Welcome to the DIS Art Department page!

Getting a good education in the Visual Arts is important as is stimulates the growth of an exceptionally wide range of skills and sensibilities. Our art students at DIS are encouraged not just to think big and to seek exciting outcomes, but also to really engage with creative processes, and to reflect on the journey that they make. When studying Art in the Middle Years or the Diploma Programme, sketchbooks are a central part of our focus on process. Here are some of the skills that we focus on at both levels:

Research skills: the ability to explore the history of works, artists and ideas in the visual arts
Analytical skills: the ability to critically read, discuss, and write about works of art and design
Observation skills: the ability to select and record from real life, created set-ups
Creative thinking skills: the ability to explore and develop ideas, to think beyond the given and personal experience
Technical skills: the ability to work with tools and materials, explore techniques and media
Evaluation skills: the ability to review, evaluate and refine work as it progresses and apply a self-assessment

In our programme we include drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, ceramic sculpture and ceramic product design, graphic design, photography – Black and white photography development is available, Photoshop, and digital film as an option. The Art Department is located in the purpose-built atelier at the top of the school building.

About the Teachers:
 
Oliver Pope is currently a painter, but chose to specialise in digital print-making with Photoshop for his Masters Degree, and in sculpture for his BA (in particular, papier-mâché, plaster of Paris, and woodcarving). He has been in International education for ten years, working in the UK, Botswana, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates.
 
Claudia- Maria Luenig is a conceptual artist exhibiting in Vienna,  across Europe, South East Asia, Caucasus and Australia with a  focus on installation art during her Masters Degree and on sculpture for her BA. She is an examiner for the IBO, and curates an autonomous gallery space in Vienna’s 16th district called basement. She has been teaching art for 10 years in Vienna and Art and Interior Design for 4 years at the RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.