different tools and materials to create crafts
- Construction skills: using various tools/strategies to attach and construct different materials
Grade 2
Content
- Facial proportion and self-portrait
- Pop art and its elements
- Abstract art
- Lantern for St. Martin’s day
- Elements of art, with a strong focus on lines, shapes, color, value, and texture
- Ancient art: Austrian aboriginal art
- Animal drawing
- Different habitats in a small space (shoe box)
- Science in art: special art techniques like wax resistant, glue, and salt art, etc.
Skills
- Drawing skills: drawing with pencil/pastel/marker
- Painting skills: painting with various materials (watercolor, tempera color, etc.)
- Planning skills: planning independently or with a partner, communicating/recording the plan in visual form
- Craftsmanship: using different tools and materials to create crafts
- Construction skills: using various tools/strategies to attach and construct different materials
Grade 3
Content
- Elements of Art
- Principles of Design
- Space/sky/galaxy with chalk pastel
- Poster/visual advertisement creation
- Ancient symbols and symbol design
- Stage background/props/costume creation
- Ancient Egyptian art
- Recycling and upcycling art
- Optical Illusion art
Skills
- Drawing skills: drawing with pencil/pastel/marker as well as chalk pastel
- Painting skills: painting with various materials (watercolor, tempera color, etc.)
- Planning skills: planning independently or with a partner, communicating/recording the plan in visual form
- Craftsmanship: using different tools and materials to create handmade products such as poster cards, wall decorations, etc.
- Construction skills: using various tools/strategies to attach and construct different materials
Grade 4
Content
- Principles of Design
- Digital Art: digital comic/animated video to reflect human rights/responsibilities
- Pen art: fiber pen art to capture the movement and present a natural disaster
- Lego self-portrait: cultural self-portrait as a Lego person
- Cultural art: various artistic styles from different cultures
- 3D sketch and one-point perspective
- Installation art: large installation art with recycled materials
- Migration art: poster to reflect self-migration history
Skills
- Drawing skills: drawing with pencil/pastel/marker
- Painting skills: painting with various materials (watercolor, tempera color, etc.)
- Printmaking skills: using poly boards and rollers to create printing art
- Planning skills: planning independently or with a partner, communicating/recording the plan in visual form
- Craftsmanship: using different tools and materials to create crafts
- Construction skills: using various tools/strategies to attach and construct different materials
Grade 5
Content
- Surrealism and various ways to express our feelings/thoughts through art
- Rule of mechanism, wooden models design and creation with tools and materials from maker space
- Two-point perspective drawing and multi-view design sketch
- Film making: Claymation video creation with self-edited stories and self-made clay models
- Reflective art: artistic piece that reflects the research findings and personal action
Skills
- Drawing skills: skillfully drawing with various media and different drawing techniques
- Painting skills: painting with various materials (watercolor, tempera color) using different painting techniques
- Planning skills: planning independently or with a partner, communicating/recording the plan in visual form with clear details and outcomes
- Shaping skills: using clay/papier-mâché to shape forms and create sculptures
- Craftsmanship: using more advanced tools and materials to create crafts
- Construction skills: using various tools/strategies to attach and construct different materials
Middle Years Programme (MYP)
Exploring Imagination and Identity
Visual Art in the Middle Years Programme (MYP) seeks to stimulate young imaginations, challenge perceptions, and develop creative and analytical skills. Involvement in the arts encourages students to understand the arts in context and the cultural histories of artworks, thus supporting the development of an inquiring and empathetic world view.
The arts challenge and enrich personal identity and build awareness of the aesthetic in a real-world context. Through development of the imagination, students can become more empathetic and compassionate, they can enrich their cultural lives and discover new ways to contribute actively both to their own communities and to the world.
