Welcome to Sevenoaks School’ s IB Art Exhibition 2026
Reflections on the Art department
Ten years have passed since I showed my art at the IB exhibition. It was the first Sevenoaks School IB Art exhibition in London, and I’ m delighted that the Art department still draws strong cohorts of students to uphold this tradition.
The creative freedom cultivated by the Art department to experiment and explore different artistic techniques is testament to the great versatility and enthusiasm of staff. The Art department at Sevenoaks also offered me a therapeutic escape from the more rigorous and stressful elements of the IB; the practice of making and working with my hands is something that has stayed with me and remains central to my work as a conservator.
While the comparative studies and written reflections required in IB Art might be seen as a distraction from the‘ real’ artistic work, being able to articulate thoughts about your creative process helps to ground your work within an existing visual language and intellectual tradition. Indeed, I was particularly fond of these analytical elements, which sparked my love of writing about art and provided a critical framework that was invaluable during my History of Art degree.
Reflecting on my time at Sevenoaks, it is clear that creating art shaped how I interact with the world. The same curiosity and critical engagement I developed in the Art department continues to guide me today, both in my academic studies and my current work within the museum sector.
Freya Sackville West( OS 2016) Freya studied HL Visual Arts and was a member of the first cohort to exhibit at the Oxo Bargehouse in 2016.
Freya’ s IB work shown at the Oxo Bargehouse, March 2016