Visual Arts

First-grade artists experience the joy of self-expression by exploring the question, "What do artists do?" Using a variety of media, students learn to plan work, foster ideas, and observe the world around them for inspiration.

In second grade, art students study the basic behaviors that lead to artistic expression while continuing to create in a variety of media. Hands-on experiences allow children to develop studio habits for finding ideas, planning work, observing and researching subject matter, and sustaining engagement. 

Third-grade art students begin to take on increasing responsibility for directing their own creative projects. Personal sketchbooks are used to help students envision, plan, and execute creations in a variety of media and subject matter. Students examine what fuels their creative stamina and analyze how personal meaning infuses their creations.

In fourth grade, students continue to record ideas, plan future projects, and complete observation studies in their personal sketchbooks. The children are asked to reflect more deeply on the artistic process and begin to recognize the roll an artistic community plays in supporting individual creative pursuits.

In fifth grade, students build independence in making and observing art. As students create, they practice and develop strategies for finding ideas, planning work, observing and researching, sustaining interest, and finding meaning in and evaluating their own finished products. The children are encouraged to use their artistic community of peers, teachers, and artists to inform their work.

All sixth-grade students take a year-long art course that introduces them to the tools for creating, communicating, and understanding visual communication. The students are exposed to a variety of artistic approaches in drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, and digital image making.

Seventh- and eighth-grade students expand upon their visual knowledge through trimester-long courses where they refine their skills in traditional media while introducing them to digital media software. Students continue to develop skills in using visual arts as a form of communication and personal expression.

Seventh- and eighth-grade students especially interested in the visual arts may take electives to supplement their learning. Electives include courses on bookmaking, portraiture, and sculpture.

This Grade 9 course explores creative thinking and art making through a variety of media and techniques. Instruction in drawing is stressed as a skill that informs other modes of expression but instruction in painting, printmaking, sculpture, and digital approaches to image making are also included. Students learn about art movements and individual artists that tie to and support their classroom projects. Students are encouraged to experiment and explore the creative thought process and design thinking.

This advanced course provides a breadth of studio art experiences. Students explore possibilities of visual expression in a range of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, mixed media, and digital approaches. Students develop creative, analytical, and introspective thinking through reference to important historical and contemporary art. Field trips provide first-hand experience and inspiration. 

This intensive studio art course is offered to juniors and seniors who want a college-level art experience. The focus of this class is working toward compiling an AP Portfolio submission for the College Board. It is strongly recommended that students interested in submitting a portfolio take this class in both their junior and senior years. Students create a body of two-dimensional or three-dimensional artworks, working through a series of guided projects in Portfolio in the first year, toward the development of a personal area of sustained investigation in the second year.

Offered to seniors in the Portfolio class, students produce a significant amount of finished work from their personal area of sustained investigation. Fifteen pieces are chosen for submission to the College Board for AP Portfolio. 

In this advanced course, students will gain an understanding and enjoyment of art and architecture from throughout history and from a variety of world cultures. Emphasis is placed on understanding art in the context of history, geography, politics, religion, and culture. Students look at art critically, towards developing a discerning, sensitive eye for its aesthetic and cultural messages. The visual insights developed through this analysis help students to understand the past. These insights offer vital clues to understanding the cultural challenges of the present and future.

Interested students can enhance their knowledge of the visual arts through electives. Offered in subject matter such as ceramics, photography, film, 2D visual design, architecture, and ethics, students can supplement their learning on the portfolio track or learn a new medium within the visual arts.