Visual Arts

The Middle School Visual Arts program serves as a bridge between the Lower Schools (where students typically work with one teacher in one studio) and the Upper School (where students are able to choose among a selection of elective classes). The 6th Grade classes meet in the Middle School building's Art Room, and the 7th and 8th Grade classes meet in a variety of studios around the campus and work with teachers who are specialists in their media.

The goal of the Visual Arts Department is to encourage students to experience the world — and their feelings and thoughts about it — through the creative media of the visual arts. Throughout students' Middle School experience, we work to strengthen their confidence as artists through the exercise of their art-making and creative decision-making skills. We give structured assignments that put the students at the center of their learning and studio practice. With a few exceptions, we stress working with real materials in the real world rather than working in the virtual, digital world. A curriculum of traditional studio practice across a range of media is offered to the students.

We are committed to developing students who will independently:

• Exercise their art-making and creative skills

• Work with real materials in the real world

• Tap into their creativity in all aspects of their lives

• Explore a range of media across the grade levels

• Explore their own narratives and passions using the media of visual art

• Self-direct their creative path

• Discover how to process their creative mistakes

• Find value in process, not product

• See opportunity in the unexpected

• Recognize that there is no failure in art

• Engage in thoughtful and meaningful dialogue and critique about the work they and their classmates are doing

Because our School is committed to creative confidence, progressive education, and ethical learning, our instructional methods include:

• Demonstrations and discussions

• Group and self-critiques

• Collaborative work

• Encouraging students to consult one another for council

• Exposure to a wide range of artists, materials, and techniques

• Combination of structured and self-directed projects/assignments

• Hands-on projects across the program