Art Department

The 11th grade Studio Art elective provides a foundation for the students in all drawing media. The students are taught to understand how to look at and replicate an image through the use of line, form, shade and texture. They are introduced to a variety of materials such as charcoal, pen and ink, pencil, pastel and collage. They are given assignments that are geared to practicing and fine-tuning these skills as well as unique and creative situations that they must resolve with the use of specific materials and a background in artistic approaches.

The 12th grade A.P. Studio Art course aims to challenge the students, refine their skills, and add new materials to their artistic repertoire. The A.P. class produces works in full color through canvas paintings, use of watercolors, oil pastels and more. Students are also encouraged to find less traditional mediums such as paper collage, found object art, and bookmaking. In their in-class assignments and weekly homework projects they will also explore issues such as abstraction, the figure and textile design.  The A.P. curriculum is very flexible and is able to reflect the personal interests of the student.

Open studio hours in our art room make it possible for students not currently enrolled in art electives to do artwork with a teachers guidance.

The Advanced Placement Art History course gives eleventh and twelfth graders the foundation needed to study and discuss art from all parts of the world, from prehistoric times to today, with a special emphasis on European art.  Traditionally, the study of art history includes the study of architecture, sculpture, the pictorial arts painting, drawing, printmaking and photography and the craft arts or arts of design.  The A.P. course focuses on the traditional genres in art and teaches students how to make formal analyses of them. These include establishing an artworks title, artist (when available), date, material/medium, size and condition, and then analyzing its compositional elements; its style and the techniques used to create it; its purpose and function; its historical era and cultural origin and the context in which it was created.  The course prepares students for the Advanced Placement exam at the end of the year, but more importantly, helps them experience the persisting event that is every great work of art.

Student Art Work