Visual Arts

Middle & Upper School Art

This year the Middle School Art classes at Shannon Forest will be studying American Art History. Students will be learning about artists, characteristics and techniques of a specific time period and then complete a project based on that information, using a variety of media.

The High School classes are studying the different elements and principles of design, and learning to apply the techniques in their own artwork.  Lessons in drawing, painting, and 3D design are accompanied by Art History, aesthetic awareness, art criticism and career exploration.

Our goals in art are to:
1. Develop problem solving skills through the exercise of art production.
2. Develop appreciation of art through the process of aesthetic awareness.
3. Respond to art through the method of art criticism, which includes: description, analysis, interpretation, and evaluation.
4. Investigate careers in which art and design students can become involved.
 

Lower School Art 

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Shannon Forest Lower School Art students have many opportunities to explore art history and different mediums as they discover the elements of art in two and three dimensional art projects, enjoying  the process of learning, and having a successful outcome. By breaking down instruction to its simplest form, young students are provided with the necessary visual tools to succeed in any artistic activity. My intent is to give the children quick artistic success to build up their self-esteem, which in turn will give them the confidence to be successful not only in art, but in other areas of the academic curriculum.

The lessons throughout the year are based on the National Standards of Art which are:
 
Understanding and applying Media, Techniques, and Processes
  • Students know the difference between materials, techniques and processes.
  • Students describe how different materials, techniques and processes cause different responses.
  • Students use different media, techniques and processes to communicate ideas, experiences and stories.
  • Students use Art materials and tools in safe and responsible manner.
  • Students Use the knowledge of structures and functions.
Students know the differences among visual characteristics and purposes of Art in order to convey ideas:
  • Students describe how different expressive features and organizational principles cause different responses.
  • Students use visual structures and functions of Art to communicate ideas, choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols and ideas
  • Students explore and understand prospective content for works of Art.
  • Students select and use subject matter, symbols and ideas to communicate meaning, understanding the Visual Arts in relation to history and cultures.
Students know that the Visual Arts have both a history and specific relationships to various cultures:
  • Students identify specific works of Art as belonging to particular cultures, times and places.
  • Students demonstrate how History, Culture and the Visual Arts can influence each other in making and studying works of Art.
  • Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their [a student's own] work and the work of others, students understand that there are various purposes for creating works of Visual Art.
  • Students describe how people's experiences influence the development of specific artworks.
Students understand there are different responses to specific artworks:
  • Student make connections between Visual Arts and other disciplines.
  • Students understand and use similarities and differences between characteristics of the Visual Arts and other Art disciplines.
  • Students identify connections between the Visual Arts and other disciplines in the curriculum.