Under the direction of Lower School Art teacher Eileen Warren, academic art classes begin in kindergarten. Kindergarten through fourth grade study art throughout the school year, while Middle School Art is a trimester class.

Student artworks are displayed during the year and at the annual Spring Art Exhibit. In addition, the art department decorates the stage for concerts three times a year — fall, winter and spring. 

Primary (Kindergarten through 4th)

The class projects in 2-D and 3-D form include experiences of art elements: line, shape, color, value form, texture and space. The student’s artworks coordinate with grade-level classroom studies. Student artworks are displayed during the holidays and the annual spring art exhibit.

The students in primary care engage with Fairy Tale Illustration and in kindergarten make a class “faces” quilt, and collaborate in a group project making a paper “village” assembly, and later design a self-portrait free-stand collage. In 1st grade kids start by creating a Georgia O’Keefe original painting, make tissue “tree” paper collages, Picasso self portraits, oil pastel/watercolor seascapes, and marine animal clay forms. In 2nd grade kids create Leaf crayon/watercolor resist painting, art history artist paintings and oil pastels, visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and participate in the Annual Children’s Impression Art Show. 3rd grade students create oil pastel/watercolor, Kachina mask color, repeat pattern designs, and design beaded crafts. 4th grade students end primary care with watercolor landscape paintings, “Krazy” cat color pattern designs, and 3-D clay pottery 9.

Middle School (Grades 5-8)

The students have project assignments in class, homework sketches and specific testing for each respective grade, including an art history test in eighth grade; a vocabulary test in seventh grade; a color theory test in sixth grade; and an artist report in fifth grade.

The class projects in 2-D and 3-D form include experiences of art elements: line, shape, color, value, form, texture and space.

Middle school students each year work with graphite value charts. They begin in 5th grade by creating pop art sculptures, 3-D bug line designs, artist style painting, and end the year with coil pot textile. In 6th grade students make scratch art, relief masks, kaleidoscope designs, and pop culture sculptures. 7th grade students are focused on metal embossing, printmaking, painting design, weaving, charcoal studies, and facial drawings. And finally ending their experience in middle school with pen and ink still life, art history acrylic painting, and plaster sculpture and an oil pastel self-portrait.