Visual Arts

The art curriculum begins with an exploratory course designed to offer students a broad range of artistic experiences using 2-D and 3-D approaches and materials including: pencil, charcoal, ink, paint, clay, metal, plaster, and a variety of papers and other materials for special projects. These projects address observation skills, composition, design, perspective, color and animation. Through their art, students come to enjoy the creative process and value their own work as well as the work of others.

As students continue in the visual art program through Level I, II and III courses, they improve their technical skills, increase conceptual awareness, and gain an understanding of symbol and image as it relates to their academic work and the world at large. Problem solving and the generation of creative, independent thought within the context of community are goals for the visual arts program. Students will have the opportunity to explore new media and methods and will be encouraged to apply energy, imagination and passion while learning particular skills, concepts and techniques. Students will participate in group critiques designed to bridge the gap between visual and verbal languages.

In two-block Focus classes, students will have the freedom to design their own projects within a set of goals. One project goal will be to focus on a specific area (i.e. painting) and to deeply investigate the media, methods, and ideas involved with that art form, producing a series of works. Another project outcome may be the integration of artistic ideas with academic ideas to produce a small body of research and artistic works in response to the concepts and issues discovered. They will keep a journal marking their growth in creating work from conception and development to final product and exhibition.

Special Project courses are designed by the student with teacher mentorship. All aspects of the project, from conception to exhibition, will be created by the student.

Art Forms
This level 1 course is based on in-depth experimentation is a variety of media: drawing, printmaking, painting, sculpture and folk art (such as weaving, batik, basketry, wood or stone carving). We look at the history and use of the media, personal experience creating imagery and how different media affect aesthetic goals and artistic expectations.

Visual Thinking
This is a level 2 integrative course. We take concepts, problems and ideas from various arenas such as botany, quantum physics, literature, politics, and create visual responses: objective and subjective interpretations of the ideas involved. Media will be mixed according to the aesthetic needs of the outcome and will include drawing, painting, sculpture, graphic design, multi-media.

Painting 1
This upper level course provides a focus on Painting; discovering the unique characteristics of this media, history and painters, methods and approaches to seeing and interpreting visual information and ideas into paint on canvas. Composition, shape, value, color theory and markmaking are all part of the language of painting as are other elements of art and principles of design. Students will learn basic and intermediate skills and understandings, working from a variety of subjects and a wide range of styles or approaches.

Drawing
Drawing is the basic visual art form. It is the act of making intentional marks on a surface. This upper level class will venture into this rich and deceptively simple world to explore its many sides. Students will experiment using pencil, brush, pen, stick and charcoal on a variety of surfaces. They will dive into the depths of precise detail and swim to the surface of suggestive ambiguity. They will draw from life as well as from their imaginations while secretly learning technique, composition, value-rendering, and perspective. Most importantly, they will learn to see, suspend their preconceptions, have fun and express themselves. A few highlights: caricatures, cartoons, figure drawing, portraits and field trips.