Grade 6
Content:
- Design Cycle/Design Process
- Problem / issue identification
- Design proposal
- Idea/solution generation
- Testing methods
- Success evaluation
- Improvement explanation
Skills
- Creating/editing of 2D graphics
- Presenting / communicating
- Producing and editing film
- Developing brand / identity
- Using structure as function
Grade 6
Content
- Colour theory
- Artists: Hokusai, Van Gogh, Hundertwasser, Escher, Jean Tinguely
- Art forms: Collage, graphite rubbings, line and mark making landscapes, West-African Masks
- Keywords: Foreground, middle-ground, background, bird’s eye view, dashed, curved, spikey, straight, rough, smooth, shading, highlight, stripes, parallel, horizontal, one point perspective, observation, form, texture
Skills
- Drawing still life
- Line and mark making techniques
- Collagraph printing
- Clay modelling, glazing
- Patterns and Tessellation
- Collage
- Drawing techniques
- Drawing from life (inside and outside)
Grade 7
Content
- Decorative maps
- Marine ecosystems
- Artists: Grayson Perry, Van Gogh, Matrakci Nasuh, Kathy Prendergast
- Colour theory
- Art forms: Collage, line and mark making maps, paper mache and wire sculpture
- Keywords: Form, texture, implied texture, shape, pattern, gradient, armature, primary source, secondary source, animal categories: reptile, mammal, crustacean, arthropod, fish
Skills
- Drawing from life
- Continuous line drawing
- Line and mark making techniques
- Collage
- Paper mache sculpture
- Watercolour painting
- Clay modelling, glazing
- Patterns
- Drawing techniques – line drawing, applying shadows and highlights to describe 3D form
Grade 8
Content
- Compositions of artwork: crowded/sparse, symmetrical/asymmetrical, balanced/unbalanced, foreground/middle ground/background, positive/negative space
- Artists: Hans Holbein, Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, René Magritte
Skills
- Creating compositions with a viewfinder, reduction lino printing
- Drawing from life
- Continuous line drawing
- Line and mark making techniques
- Linear perspective – one- and two-point perspective
- Acrylic painting techniques
- Drawing techniques – line drawing, applying shadows and highlights to describe 3D form
Grade 9
Content
- Collage juxtaposition
- Investigation into the work of artists
- Formal analysis of artwork using elements and principles
- Surrealist assemblage
- Artists: Salvador Dali, René Magritte, Joseph Cornell, Neo-Rauch, Jeremy Deller, Andy Warhol, Banksy
Skills
- Screen printing techniques: merging photos using Photoshop, transforming into acetate stencils, cutting acetate stencils, flooding screen, pulling print, off-set register, proof print, textured paper
- Assemblage techniques including: Clay / 3D techniques
- Pencil and coloured pencil drawing; collage
- Acrylic painting techniques including: photographic composition techniques; manipulating colours on Photoshop; enlarging images using a grid; identifying contour lines, mixing colours, applying paint
- Drawing from life
- Continuous line drawing
- Drawing techniques – line drawing, applying shadows and highlights to describe 3D form
Grade 10
Content
- Contour drawing – Use of line to define edge: Contour/Blind contour
- Use of line to create volume: cross contour
- Printmaking – Intaglio Engraving
- PCUP (eAssessment): Open-ended techniques – in this unit, each student can choose which media to focus on, as they respond to a prompt given by the IB
Skills
- Drawing from observation
- Watercolor
- Creating a dynamic composition
- Intaglio printmaking
- PCUP: Skills and techniques depend on students’ choices
Diploma Programme (DP)
The Three Pillars of the IB Diploma Visual Arts Course: Critic, Maker, and Curator
The IB Diploma programme Visual Arts course revolves around three main aspects of art practice: theoretical practice, art-making practice and curatorial practice. An IB Visual Arts student is all of these: a critic, a maker and a curator:
Theoretical Practice (the critic): Using investigative strategies, critical thinking, comparative analysis and reflection, students will examine various art forms and artists from different times, places and cultures. They will investigate different techniques and processes, enquiring into their contextual evolution. They will explore ways of communicating knowledge in both visual and written forms.
Art-making practice (the maker): Through exploration and experimentation students will discover and apply a variety of artistic techniques. They will develop their own concepts throughout this explorative process and, with reflection and self-evaluation, produce a considered body of work.
Curatorial practice (the curator): Through careful, informed viewing of artworks and exhibitions students will develop an ability to formulate their own considered response. They will begin to articulate your intentions for developing and displaying their own work. They will also consider the relationship between artist and audience and what it means to exhibit work; learn to select and present their own work effectively; and articulate intentions and the connections between their artworks.
