Art
Courses Offered
Course offerings are contingent on MPA policies regarding student enrollment numbers for each class.
| 5th Grade |
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Art 5 Expression of self is inherent in a middle school student’s development. Art 5 provides an opportunity for students to have a hands-on experience, building their art knowledge and developing their skills. Offered many choices within the class structure, they learn to add a personal style to their art making while engaging in challenging ideas and concepts. Students work with a variety of mediums including printmaking, painting, drawing, and ceramics. Complexity is added to previously learned concepts, such as in drawing, where value is used to imply 3-dimensional form. Other lessons include, but are not limited to, studying color and the use of color to create whimsy, learning to enlarge from a grid to provide structure in drawing, using natural elements (such as leaves) in the process of printmaking, and using clay to create a functional form. A variety of artists are referenced, including George Rodrigue and Wayne Thiebaud. To celebrate the creativity and accomplishments of each student, artwork is exhibited in the community throughout the semester. |
| 6th Grade |
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Art 6 Art is a language by which students learn to communicate visually, expressing and exchanging ideas using the elements of line, shape, space, color, value, texture, and form. The Art 6 experience is an integral part of the broader Middle School Art program, which is designed to foster student growth at every level. Through hands-on experience, development of technique, and application of concepts, students gain confidence in their skills and hopefully find joy in creating. This course offers instruction and opportunity in the mediums of drawing, painting, ceramics, and printmaking. Composition is addressed in all mediums, as students are guided through a design process. Architecture is emphasized, both in the printmaking and ceramics units, while the drawing unit references the work of artist, Jim Dine. To celebrate the creativity and accomplishments of each student, artwork is exhibited in the community throughout the semester. |
| 7th Grade |
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Art 7 Credit: Semester long, full block course “Creativity takes courage,” Henri Matisse. To risk to be different, to act with thoughtful care and show others the work that springs forth in class, this is what we ask of the young artists in Art 7. They are acting with courage and faith, and learning a process to express ideas with their head, hands and heart. Visual art is a way to understand and communicate in the world through the use of line, shape, color, space, texture and values. These elements of design are the backbone of the Art 7 course. Through demonstration of technique, applied concepts, and hands-on experience in a range of media, students learn art language, gain confidence in their skills, and find joy in creating. From drawing and painting, to printmaking and ceramics, assignments are designed to maximize student development. |
| 8th Grade |
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Art 8 Credit: Semester long, full block course Leonardo de Vinci, the great artist, thinker, inventor, and problem-solver began his work through observation and recorded it through drawing. Visual art, a language of communication, is a way to understand the world through line, shape, color, space, texture and values, and then to create it anew through imagination. As the capstone middle school visual art experience, Art 8 builds students’ skills, independence, and confidence through conception, creation, and exhibition of their work. Lessons intentionally guide students through rich and diverse hands-on art making experiences in a variety of media and art disciplines so they may become expressive young adult artists. Art history and criticism is smoothly intertwined with visual concepts to guide our next designers and makers in the visual world. |
