As part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme, Mid-Pacific offers many IB courses to its students including the two year IB Visual Arts class. Students are required to create a curated collection artwork revolving around one theme which is expanded on in a written 400-700 word curatorial rationale. To both fulfill the class requirement and celebrate two years of growth, these collections are shown in Mid-Pacific’s Canopy Gallery towards the end of the academic year.

“It’s the most personal and introspective work that any of our art students work on. [They] are not afraid to show their peers what is in their mind and in their heart. These shows are truly the interest of the student, there is no teacher involvement in the content or what’s selected [to be shown]. It’s a true showcase of what is real to students,” IB Visual Arts teacher Jill Johnson said.

Despite the effort and attention to detail that goes into these exhibitions, they do not receive nearly enough attention from the Mid-Pacific or local community. The work of the artists in IB Visual Arts cannot be shown in just one image of the final show, but acknowledged at every step.

“All of my pieces are from places of very strong emotions, it’s an expression of what I’m feeling when I can’t put it into words. They tackle frustration, not only with other people but also myself and relationships overall. My art showcases things that don’t have a name, at least in English,” Doiguchi said.

“Light and shadows is an exploration of duality in myself. I really wanted to make a gallery that reflected who I am, and who I am is a bit darker than what I portray myself as. So, my gallery was really personal compared to other artworks that I have made in the past. Although light and shadow appear as opposites, they are independent. This reflects a broader idea that human experiences are not purely one extreme or another but instead exist within a nuanced in between. I hope people can relate to the topics to I tackle and get to know more about me,” Rudometkin said.

“I started with my appropriation of Hinduism and some of the aspects of it with my first piece in junior year. That didn’t go well, so I used the advice in my critique session to use different mediums, like clay, collage, or colored pencil. So, I started creating collages, maybe five or six. Then, I projected them on the board and used it as a demo for my other pieces. My first piece was juxtaposed with a vacuum, vintage lady cutout; which was made from American vintage magazines and Hindu aspects like multiple arms, lotus, and halos to speak about women empowerment. I liked how they were turning out so I created more, I thought it was a good way to convey my message without being too aggressive. Some topics are too much to hear, so I had fun with it,” Kotak said.

As each artist has their own experiences, each artist has a different idea or issue they seek to address through their body of artwork. These themes are allowed range, their worth not diluted by whether the artist chooses to speak to global challenges or personal reflections.

While curating and creating artwork is the most difficult part, the presentation the pieces are just as important in pulling together the narrative of the collection. To best showcase each artist’s ideas, each exhibition looks vastly different from one another.

“The pieces intertwined with each other. The large centipede, “Aluminum Life”, is the centerpiece and a person can start from either direction. The gallery is arranged like the circle of life. Starting from the left explores death and different views of how things may not seem as they are, but starting from the right exploring the view of life with beauty, disgust, and survival,” Bhattacharyya said.

“I’m glad it’s over. It was a nice experience, getting to see my friend’s artworks and exhibitions. Every gallery had a meaning to it and it was fun to make it ourselves and be independent. It pushed me to create more artworks and explore new mediums I had never touched before. Because my gallery was about design and I’m majoring in design, it was a good starting point for my skills,” senior Lani Kondo said.

Below, there are photos from all 2026 IB Visual Arts HL exhibitions.