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August 24, 2025
Tomorrow starts another school year. Welcome back to CAPA, visual artists. I am excited to see what ideas and artwork we create this year. Shout out to the class of 2026! Click "syllabus" above to see your studio guidelines, and your supply list.
Tomorrow starts another school year. Welcome back to CAPA, visual artists. I am excited to see what ideas and artwork we create this year. Shout out to the class of 2026! Click "syllabus" above to see your studio guidelines, and your supply list.
June 5, 2025
Thank you to everyone who participated and helped out with the 20th anniversary of Art Feast. We hosted over 600 people from the public at CAPA; celebrating the Visual Arts students who made the incredible artwork. We displayed numerous ceramic pieces, over 60 oil paintings, and boogie'd down to a live band, a drum line, and dance performances. Everyone's costumes really brought the funk and we had so much fun sharing the art we made throughout the year. THANK YOU to the parent, student, and teacher volunteers who made this Art Feast one of the best, yet! Congratulations to the class of 2025.
Thank you to everyone who participated and helped out with the 20th anniversary of Art Feast. We hosted over 600 people from the public at CAPA; celebrating the Visual Arts students who made the incredible artwork. We displayed numerous ceramic pieces, over 60 oil paintings, and boogie'd down to a live band, a drum line, and dance performances. Everyone's costumes really brought the funk and we had so much fun sharing the art we made throughout the year. THANK YOU to the parent, student, and teacher volunteers who made this Art Feast one of the best, yet! Congratulations to the class of 2025.
Photos 2025 by Madison Craig :)
Come dressed to impress as we dazzle the audience with all our 2D and 3D art created over the year. There will be live music, dancing, snacks, and costumes. This is the event of the school year. Tickets are $10 each to the students/public and go to support our visual arts program and purchase supplies.
April 11, 2025
Students (and myself) are in work mode. We are starting to get into our last projects of the year, and prepare for Art Feast! Friday, May 30th, 2025. The theme is Boogie Wonderland.
As a reminder, if you didn't get a chance to donate to the studio yet, you still can via our wishlist. We are currently STILL in need of PALETTE PAPER! :) We go through about 1 pad of palette paper a day, and I am currently supplying it out of my own pocket. Thank you so much to those who have already donated.
January 15, 2025
First of all, in relation to our last blog entry which was before the holiday- I want to again extend a Thank you to the mystery person who bought our class an additional life size skeleton. This gift came from the community of parents and guardians who help to make our studio function even better every day. For that, I say THANK YOU. Our 10th grade projects using the skeletons, couldn't have happened without you. So Thank you, Thank you! I still don't know who sent this donation because Amazon doesn't show you who sent the gifts anymore- please send me an email if you donate so I can properly thank you! (khaire@philasd.org)
As a reminder, if you didn't get a chance to donate to the studio yet, you still can via our wishlist. Our studio sees over 100 kids each day and all supplies purchased via the wishlist get shipped directly to CAPA. Please email me if you have questions about it! We are currently in need of PALETTE PAPER! :)
Seniors and Junior have finished their first oil paintings of draperies- check out these beauties below!
All images below were completed on Gesso Canvas Sheets, 12x16"
October 16, 2024
a Senior works on their grisaille, an oil painting with only darks and lights, no additional color.
A Freshman shows off a couple of drawings from a surrealist collaborative drawing game called exquisite corpse.
The year is off and running and we have a variety of artwork in production already.
9th graders are working on learning the ropes of high school (and CAPA...) and are learning about line quality in graphite, linear perspective, and rudimentary anatomy right now. We are unlearning a lot of bad habits formed and creating new habits that will last their entire lives of study in art. We are working in graphite on paper right now.
10th graders are working on a series of still lifes in ballpoint pen, and color this year. How exciting! They have been making some dynamite drawings and it's refreshing how I am reminded where they started last year, and how far they have come in their skill levels. Keep practicing, 10th graders!
11th and 12th graders are working on their drapery paintings, which are an intro to oil assignment. They are really beautiful so far and are the best batch of draperies so far in all my years at CAPA! Students are learning an oil painting technique where we first make a grisaille and then later will color this painting through a technique called glazing. You can read more about oil painting in the "book" I wrote, linked above.
Open houses have been coming through and touring the studio pretty often. Auditions will run in December for next year's class of young artists.
