Upper School


CERAMICS
Semester or Full Year - Grades 9-12

Students use hands-on manipulation of clay to produce three-dimensional forms through a variety of techniques. Assignments include wheel thrown pottery, pinch pots, slab reliefs, masks, coil pots, and sculpted forms. Emphasis is on creativity, proportion, artistic interaction, imagination, and form. Students learn to apply lead-free colored slips and glazes. An introduction to glass fusing and slumping rounds out the class in the last three weeks of the semester.

DRAWING AND PAINTING
Semester or Full Year - Grades 9-12

The nature of this course is to establish a good understanding of design, drawing and painting skills by focusing on the disciplines of observation and developing craftsmanship and proficiency in technique through kinetic exercises. This class primarily focuses on the development of each student’s artistic perception and creative expression by learning the techniques of drawing using the building blocks of shape, texture, line quality, tone, shading, perspective, and colors of animate and inanimate objects. The focus will shift from drawing to watercolor and acrylic painting techniques, fusing both drawing and painting together. The subject matter will vary according to the community or world events as well as seasonal themes through constant connection and application of the given art form.

PRINTMAKING
Semester or Full Year - Grades 9-12

This survey course explores the world of printmaking, and includes hands-on projects, audio/visual media, related texts, lectures, visiting artists, and critiques. It will focus on the source of ideas, concepts and expression in conjunction with developing craftsmanship and proficiency in technique, while developing a personal style. We will work with cyanotypes, relief prints, silkscreen, intaglio, monoprints, bookmaking and other traditional and contemporary methods.

GLASS CLASS
Semester - Grades 11-12

This class is offered as a semester long elective for juniors and seniors who have satisfied their graduation requirement for the Visual Arts. In this class students learn about glass cutting, construct designs using opaque and translucent glass, fuse the glass designs into quarter inch plates, and optionally slump the glass plate into molds to create functional and non-functional forms. Emphasis will be on using light and color to produce visually impressive freestanding and/or wall art. The class culminates in a group exhibition in the Mikles Art Gallery in the Emmons Art Center at Laguna.

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Semester or Full Year - Grades 9-12

This course deals with the fundamentals of the digital camera and the field of digital photography. Elements of the curriculum include lectures, DVDs and videos, exposure to the works of professional photographers, weekly assignments of various lighting situations using digital cameras, computer imaging software, and experience with a variety of digital printers. Students compile black/white and color printed digital portfolios of their photographic work. The best of this work is presented in a group showing at the end of each semester. Students also submit the best of their work to local, state, and national photographic competitions.
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