The IB Visual Arts exhibition this year took part last week with the largest group of IB Art students ever in Sandford! 15 students displayed a coherent body of artworks that were both aesthetically appealing and depicted symbolism of culture, identity, and global issues.

The exhibition is often a display of artworks created by the students over a period of their 2-year IB course. The IB Visual Arts program offered at Sandford School promotes the Arts as an integral part of everyday life, permeating all levels of human creativity, expression, communication and understanding. We offer studies in various art forms such as painting, drawing, graphic design, sculpture and fashion design.

The students were required to submit for assessment a selection of resolved artworks for their exhibition. The selected artworks showed evidence of their technical accomplishment during the visual arts course and an understanding of the use of materials, ideas and practices to realize their intentions. Students also evidenced the decision-making process which underpinned the selection of the artworks exhibited and a cohesive body of work for an audience.

The opening ceremony was exciting with a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony followed by opening remarks by Loza Mesfin in Spanish, Sarah Shaw in English and Tereza Tsedeke in Amharic. The students spoke reflectively on the challenges of learning throughout the pandemic and how they overcame these challenges to be able to meet the standardized requirements of the IB exhibition. There was also a magnificent performance of a song by Mikael Arto and on Piano, Bethel Alemayehu.