Also, we have had donations coming into the art studio and I just want to say thank you to all the folks who are donating. We use the supplies right away and it's always exciting to have a box to open. Someone kindly donated a skeleton, but I don't know who it was because Amazon has changed the way they notify me of gifts. SO, I apologize if I did not send a thank you for this incredibly generous donation. Our skeleton count has gone up by 100%! I am SO THRILLED!! With ~30 kids in a class 1 skeleton just isn't enough. Someday I hope to have a whole gaggle of skeletons (is that the right word?!)
As a reminder, if you didn't get a chance to donate to the studio yet, you still can via our wishlist. Our studio sees over 100 kids each day and all supplies purchased via the wishlist get shipped directly to CAPA. Please email me if you have questions about it! We are currently in need of BURNT UMBER OIL PAINT, WHITE OIL PAINT, LIQUIN, AND PALETTE PAPER! :)
Also, if you attended Back to School night a few weeks ago, it was so nice to meet the new faces and see some familiar ones. The night is a blur so if we didn't get to chat enough, I am only an email away!
-Ms. Haire
10th graders set up their 5 unique still lifes in the art studio, including with our new friends!
10th graders stop in between classes to check out the color theory boards. 10th grade is the first year we experiment with color.
CAPA Students Showcase Work in City Hall
Friday, September 13th, 2024
Mayor's Reception Room 202 4-6pm
The ceramic work of three students under the direction of CAPA Sculpture Teacher Maria Stevens have been selected to be in the YOUNG ARTIST CITY HALL show!
A reception and award ceremony for:
Visual Arts Majors-Lilly Kempinski 12th, Annika Khavin 11th , Ingrid Laurison 11th
CONGRATULATIONS ARTISTS!
September 10, 2024
Hi Parents, Guardians, Returning Students, and New Students!~
9th graders have begun working on compositions, collages and getting to know the art studios... We drew each other recently for their first drawings and critique wall.
10th graders dived right into working in a surprisingly effective medium...ballpoint pen! We have some different colors available for purchase for the studio on the wish list if you'd like to contribute to our studies. Thank you SO MUCH to all the folks who have donated supplies. Your gifts mean so much to us.
Just look at what these young artists are making.
11th and 12th graders just wrapped a lesson on how to take good photos for your artwork (references), a skill I use daily as an illustrator and artist. We created artwork collaboratively utilizing the references they shot themselves.
As a reminder, if you didn't get a chance to donate to the studio yet, you still can via our wishlist. Our studio sees over 100 kids each day and all supplies purchased via the wishlist get shipped directly to CAPA. Please email me if you have questions about it! We are currently in need of pencil sharpeners, ballpoint pens in pink, yellow, and green, and Liquin quick dry oil medium (linked on amazon.)
August 28, 2024
WELCOME BACK TO CAPA!
Hi Parents, Guardians, Returning Students, and New Students!~
Welcome to CAPA's VISUAL ARTS program. On this site I will link important FAQ's for parents, give "blog style" updates, and tell you what we've been working on in class lately.
9th graders are already drawing on this second session we've had together. They are showing me their prior knowledge of anatomy, value scales, and other fundamentals. I keep these "pre-tests" and give them back senior year as a reminder of how their skills have grown over 4 years. This year I get to return my first freshman class at CAPA's "pre-test" and I am excited to see the look on their faces when they realize how far they have come.
As a reminder, if you didn't get a chance to donate to the studio yet, you still can via our wishlist. Our studio sees over 100 kids each day and all supplies purchased via the wishlist get shipped directly to CAPA. Please email me if you have questions about it! We are currently in need of acrylic paint, upsidedown dispenser containers (like big dawn dishsoap, ketchup,) Rags (old t shirts), and Liquin quick dry oil medium (linked on amazon.)
Thank you for filling out all those beginning of year papers. I can't wait to start making some art with your student :)
Here's to a good year!
Ms. Haire
🤠
9th graders took their pre-test this week, which includes drawing a skull in 6 minutes, drawing 4 core forms, and practicing value scales.
5/22/24
We are in the last few weeks of getting ready for
ART FEAST 2024: ALIENS x COWBOYS!
👽
We are so excited to have you all at CAPA on May 31st, 2024 from 5-8 for our yearly art party in THE GRAND HALL! We will be showcasing all of the amazing artwork that our Visual Arts students have been creating all throughout the year. Work is being matted, decorations are underway, and this year's Art Feast is going to be the best yet :)
As a reminder, if you didn't get a chance to donate to the studio yet, you still can via our wishlist.
🤠
preparing decorations in the studio
preparing decorations in the studio
makin' a cactus...
makin' a cactus...
