The visual arts program, designed to balance the creative process and
the final product, incorporates high-quality instruction in each
division and an integrated approach to other academic areas. In visual
art classes from early childhood through grade 12, students encounter
the world of representational, symbolic and expressive meanings created
through the organization of basic elements. Each medium explored
becomes a tool for the expression of ideas, as well as an extension of
the mind, hand and eye.
Through the study of drawing, painting, ceramics, printmaking,
sculpture, photography, silversmithing and graphics arts, students are
able to create images and objects that are connected to personal,
emotional and intellectual content. A required course in visual arts at
the upper school level solidifies a knowledge base and serves to expand
each student's visual perceptions, while encouraging creativity through
experiences that involve unconventional associations of ideas and
perspectives.
An Art Club and electives in computer-generated graphic arts in the
middle school expand opportunities for students to explore new mediums
of expression. Integration of the visual arts into other subject areas
is encouraged at every level. Assembly programming and the presence of
artists-in-residence broaden students' appreciation for the significance
of visual arts.