Visual Arts & Media
The visual arts curriculum at Kinkaid is rich and diverse, building upon fundamentals and allowing students to explore multiple mediums with guidance and encouragement.
Advanced Portfolio Development
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.
Introduction to Visual Arts
Students develop visual analysis skills and build an art vocabulary through a study of the elements and principles of design. Students become familiar with a variety of artists and their styles as they explore 2-D and 3-D media. Students will find they are challenged individually while working collectively toward the same objective.
Mixed Media & Printmaking
Students use a variety of media, including drawing, painting, collage, assemblage, and printmaking to develop 2-D and 3-D explorations, sketchbook process, project studies, and artworks. Advanced students work to present and develop a portfolio of their art work for portfolio reviews, college admissions, and senior exhibitions.
Graphic Design
This course focuses on 2D graphic design and the discipline of visual communication. Students explore computer programs, color theory, typography, and the design process.
Drawing & Painting
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.
Sculpture
Students focus on the elements of art and design through the processes of 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.
Ceramics
The ceramics program moves from level one to four with an honors option. Students will learn and explore the nature of clay, various hand-building methods, throwing on the potter’s wheel, surface enrichment, decorative process, and many different glaze applications. Students will create and grow their body of work while making functional, sculptural, and abstract works. Students will maintain a notebook for planning and brainstorming, note-taking, and project development throughout the year. Art criticism and art history are an important foundational part of their studies.
Photography
The emphasis in this curriculum is placed on creating honest photography. Students focus on an understanding of manual photography for digital and analog (film) cameras. Project assignments guide students through an investigation of composition and manual camera techniques. Students will be introduced to contemporary and historical artists and will begin their journey by studying still life, portraiture, and landscape photography. Students will eventually focus on more conceptual projects as they advance through photography. Students are introduced to the traditional black and white darkroom as well as Photoshop and the digital lab. At Kinkaid, an advanced photography student has the opportunity to work with digital 35mm medium-format and large-format cameras.
Film
Students explore film through hands-on production, while also exploring film history and theory. They learn narrative, documentary, and experimental structures, while developing skills in screenwriting, cinematography, directing, and editing. Advanced students explore filmmaking in a sandbox structure, exploring projects of their own design, while working on collaborative, class-wide projects.
Lower School Art Curriculum
The Lower School art curriculum is centered on providing authentic, choice-based artistic experiences for students of all ages. The emphasis is on creative problem solving, media exploration and personal expression.
Elementary art instruction is geared toward providing a cohesive studio foundation as well as developing the student’s artistic interests. Lower School students of all ages are encouraged to explore different types of expression through art, and they have several opportunities to work with visiting artists or to participate in master classes to develop new skills.
Lower School Dot Day!
Earlier in the Fall, Lower School Art students created "Dot Day" art projects to display in the library. Celebrated by both children and adults, International Dot Day is a day to connect, collaborate, and create. It is also a great day to foster self-expression and the Kinkaid Lower School actively and enthusiastically participates in "Dot Day" every year!