Visual arts are a universal language everyone can use to express and communicate with others, across cultures and borders. Since the start of time, it reflects the period and culture from which it is created, documenting humanity’s existence. An integral part of our daily life, visual arts are imbued in every aspect of human creativity, expression, and communication.
The art forms range from the traditional, conventional to the increasingly varied and diverse contemporary art practices associated with new and emerging media embedded in local and wider communities, societies and cultures. Besides being visual, art can also be auditory or performative manifestations, expressing the artists’ conceptual, imaginative, or technical proficiency.
Incidentally, the impact of visual arts extends beyond decorative surface value to encompass ritual, spiritual, religious, social, political and functional purposes. Visual arts are therefore not just the creation of artwork but also about meaning, making the way we appreciate and respond to the art practices by others global. Theories and practices in the visual arts are dynamic and ever-changing, and connect many areas of knowledge and human experience through individual and collaborative exploration, creative production and critical interpretation.
SISHK has aligned our school’s mission statement to that of the International Baccalaureate (IB) which is to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. As such, visual arts is a suitable platform for students to engage in social, cultural, environmental, economical, and political issues within and across local, regional, national, international and intercultural contexts.
Through inquiry based learning, visual arts students develop an appreciation and sensitivity for the aesthetic diversity in their immediate surroundings and the world around them, to become proactive and responsible global citizens of tomorrow who are critically informed learners, creators, critics and patrons of visual culture.
As a unique means of expression, visual arts is key in igniting students’ curiosity through keen observation of the world around them and an accessible platform for students to make meaning of their learning through diverse knowledge and experiences in everyday life. It is a channel to communicate their ideas, beliefs, emotions and thoughts in a myriad of media and art forms, enabling them to navigate the complexities of the world with increased awareness and aesthetic sensibilities.
The Studio Habits of the Mind (SHoM) from Harvard’s Project Zero proffers eight dispositions (develop craft, engage and persist, envision, express, observe, reflect, stretch and explore, understand community) that our artists use to develop creative and critical thinking that span across every discipline.