Faculty Philosophy

Te toi whakairo, ka ihiihi, ka wehiwehi, ka aweawe te o katoa.

Artistic excellence makes the world sit up in wonder.

The unlike is joined together and from the differences - results the most beautiful harmonies.

– Heraclitus –

The Visual Arts at Waiheke High

At Waiheke High School every student, every year will strive to meet success.

In the Visual Arts, students explore, refine, and communicate ideas as they connect thinking, imagination, senses, and feelings to create works, participate in and respond to the artistic works of others.

We are a nurturing and enthusiastic school community that inspires lifelong learning and a sense of community for all

An understanding of Māori arts and visual culture is achieved through exploration of Māori contexts. The arts of Pasifika, Asian, European and other cultures add significant dimensions to our New Zealand Arts culture.

In VISUAL ARTS at Waiheke High, students develop art literacy and aesthetic awareness as they manipulate and transform visual, tactile, and spatial ideas to solve problems. They explore experiences, stories, abstract concepts, social issues, arts careers both individually and collaboratively. They experiment with techniques and materials, using processes and conventions to develop their arts inquiry and create both static and time-based art works.

Students of the Arts view listen and participate in visual art bringing their own experiences, sharing their responses, and generating multiple interpretations. Their meanings are further informed by an investigation of the contexts in which all art works are created, used, performed and valued. As students develop their research and visual literacy, they are able to engage with a wider range of aesthetic experiences, in increasingly complex and conscious ways.

The visual arts develop our students’ conceptual thinking within a range of practices across drawing, sculpting, designing, painting, printmaking, photography, and moving image.

Art History is also included in the research study of our practical artists. Here students are introduced to the underlying theories within the Arts and this theoretical investigation also informs all of their practical inquiries.

Opportunities to explore and communicate in the Arts will continue to expand as technologies and multi-disciplinary practices evolve.