The Visual Arts Journal: Authentic Exploration in the New IBDP Visual Arts Guide

The Visual Arts Journal: Authentic Exploration in the New IBDP Visual Arts Guide

As I start this school year with the new IBDP Visual Arts 2027 guide in hand, I’m rediscovering how powerful the Visual Arts Journal truly is. Beyond a simple classroom sketchbook, it serves as a thinking space, research workbook, and identity map for each student.

Highly recommend: Oxford Resources for IB: DP Visual Arts Course Book, by Nathaniel Katz, Jayson Paterson, and Simon Poppy

Under the IBDP Visual Arts syllabus updated guide, there’s a stronger emphasis on student-led inquiry and authentic exploration, a direction that aligns beautifully with how I’ve always taught. But what feels different now is the structured freedom the new curriculum offers through Stages of Research, and how clearly the journal supports each phase, from ideation to curatorial reflection.

The Stages of Research, Illustrated

The new guide encourages students to follow a research process that includes:

1. Identifying Areas of Interest – What matters to you? What sparks curiosity or emotion?

2. Framing Research Questions – What do you want to understand or challenge?

3. Exploring Artists, Contexts, and Ideas – Who has done something similar? How did their context shape their work?

4. Testing, Reflecting, and Iterating – What happens when you test techniques or approaches in your own way?

5. Refining and Synthesizing – What works best? What needs more time?

6. Presenting & Curating – How do you communicate your journey visually and verbally?

Each of these stages comes to life in the pages of a Visual Arts Journal.

Octopus Thinking in the Journal

One of the metaphors I often share with my students is that of the octopus—a visual symbol for branching out ideas. I’ve seen students begin with a single phrase or concept in the center of a page (like “power,” “home,” or “blurred identities”), and then the tentacles reach out in all directions: artists, themes, mediums, techniques, color palettes, symbolism, locations, even quotes and music.

It’s this kind of lateral, open-ended thinking that the new guide supports—and the journal is where it organically unfolds.

From Covers to Concepts: The Joy of the First Pages

This year, I was fascinated by the care and intention my students put into their journal covers. Some chose textured fabrics from home, others filled theirs with tiny illustrations or symbolic objects. These choices already hint at their future exhibition aesthetics—and I find that so exciting.

In the first few pages, I’ve seen everything from handwritten poems and ink portraits to timelines of personal art influences. These visual traces of identity and experimentation give me insight into how they’re internalizing the guide’s expectations, and how they’ll navigate the complex intersections of skill, voice, and research throughout the year.

A Word on the IBDP Changes: HL and SL Assessment Shifts

With the 2027 syllabus updates, it’s also important to highlight what’s changed in terms of assessment:

• Art-Making Inquiry Portfolio (both HL and SL) — This common task requires students to present evidence of how, guided by their artistic intentions, they developed a visual language through one or more lines of inquiry, engaging with a variety of art-making forms and creative strategies.

  
  

• HL Artist Project — At Higher Level, instead of the traditional Comparative Study, HL students now complete an Artist Project. This involves sustained realisation of work, curation in context, connections to other artists, and a guiding intention towards an audience or purpose.

• SL Connections Study — At Standard Level, rather than a full Comparative Study, SL students complete a Connections Study. Here, they link one of their resolved artworks to other artists’ work and to contextual frameworks, demonstrating cultural significance and connections between their work and broader art practices.

• Resolved Artworks Body (Internal Assessment) — For both HL and SL, the IA task requires a body of five resolved artworks. The difference lies in the additional requirements at HL: HL students must also include evidence of the selection process from a wider production (i.e., images of three non-selected works) and critical reflection for each piece.

• Exhibition is no longer a mandatory assessment component. The requirement for students to submit work from an exhibition has been removed. Schools may still support exhibitions as part of the learning experience, but it is no longer a formally assessed task.

• Word counts and balance of writing and images — The new model emphasises a balance between visual and written evidence, with explicit word-counts introduced to ensure the written component is cohesive with the visual work.

Because of this new structure, I see the Visual Arts Journal as even more central to student success. It’s where connections are formed, voices emerge, and growth is documented in real time

Not Just for IB Students

And let me be clear: even students not enrolled in the IBDP benefit tremendously from keeping a Visual Arts Journal. Whether they’re in an advanced high school art class or exploring creative electives, journals help them:

• Build confidence in their personal style

• Reflect on artistic choices

• Study contemporary and historical artists in context

• Plan and execute meaningful artworks

• Prepare for college-level portfolios and interviews

I’ve even had students outside the IB track choose to follow the journal structure I teach—and watching them flourish through this format is a testament to its flexibility and depth.

Why the Journal Still Matters—Now More Than Ever

In our fast-paced, screen-heavy world, the journal becomes a quiet rebellion, like a place to slow down, reflect, and make. But it’s also a professional tool: one that will anchor each student’s growth, help me support their thinking, and prepare them for life beyond the classroom.

It holds messy sketches, critical reflections, research annotations, and those rare “aha!” moments where everything clicks.

As a teacher, nothing is more rewarding than flipping through the pages and seeing evidence of thought made visible.

Final Thoughts

If you’re teaching IBDP Visual Arts, or simply guiding young artists toward deeper self-expression, know that the Visual Arts Journal is a container for the creative mind to freely explore and create.

Glue that scrap of fabric. Draw with the “wrong” pen. Map out your influences. Reflect on your frustration. You’re building more than a sketchbook. You’re building your artistic voice.

And I can’t wait to see where this journey leads.

Ms. Mila

Visual Arts Educator | Researcher | Cultural Explorer