4/12/24
Senior Visual Artists and the CAPA Visual Arts Department
are excited to announce:
Art Feast 2024! Theme is: "Aliens x Cowboys"
Come dressed to impress and on theme!
There will be live entertainment, food & drink, face painting, and of course lots of artwork to feast your eyes on.
$10 tickets are available at CAPA in room 402.
See you there!
Generously Sponsored By:
2/28/24
There is so much going on in the Visual Arts classes, I had to make an update about at least 1 thing before it gets too crazy!
Recently IKEA partnered with CAPA to showcase some of the amazing artists at our school. Many artists were represented. The jazz ensemble entertained by playing some standards and some new funky tunes. The vocalists stunned us with their chops. The writers slammed some hip poetry down on us. The dancers flipped, spun, and dance with an amazing piece choreographed to the stampede song from The Lion King- and the visual artists displayed some beautiful work as a backdrop to it all. Please enjoy the photos below and thank you to IKEA for featuring our artists!
1/19/24
Wow! A SNOW DAY!!- The district called its first snow day in many years, let's celebrate the break by looking at what we've been creating these past few months...
12th graders are gearing up for their "Old Master's Oil Painting" copy, where they take a historical or famous painting and reimagine it in their own way, creatively. They recently finished their first oil paintings, which are of fabric draperies. Students learned the basics of oil painting from a grisaille method, and then glazing. The results are impressive! Oil painting is very challenging for students and can be a difficult medium. These kids did a great job and created some wonderful work. This medium takes a long time, and production is slow. The results are worth it!
Juniors are currently finishing up their huge self-portraits in acrylic. These bright, stand-out pieces are always what people talk to me about when they mention Art Feast. They will be proximately featured, just as they have been for the past 2 years. They are one of my favorite projects, and this year the students are doing it better than ever. I can't wait to show you these! We are onto a story book illustration/mythology unit next...and students can choose their medium for the first time in class... how exciting!
Freshmen and Sophomores are continuing the basics in the art studio. The 10th graders in particular just finished some gorgeous, classic, still lifes in graphite. The upperclassmen are complimenting this group so much on these works. They are truly a knock out. 4 of them will be featured in the upcoming Philadelphia Sketch Club High School Show. I have begun the arduous matting process of getting them show-ready, but the results will be so worth it. We are moving onto acrylic painting now in 10th grade, painting for the first time!
Freshmen are learning real 2D fundamentals as we started with holding a pencil properly, energetic line creation, geometric/straight line construction and drawings of figures. We are now getting into core form and graphite shading. The methods I am asking them to learn are different from how any of them have ever drawn before, so we are mostly unlearning bad habits! Still, the freshmen have turned more work out than any of the other grades so far this year, and that is due to their hard work and dedication to learning something new. I am really proud of their progress in these few short months, which is evident if you flip through their sketchbooks from last year, to this year. I encourage you to do so. We will have tons of freshmen work to show at the end of the year, and that is something to look forward to. Keep Practicing, Freshmen!!
As a reminder, if you didn't get a chance to donate to the studio yet, you still can via our wishlist. Qver 100 students will be impacted by your donation, and every little bit helps. The wishlist ships directly to CAPA- so you don't have to figure all that out :)
Thank you again for your donations, reading the updates, and your support with your student in the classroom. Great things are coming!
-Ms. Haire
1/18/24
Select pieces from Junior/Senior sketchbooks-
Please enjoy some works from Juniors and Seniors, below. Their prompt was to interpret a natural form within a figure. Please enjoy the creative pieces they came up with. Students were allowed to work digitally or traditionally on this assignment.
As a reminder, if you didn't get a chance to donate to the studio yet, you still can via our wishlist.
Thank you to those families who have donated already- your boxes coming in make the kids and myself smile every time!! Please enjoy this small sampling of art from everything the students have been working on.
-Ms. Haire
12/5/23
Thank you to all Giving Tuesday Donators, and to CAPAPHANS!
I want to thank everyone who supported our studio during Giving Tuesday, a new tradition at CAPA where parents and the school community come together to help fund teacher's projects and classrooms.
If you didn't get a chance to donate to our studio, you still can via our wishlist. Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed so far. Your donations have lead to us making some amazing work- like the Senior's WIP (Work in Progress) below!
CAPA is the only highschool arts program that does oil painting, which is an expensive but important (and historic!) medium. Thank you again to all of our donors for making this process possible for students to learn. The students are learning so much about this medium that most students don't have access to until college, and I am thrilled to give them this experience.
