Fifteen 11th-grade Visual Art students are still dreaming of their time wandering the streets of Paris after visiting the Louvre, Pompidou, Museum of Modern Art, Dior Gallery, and Musee d'Orsay last week. Students also enjoyed a street art tour and art workshop during the 4-day trip.
The goal of the trip was to prepare students for the three components of the IB Diploma Programme Visual Arts curriculum: exhibition, process portfolio, and comparative study. While students got the chance to visit many major galleries, the trip was also highly interactive and provided students ample opportunity to create their own artwork during the trip. After each gallery visit, students sat and sketched and made notes on artworks that could inspire their future work. Students took a street art tour, specifically around the 13th arrondissement where the Major of Paris has invested in commissioning a number of street artists to paint entire sides of urban buildings. Students even got the chance to create their own street art mural during a workshop where they learned how to use spray paint to create a 14-letter word in graffiti-style letters.
Going to Paris enables the students to be exposed a spectrum of different art. Many get to see the brushstrokes and colours of Monet and Van Gogh's masterpieces for the first time in their lives. In addition to well-known artists, the trip emphasizes that the art world is limitless.
11th-grader Claudia confirmed that “we were able to see a lot of museums with different types of art and techniques. What stuck out to me the most was the Dior gallery. It was not only the dresses themselves, but also the way they were presented which was artistic. I am very grateful to have gone since it allowed me to sketch and draw ideas as well as see different techniques for my future art pieces”. Her classmate Zoe echoes that the trip was very impactful because it exposed students to a vast spectrum of art. Zoe expressed that she “loved the opportunity to see artworks from across the decades and explore new museums and galleries”.
Trip organizer and IB Visual Arts Teacher Phillippa Lior explains that the Paris trip breaks stereotypes around what is considered high art. Ms. Lior wants to show students that “art has moved on. We go and see contemporary art which allows students to see that art has changed dramatically and the boundaries have vastly moved. It opens their minds to the potential art that they can create”.