Visual Arts

List of 7 items.

• Advanced Digital Photography

  This course is designed for students that have completed a beginning digital photography class and are interested in expanding and refining their skills and further challenging their technical and aesthetic abilities. We will integrate the elements and concepts of art and design as tools that would help students express themselves artistically through their photos. 

  Students will also deepen their knowledge of Adobe’s Lightroom and Photoshop and learn to manipulate their photos to reach their desired artistic outcome. Students will be allowed to go outside the classroom and experiment with a camera. Students will regularly engage in critique of their own and their classmates' photos. 

• AP Studio Art

  AP Studio Art is an advanced level course for students who want to further develop mastery in their art making skills. The course is developed as a college level course completed at the high school level. Students should have prior training in the visual arts and they should have knowledge of the elements of art and design.

   

  Students submit portfolios for evaluation by the College Board at the end of the year. Through the studio class, students are involved in creative and systematic investigation of formal and conceptual issues, informed decision making, art techniques, and the functions of the visual elements. Students will explore with several media including, pencil, charcoal, pastel, acrylics, watercolor, printmaking, ink, digital art and mixed media. In the area of 3D, media will include a variety of sculptural materials.

  Mastery in concept, composition and execution will be developed by each student. Students are strongly encouraged to become independent thinkers who develop their creativity through the making of art. During this process, students will focus on three components of their individual portfolios. The portfolios consist of Quality, Concentration, and Breadth.

   

  Each portfolio requires submissions in three distinct sections. Each section requires students to demonstrate quality, breadth, and an in-depth engagement in the process of making art. The three sections of each portfolio are as follows:

  Section I: Quality – the development of a sense of excellence in art

  Section II: Concentration – an in depth commitment to a particular artistic concern

  Section III: Breadth – a variety of experiences in the formal, technical, and expressive means available to an artist

• Digital Art and Design

  This one year elective will introduce students to 21^st century tools used to create artwork using new technologies. Students will be exposed to different art mediums through digital applications.  Students in the course will create art, manipulate images, try new techniques and explore the creative process with hands-on work combined with technology. One minute they can be drawing with pencil, and then photographing their work, editing the image to create a variation in digital form.   Traditional mediums will be reinvented in the digital art classroom.

  Students will need to provide their own laptop or iPad.  Drawing tablets can also be used.  Students will need to download several software applications, most of them are free.  

• Digital Photography

  This course is designed as an introduction to digital photography. The year will focus on four main subjects: composition principles, DSLR cameras and how they work, lighting, and how to edit and manipulate photographs in Adobe’s Lightroom and Photoshop. Students will also learn the history and evolution of photography and discuss past and contemporary photographers. Assignments will include creative use of the camera controls including aperture/depth of field, action/motion, shadows and light, alternative camera angles, portraits, still life, food photography, landscapes, and compositions based on the elements and principles of art and design. Students will be allowed to go outside the classroom and experiment with a DSLR camera. We will also have regular demonstrations and critiques of student work.  

• Studio Art I

  Designed as a skill-building course in visual arts for students interested in continuing beyond the basic drawing, painting, and designing skills learned in 7^th and 8^th . The course will be divided into units and each unit will have different in-class projects and assignments. 

   

  Students will develop a solid visual arts foundation that will be essential if they wish to continue to more advanced courses.   Each topic will reinforce the elements of art and design while students explore different techniques.  Art history connections will allow students to learn about different artists and movements.  Some projects will involve the study of different artists and their techniques.  At the end of the year, students will have completed a portfolio that will reflect their creative development. 

   

  Topics covered:  Elements of Art, Drawing, Design and Color, Painting, Perspective, Mixed Media, Printmaking, Collage, Sculpture

• Studio Art II

  Designed as a skill-building course in visual arts for students interested in continuing beyond the basic drawing, painting, and designing skills learned in Studio Art I. The course will be divided into units and each unit will have different in-class projects and assignments. 

   

  Students will develop a solid visual arts foundation that will be essential if they wish to continue to more advanced courses.  Each topic will reinforce the elements of art and design while students explore different techniques.  Art history connections will allow students to learn about different artists and movements.  Some projects will involve the study of different artists and their techniques.  At the end of the year, students will have completed a portfolio that will reflect their creative development. 

   

  Topics covered: Elements of Art, Intermediate Drawing, Design and Color, Intermediate Painting, Perspective, Mixed Media, Intermediate Printmaking, Collage, 3-D Sculpture, Ceramics, Art History, Portfolio preparation

• Studio Art III

  Studio 3 is designed as a structured, more advanced course for students who are interested in building on skills learned in Studio 1 and 2.  More advanced projects will allow the student to further explore different mediums with the possibility of preparing a portfolio for college entrance and/or submission for Advanced Placement. The course will be divided into units and each unit will have different projects.  Since this class is more advanced, students will be required to work independently under the guidance of the teacher.  Students will be encouraged to come up with ideas for projects and they will get to know their areas of strength as well as areas that they need to work on.   Projects and assignments will be more challenging and they will require effort and dedication in class as well as outside the classroom