-Ms. Haire
11/10/23
Impressive Freshmen Pelvis Drawings!
We are studying some anatomy with the underclassmen, and these drawings were really spectacular and deserve a shout out. Congrats, 9th graders.
Julie L.
Julie L.
Sadie P.
Sadie P.
Niki M.
Niki M.
Miley H.
Miley H.
11/3/23
SHARE THE WISHLIST WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY ON SOCIAL MEDIA!
Check out some fabulous photos below, showing what we've been up to in the last few months. Thank you again for your donations to the department, they've been very important in getting this year off the ground.
On November 17th we are taking our seniors on a trip to NYC to the Met! We are so excited to check out this historic museum with our graduating seniors of 2023.
We've had many colleges starting to give presentations at school and checking our students portfolios as well. Don't forget there is more info about portfolios up top in the links for you to check out.
The photos below are some random snapshots from the year so far. Thank you again, everyone, for all your support.
10th grade class celebrates in their costumes on 10/31
10th grade class celebrates in their costumes on 10/31
Freshmen have been studying anatomy,
such as bones and muscles
Freshmen have been studying anatomy,
such as bones and muscles
A senior working on a drapery using the Grissaile (underpainting) method
A senior working on a drapery using the Grissaile (underpainting) method
Seniors drapery oil painting, Juniors laying out giant self portraits
Seniors drapery oil painting, Juniors laying out giant self portraits
9th grade Mechanical Drawing Pages
9th grade Mechanical Drawing Pages
Our classroom has a new student thanks to a beautiful donor!
Our classroom has a new student thanks to a beautiful donor!
Home-made mask by a 10th grader!
Home-made mask by a 10th grader!
10/11/23
SHARE THE WISHLIST WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY ON SOCIAL MEDIA!
There have already been a few purchases made off of the wishlist, which get sent directly to school. The students were so excited to welcome a new life-sized skeleton model to the classroom, as well as several skulls and a new bust statue for our still-life set up. People have also recently sent Turpentine, Acrylic Paint, and Oil supplies, and so much more. Thank you so much for the donations. Every donation directly supplies young artists with the tools they need to be successful in our studio.
If you can't make a donation, please consider sharing the webpage above, linked. :)
-Ms. Haire
9/21/23
THANK YOU, PARENTS and GUARDIANS!
Thank you for coming to back to school night and seeing our art studio :)
It was so nice to have you all there, even for a brief QUICK meeting! I am always available via email for any questions and concerns you may have. khaire@philasd.org is my email.
Please bookmark this site, and please share the studio amazon wishlist, linked on its own page, on this site. Please let me know if you need any assistance.
-Ms. Haire
BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT - Thursday Sept. 21st, 5-7 PM
Welcome back parents. Come to CAPA to meet your student's teachers and get more information about the school. Can't wait to see you all there!
CAPA WELCOMES BACK STUDENTS, 23-24!
Welcome back to Ms. Haire's Drawing and Painting Studio in Room 403. There is a lot to do in the first few weeks of school. For my art class, please focus on:
1) Understanding your syllabus, which is linked on this site.
2) Getting your supplies in a timely fashion. The list is on this site.
3) Learning the lay of the studio and getting ready to put your best brush forward.
BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT is September 21 from 5-7pm. Hoping to see parents/guardians there! This is not a night for students to come. Instead come prepared with questions you have about the drawing and painting program.
CAPA'S ART FEAST 2023 IS COMING!
MAY 19th
5pm-8pm / The Great Hall, CAPA
Tickets are available via cash ($10 each) purchased from Ms. Stevens at CAPA.
Get your tickets in advance we will not be selling at the door.
Theme: "Secret Garden" -- We are just tiny things in a huge garden! Come see amazing 2D and 3D artwork, dancers, face painting, and live music in your best themed costume. DRESS TO IMPRESS!
February 27, 2023
Check out these finished eggs, created by CAPA students for South Street Headhouse District's annual egg scavenger hunt. The students were able to create these eggs to be displayed amongst professional local artists and showcased throughout local businesses on South Street. See if you can spot them all throughout the district.
Jayla Clark, Gr. 12
Jayla Clark, Gr. 12
Dellaney Harris, Gr. 12
Dellaney Harris, Gr. 12
Saoirse Alhumada-Furin,
Gr. 12
Saoirse Alhumada-Furin,
Gr. 12
Alyssa Marlowe, Gr. 11
Alyssa Marlowe, Gr. 11
Gina Tini, Gr. 11
Gina Tini, Gr. 11
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