Art and Design
Art and Design at BISP
BISP students receive art lessons from specialist art teachers, all of whom are practicing artists, from Reception to Year 13. This breeds a culture of creativity at the school, and inspires students of all ages to express themselves through art.
The school’s multi-purpose art studio is a hub of artistic endeavour for all ages. Younger students are exposed to bigger, more complex work, which inspires them in their learning journey. Senior students display their work to younger year groups and receive open and inquisitive feedback. Overall, relationships build between years groups, unified towards the aim of artistic expression.
This culture of creativity leads to outstanding artistic achievement throughout the school. In Year 3, students produce 1m x 1m paintings, an endeavour far beyond that expected of their year group.
Upon graduating from the IB Diploma, BISP students have consistently achieved 7’s in Visual Art, the highest possible score in the subject.
The BISP Art Department is proud to offer partial scholarships (which may include boarding), for outstanding student artists.
Feel free to contact Head of Art Charlotte McGuigan with any questions via email at [email protected]
Visiting Artists
BISP hosts visiting artists from Thailand and around the world, on average, three times a year.
These artists work directly with students, teaching specialist skills or techniques. Recent visits have included work with a professional potter, acrylic painter, watercolourist, mix media artist, oil painter and Mandela pen illustrator.
This exposes students to artists with ongoing careers, who share their experiences of making a living from art. Our students witness unique skills and techniques in action at an extremely high level and learn the intricacies of work in different mediums.
Working with visiting artists provides students with focus days, off timetable, allowing students to immerse themselves in the study and fostering of creativity. Visiting artists exhibit work throughout their stay., which further inspires students throughout the school, feeding into an atmosphere of inspiration and passion.
Exhibitions
Wherever you are on campus, you’ll see student art.
BISP students from Reception up formally exhibit their work, and we end the year with the annual IB art exhibition. This exposure to art enables students to see each other’s work, and to learn from it, questioning the meaning and developing the vocabulary of art analysis.
Exhibiting students’ work also allows students to appreciate the technical development of work, since students will see artworks at various stages of production prior to display. It also provides a platform for personal expression, and we are proud to have seen students find avenues of fuller communication through those means offered by art.
As part of their education in art, BISP students will learn the fundamentals of curation, and of the possibility for multiple interpretations of art.
Trips
Art trips are integrated into our learning at BISP.
Seeing artwork in person is vital to develop a full appreciation of art. Each year, students visit art destinations to view art work first hand, take part in workshops and immerse themselves in art culture.
Recent art trips have included a trip to the galleries of Singapore, the Elsie Evans art retreat in Rayong and workshops in Bangkok.
Extracurricular art
Art is more than an academic subject at BISP.
As part of BISP’s extracurricular activity offering, students take part in medium specific clubs, such as after school pottery classes, as well as an art academy to support learning in IGCSE and the IB. The focus of these clubs extends that which is taught in subject lessons, and provides students with a space in which art can be developed for enjoyment, without the pressure of assessment.
Extra-curricular clubs and academies are supervised by practicing artists, teachers and an art technician to ensure that the curiosity of students can be supported by the development of skill and knowledge.
Outreach
Art is employed by students throughout the school as part of community and outreach projects.
Our CAS (creativity, activity, service) students at the IB level, harness the power of art to give back to the community. One project involves inviting 40 students from the local Asia Foundation Centre to participate in art lessons delivered by our IB art students.
At Key Stage 3 level, in which Service is integrated into the school curriculum, students are producing prints and artwork, for sale around the island, as part of a fundraising drive for local charities.
These service activities heighten appreciation for the advantages one has, encouraging empathy and developing the spirit of giving amongst our students.
Competitions and Commissioned Work
BISP hosts a number of school wide art competitions throughout the year, and takes part in international and regional art competitions.
This allows our students to present artwork to a wider audience and to compare their work to that of other students, both vital elements in the development of personal artistic style.
The requirement to produce work to meet a deadline and to a set brief provides real world skills and valuable experience.
BISP supports students who wish to produce commission work, through additional skills development, training and networking.
Such work provides students with vital experience, and professional contacts, and ease them into the demands of the professional world.
Internships
The BISP Art Department offers internships to aspiring artists, usually at University level or above.
These artists support students in our studio, not only in the teaching of the subject, but also providing the insights of one who is in higher education study, or at the early stages of their career as an artist.
Collaboration with other departments
Art integrates with other departments and programmes at BISP to enhance mutual delivery of learning.
Students as early as Year 3 use iPads to develop their digital drawing skills, and digital integration with the IT department sees students produce work in 3D modeling and printing, as well as tilt brush in virtual painting.
Collaboration with DT often involves students making artwork using a laser cutter.
Going beyond simply printing models, students print their own designs, created using industry-standard software such as ProCreate, Adobe Creative Suite and 3D printing software, Meshmixer and Blender and then printed in-house.
As part of a feature on cultural art from China and New Zealand, part of the Art Department’s commitment to an internationalised curriculum, students have worked with teachers from the Modern Foreign Languages Department to analyse explanations in Mandarin, and to better understand the art on display.
BISP’s wellbeing programme draws on the therapeutic benefits of art by offering workshops on activities such as pottery, painting and printmaking. These workshops factor into the overall wellbeing of students at the school, highlights the enjoyment in the process and the effect of art, and provides skills and practices that can be drawn upon for life.
The BISP Art Department provides workshops for teachers from Early Years upwards in skills to create art in a variety of media as well as display in their own classrooms, to ensure that the teachings of specialist art teachers can be built upon by fellow teachers throughout the school.
Studio
The BISP art studio is a multi-purpose, dynamic space, with tall windows looking out over the school’s beautiful surroundings.
Encouraging the culture of creativity at the school, the studio is always open during school and extracurricular hours, and opens on Saturday mornings, for students to drop in to continue with work.
The studio is bathed in natural light, and is home to a wide range of tools and equipment, including pottery wheels, sewing machines, printing press, iPads and pencils, standing easels, and workspaces.
Out of school hours, the studio is opened up to the wider community, allowing students to view and appreciate an array of styles and applications, and to be part of an expansive artistic community.
Student Voices
