This course develops visual analysis skills and helps students build an art vocabulary through a study of the elements and principles of design. Students become familiar with art history and a variety of artists and their styles as they explore 2D and 3D projects in a variety of media.

Students begin by creating stamps and pinch pots, and go on to exploring aesthetics with timing and glazes, and eventually throwing on the wheel and learning slip decoration. Advanced students develop their own style by learning Raku, electric firing techniques, and how to fire their own pieces.

Students work with a variety of media, including charcoal, ink, acrylic, and watercolor. After learning basic skills, students have the opportunity to develop a unified body of work with an emphasis on personal voice and expression.

Students explore film history, theory, and hands-on filmmaking. They learn narrative documentary, screenwriting, storyboarding, and editing. Advanced students delve into production in the genre of their choice.

This course focuses on 2D graphic design and the discipline of visual communication. Students explore computer programs, color theory, typography, and the design process.

Students use a variety of material, including collage, montage, image transfer, assemblage, and basic woodworking, to develop 2D and 3D artworks based on themes. Advanced students explore photo-based silk screening, dry point, and intaglio as they develop unique portfolios.

Emphasis is placed on “photographic seeing,” the unique properties of photographic images, and the effective use of a single-lens reflex camera. Advanced students explore alternative processes, large format cameras, toy cameras, mixed media, and photo silk-screening, all to build a more personal style.

Students are instructed in a variety of printmaking techniques such as reduction lino-cut, silkscreen, monotype, and paper lithography. Advanced students work in their preferred methods of printmaking to create a portfolio that demonstrates a clear and unique concept.

Students learn woodworking, metalworking, and casting techniques. Advanced students create independent projects that challenge them to think about sculpture as a gateway to artistic practices such as public art, installation art, and architecture.

This course emphasizes the development and production of an advanced body of work in the student’s choice of media, unified by a personal concept. Completed portfolios will be suitable for presentation to an art school or college fine arts program.