The Arts
Visual Arts.
Create, collaborate, connect. Studio projects, critiques and gallery visits build real skills and a real eye.
Our approach
Make it, then talk about it.
Our Visual Arts program combines studio projects with visits to art spaces, critiques, guest lectures and class discussions.
Students build skills in drawing, design, painting, sculpture, and art history and appreciation, then branch out into digital photography, advanced studio art, puppet making, collage and more.
Where everyone starts
Foundation Arts.
The core course builds the skills every later elective draws on, with assignments that put each one into practice.
Basic drawing
Drawing
Value, composition, texture and perspective in charcoal, graphite, marker and colored pencil.
Visual ideas
Design
Communicating visual ideas through layout and composition.
Color
Painting
Watercolor, acrylic and tempera.
Three dimensions
Sculpture
Work in clay, wire and mixed media.
Storytelling
Digital
Digital storytelling with iMovie, Google Docs and PowerPoint, plus basic Photoshop.
Looking closely
Art History
An artist presentation, art movements, and museum and gallery visits with written reviews.
Beyond Foundation
Sample electives.
After Foundation Arts, students can go deeper in electives like these.
01
Studio I
Builds on Foundation Arts with further drawing, painting, sculpture and design.
02
Digital Photography
An introduction to digital photography and camera operation, using Photoshop as a digital darkroom.
03
The Art of Puppetry
Shadow puppets, hand and rod puppets, marionettes and large-scale pageant puppets.
04
Lost Art Techniques
Encaustic painting, fresco and mosaic, processes used across the ancient world.
05
Painting
Contemporary and historical methods, abstract and realistic, in acrylic, ink, watercolor, gouache, oil and encaustic.
Student work
See what students make.
Each elective has its own gallery of student work on our Visual Arts site, from puppets to photographs to encaustic paintings.
Art Department Chair Hillary Younglove leads the program.
Visit
Come see the studios.
The best way to understand an SA education is to see it in person. Join us for an Open House or Visit Day.