Visual Arts

The visual arts department offers a sequence of courses in drawing, two-dimensional concepts, painting, sculpture, photography, computer graphics design, and art history.  As they develop and progress, students may also choose elective courses in computer graphics, print-making, AP art studio, sculpting, and painting.  Students will begin assembling their best works into a portfolio in the 11th grade year as a record of production and to use in applications to art schools and universities.  Seminars with artists, as well as field trips to museums and galleries, enhance the quality of the program.  As production is such an important aspect of the program, students are required to exhibit several times each year.

Goals

• Provide students with the opportunities to develop their aesthetic, imaginative, and creative faculties
• Stimulate and train visual awareness, perception, and criticism of the arts of various cultures
• Provide the student the opportunity to discover, develop, and enjoy means of creative visual expression in the studio, which are suited to their capabilities
• Encourage the pursuit of quality through training and individual experiment
• Exemplify and encourage a lively, inquiring, and informed attitude toward art and design in all its forms, both in history and today

Objectives

Students will be expected to demonstrate:

• A positive, inquiring attitude towards a variety of visual phenomena, expressed through research and regular studio work.
• An appreciation of the medium and its expressive potential.
• A comprehension of the aesthetic and technical problems encountered in studio practice.
• The development of sufficient technical skills to produce some works of quality.
• An ability to select and present their work appropriately.

Sketch And Research Workbooks

Students should be able to:

• Demonstrate in verbal and graphic terms how personal research has led to an understanding of topics or concepts in progress.
• Analyze critically the formal, technical, and aesthetic qualities of the art forms studied.
• Demonstrate the relationship between personal research and studio work.

Visual Arts Sequence of Courses

* ½ credit class

Electives: AP Studio Art, AP Art History, Computer Graphics, Printmaking, Painting III, Photography II, and Sculpture II.

Students who complete the four-year program are required to have 10 arts credits to graduate.

Students who complete a three-year program are required to have 9 arts credits to graduate.

Visual Arts Schedule for Three-Year Students