Artistic expression and creativity are central to Lebone II College. Subjects such as Visual Art, Design and Dramatic Arts ensure that our students enjoy a rich and varied subject offering that equips them with diverse skills.

We offer Visual Art as a subject that students participate in from Lower School and can take as a full-time subject in the Upper School through to Grade 12.

The subject involves theory and practical elements and is essentially a double-volume subject because both components require many hours of work. By the time students complete Grade 12, they’ve learnt about the theory element, from early modernism to contemporary and conceptual art in South Africa, and have a portfolio of work they can use when applying to study further.

Design also involves theory and practical components – not many schools offer it as a subject because of the time demands on students. It’s an entrepreneurial subject because it’s led by the needs of the end user or target market, where the designer creates a product based on a from the client, be they an individual or a company.

The subject covers four disciplines: communication design (formerly known as graphic design); environmental design, which looks at architecture; interior design; and theatre and exhibition design.

Design students also learn about product design, which covers everything from fashion, jewellery and furniture design to surface design, in which they create murals or fabric, textile or paper designs. Students also study the works of South African and international designers so they can see how design works in different social, environmental and cultural contexts.

Lebone II students who take Design as a subject have a competitive edge because universities and employers understand its value as a problem-solving subject. Design prompts students to identify problems in their communities, come up with solutions and improve the quality of life.

The subject not only enables students to pursue careers in fashion, industrial design or landscape architecture but also equips them with problem-solving and design thinking skills, which they can apply in any sector, be it engineering, medicine or law.