NARRATIVE PAINTING

Visual Art experience recommended.

In this course, you’ll explore how to tell stories through paint. You’ll learn how artists use composition, color, symbolism, and imagery to communicate emotion and meaning in their work. From brainstorming ideas and sketching thumbnails to refining your final painting, you’ll build a piece that shares a narrative that matters to you. Along the way, you’ll develop an artist statement that explains your story and the choices you made to express it.

Your teacher will guide you through each step of the creative process—asking questions, offering feedback, and demonstrating techniques like color mixing and using references. You’ll also learn how to use design principles and the unique qualities of paint to strengthen your concept. By the end of the course, you’ll have a completed painting and artist statement that showcase your storytelling through art.

SONGWRITING

All primes welcome. Recommended for musicians and creative writers.

Class has reached capacity and is utilizing a waitlist. 

This class approaches songwriting whether you want to focus on the music, lyrics, or both. Each week, we will focus on sharpening our lyric writing skills for ourselves and also for others. Writing for ourselves allows us to write in our style to our preferred genre. You will be given music in the style you like, and we will have opportunities to do some light arrangement and recording as well. Writing for others challenges us to step outside of ourselves and write in other genres as other artists. In these exercises, you will learn how professional songwriters in major studios write for big name artists. 

Whether you are a creative writer looking to transform your writing into song or you are a musician looking to dedicate time to writing or you're just curious, this class will give you a space to explore your creative capacity through song.

THE ART OF THEATRICAL MAKEUP: PART II

This is part two of a two-trimester course. Students in Part I will automatically be enrolled in Part II. 

If you wish to engage in this project after having completed it last year, you can submit an email request. 

For the Winter Trimester, students will decide on a theme for the final presentation as a group and designs will be created in relation to that theme. Students will have the option to replicate an existing character or person OR create their own character! 

This trimester of the project will include more advanced sfx techniques as they pertain to the students’ designs. Students are expected to create designs, supply checklists, test examples and be able to present this work in a final presentation for an audience. 

This project will present at the WINTER WORKS scheduled for February 25.

BOOKED & BUSY: 

INDUSTRY & AUDITION

Performing experience required. You will have to act/sing/move in class and as part of a presentation.

If you’re interested in pursuing a college or professional career in acting, musical theater, opera, commercial music, or dance, this course is your backstage pass to getting audition-ready. You’ll learn how to find, prepare, and perform strong audition material—whether that’s a song, monologue, dance combo, or callback scene. Along the way, you’ll explore your “type,” build your audition portfolio with resumes and headshots, and practice professional skills like self-taping and interview etiquette.

This course also gives you insight into the performing arts industry and what it takes to stand out in competitive auditions. Through rehearsal, character work, and feedback, you’ll gain confidence and polish your presentation for real-world opportunities. The experience culminates in a public mock audition—your chance to showcase everything you’ve learned and step into the spotlight with confidence.

This project will present at the WINTER WORKS scheduled for February 25.

ENTER THE MASK: PERSONA POETRY

MODERN & CONTEMPORARY

All primes welcome.

From the poetry of T.S. Eliot and John Berryman, to the performance art of Joseph Beuys and Marina Ambramovic, some artists have pushed the literary device of “voice” to the extreme, creating fictional “speakers” or “personae” to channel themes, ideas, feelings, actions, or confessions they would not be able to otherwise.

This course on persona poetry and performance welcomes new and experienced writers, artists, and designers from other mediums including visual art, drama, dance, costuming, and more, as well as those interested in art history.

Explore and develop your own “poetic persona” with daily free-writes, writing prompts, and workshops, which will be the voice at the heart of your writing project. Then, create a physical mask and assemble a larger costume which will visually represent your persona. If students are interested in taking more visual and design liberties with their portfolio, a class on visual poetry may also be scheduled.

To read a more in-depth description, click here. 

This project will present at the WINTER WORKS scheduled for February 25.

ALTERNATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY EXPLORING EXPERIMENTAL PROCESSES

All primes welcome.

This hands-on course introduces students to the fascinating world of alternative photographic processes—techniques that existed before digital cameras and still inspire contemporary artists today. Students will explore experimental methods of making images without a traditional camera, learning how light, chemistry, and materials interact to create unique visual effects.

Through projects in cyanotype on paper and fabric, image transfers, photograms, and experimental processes like wet cyanotypes, toning, and anthotype printing (yes, it is possible to print photographs using nothing but juice extracted from the petals of flowers, the peel from fruits and pigments from plants), students will gain a deeper understanding of photography as both a scientific and artistic practice. Emphasis will be placed on creativity, experimentation, and discovering the unexpected results that make alternative processes so exciting.

By the end of the course, students will have a collection of prints on diverse surfaces—paper and fabric— that showcase their curiosity and imagination. The class culminates in a final project where students combine one or more processes into a personal artistic statement.

No prior photography experience is required—just curiosity and a willingness to experiment!

This project will present at the WINTER WORKS scheduled for February 26.

ARCHIVAL OF THE ARTS

All primes welcome.

Step behind the lens and help capture the story of Apex Arts!

 In this course, students will work alongside their teacher to document performances, showcases, and events through photography and videography. 

You’ll attend select Apex Arts events (some outside regular school hours) to photograph or film, then refine your work through editing, captioning, and curating your best shots. Your work may be featured on Apex Arts socials, publications, website, and schools.

By the end of the course, you’ll also build a polished portfolio and gain real-world experience that prepares you for the freelance creative world.

 Students interested in attending Apex Arts events to capture the excitement and artistry should sign up. This ongoing project will continue into the spring trimester and beyond (but you do not have to commit further than this trimester).