Grade 6
Content:
- Design Cycle/Design Process
- Problem / issue identification
- Design proposal
- Idea/solution generation
- Testing methods
- Success evaluation
- Improvement explanation
Skills
- Creating/editing of 2D graphics
- Presenting / communicating
- Producing and editing film
- Developing brand / identity
- Using structure as function
Grades 11 & 12
Content
Visual Arts in Context
- What are the social, historical, political, and intellectual contexts of each of the works explored?
- How do the artworks reflect aspects of the world in which they were created?
- What experiences of the world does the audience bring to their interpretation and appreciation of the artworks?
- Which critical methodologies are most appropriate to analyse, interpret and evaluate the artworks?
- How has exploring these contexts influenced the students’ own art-making? (HL only)
Process Portfolio
- Investigating how processes in art have changed and how media or techniques have developed or technologically evolved over time.
- Familiarization with various art genres, styles, regional schools, and associations.
- Workshops in and experience with a range of media, techniques, and equipment available to students within the art department and elsewhere within the school.
- Identification of expertise available to students, within the school and locally (such as local practising artists, the areas of special interest of art department staff, and other relevant staff expertise in information and communication technology (ICT), design technology, and so on).
Exhibition
- Informed by their responses to work and exhibitions they have seen and experienced, students formulate personal intentions for creating and displaying their own artworks.
Visual Arts Methods
- Evaluating how their ongoing work communicates meaning and purpose.
- Producing and selecting a body of artwork through a process of reflection and evaluation, showing a synthesis of skill, media, and concept.
- Considering the nature of “exhibition” and thinking about the process of selection.
Skills
Students will be able to analyse artworks, structures, and form of the pieces of artworks.
Visual Arts Methods
- What media, processes, and techniques have been used in each of the artworks?
- What aspects of the processes and techniques are conventional or innovative?
- How have formal qualities, such as the elements and principles of design, been used and to what effect (or affect)?
- What motifs, signs, and symbols have been used in the works and what do these communicate to the audience?
- How are the artworks evaluated?
- How have the artists’ methodologies influenced the student’s own art-making? (HL only)
Communicating Visual Arts
- What methods of organization and presentation most effectively communicate knowledge and understanding?
- How can visual organizers and graphics be used to convey information more effectively than words alone?
- Who is the audience for the comparative study? What prior understandings can be assumed?
Process Portfolio
- Visual Arts Methods
- Art-making experiences to facilitate individual experiences in media and techniques (including two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and lens-based, electronic, and screen-based forms) with particular reference to the historical development of processes and techniques, and different cultural and traditional uses of these.
- Investigating the art-making practices of other artists and allowing their techniques and practices to inform student art-making.
- Considering and recording the potential of these experiences in the visual arts journal, reflecting on intentions and ideas.
- Visual recordings of practical processes.
- Exploring digital means of capturing art-making practice as it occurs and creating a record of experimentation and exploration with acquired skills.
- Communicating Visual Arts
- Reflecting upon their developing work with particular focus on how the intended meaning and purpose are communicated.
- Identifying opportunities for further development in the work being undertaken.
- Critiquing their successes and failures in relation to their intentions and considering how their developing work might impact an audience if presented for public display.
- Communicating Visual Arts
- Selecting and presenting resolved works for exhibition.
- Explaining the ways in which the works are connected.
- Discussing how artistic judgments impact the overall presentation.
- Considering and explaining the impact of their work on different audiences (HL only).
Timeline
- Initial planning for the Comparative Study (June)
- First draft (August, week after the summer holidays)
- Comparative Study (final draft) (early October)
- Semester 1 critique (HL 5 pieces, SL 3 pieces)
- Exhibition work (4-7 pieces SL, 8-11 pieces HL, completed by early March)
- Process Portfolio (complete by mid March)
Downloadable Curriculum
Access detailed curriculum overviews and guidelines in PDF format.
Glossary of Terms
Familiarize yourself with key abbreviations and terminology used throughout our curriculum.
Learning & Assessment
Discover our curriculum’s learning objectives, assessment strategies, and resources.