VISUAL ARTS

Mission Statement | Visual Arts

The Middle School Art curriculum encourages personal expression and inventive thinking through the imaginative exploration of art materials and methods. The program emphasizes a genuine art studio experience that stresses visual imagery and the elements of art: line, shape, color, pattern, texture, and space. Assignments encourage students to expand their artistic skills, broaden their visual perception, and develop facilities with a range of media. The assignments are structured and sequential, but they encourage a variety of creative responses. The studio environment fosters a sense of community, compassion, and respect for every student’s work process and creations. By introducing artists whose work is intriguing, we teach art history in a dynamic, hands-on manner. The artwork is visually compelling in its aesthetic and sense of design and diverse in culture, ethnicity, gender, style, time period, and media. We also teach assignments inspired by self-taught artists who are intent on making art despite psychological challenges. Our artistic practice inherently values different voices and is sensitive to others’ perspectives. In the art studio, students “have opportunities to consider other viewpoints” (Kohlberg). As our students become receptive to the vision of other artists, they find their own voice and take risks to articulate their personal aesthetic. In light-filled art studios, teachers who are also artists share their love of making art. They offer every child the opportunity to feel a sense of accomplishment. The rich studio experience exemplifies The Dalton Plan because students build knowledge actively as they work on assignments in class and lab. The Art Department considers every child an artist and honors their artwork by displaying it throughout the school professionally. Our aesthetic celebrates the subtle and beautiful irregularities of art made by the human hand. Students learn to work with focus and discipline, making thoughtful artistic choices about their creations.

4th Grade Visual Arts Skills

Fine Motor, Eye-Hand Coordination, Ability to work with a variety of materials and media:

• Work with tempera paint, watercolor, colored pencils, collage, pastels, printmaking, and book-making materials (I) • Cut and glue accurately (I) • Use a variety of brush sizes and types (I) • Work with three-dimensional materials such as clay, wood, sewing, and mixed media (I)

Understand and apply the elements (line, shape, color, texture) and principles of art (positive and negative space, composition, balance, unity, repetition, rhythm, and variation):

• Represent objects, people, animals, landscapes, cityscapes through drawing (I) • Compose creatively with shapes in two and three dimensions (I) • Understand the role of chance and imagination in the art making process (I) Spatial Organization:

• Consider arrangement, balance, and unity of forms within the frame of the composition (I) • Understand scale, overlapping shapes, positive and negative space, background and foreground (I) • Construct interesting forms with wood, wire, cloth, and clay (I)

Observational Skills and Visual Perception:

• Use line to delineate forms. (I) • Measurement techniques with hands. (I)

Color Mixing and Color Theory:

• Understanding and applying Color as an expressive medium (I) • Color schemes: Using Warm and cool colors complementary colors (I)

5th Grade Visual Arts Skills

Fine Motor, Eye-Hand Coordination, Ability to work with a variety of materials and media:

• Work with tempera paint, watercolor, colored pencils, collage, pastels, printmaking, and book-making materials (R) • Cut and glue accurately (R) • Use a variety of brush sizes and types (R) • Work with three-dimensional materials such as clay, wood, sewing, and mixed media (R) • Measure with a ruler (R)

Understand and apply the elements (line, shape, color, texture) and principles of art (positive and negative space, composition, balance, unity, repetition, rhythm, and variation):

• Represent objects, people, animals, landscapes, cityscapes through drawing (R) • Compose creatively with shapes in two and three dimensions (R) • Understand the role of chance and imagination in the artmaking process (R)

Spatial Organization:

• Consider arrangement, balance, and unity of forms within the frame of the composition (R) • Understand scale, overlapping shapes, positive and negative space, background and foreground (R) • Construct interesting forms with wood, wire, cloth, and clay (R)

Observational Skills and Visual Perception:

• Use line to delineate forms (I) • Measurement techniques with hands (I)

Color Mixing and Color Theory:

• Understanding and applying color as an expressive medium (I) • Color schemes: Warm and cool colors (R) • Primary, secondary, and tertiary (I) • Complementary colors, tints, and shades (I)

6th Grade Visual Arts Skills

Fine Motor, Eye-Hand Coordination, Ability to work with a variety of materials and media:

• Manipulate shapes using scissors and glue (R) • Controlling paint: amount of paint and water on brush, size of brush (R) • Fashion a relief image in clay (I) • Carve a relief image in rubber stamps and linocut prints (R) • Record edges with a contour line (R) Understand and apply the elements (line, shape, color, texture) and principles of art (positive and negative space, composition, balance, unity, repetition, rhythm, and variation):

• Represent objects, people, animals, landscapes, cityscapes through drawing (R) • Compose creatively with shapes in two and three dimensions (R) • Understand the role of chance and imagination in the artmaking process (R)

Spatial Organization:

• Consider arrangement and balance of forms within the frame of the composition (R) • Consider relationship of figure and ground, positive and negative space within the composition (I)

Observational Skills and Visual Perception:

• See and record edges (R) • Blind contour drawing (I) • Modified contour drawing (I) • Monitor spatial proportions and relationships (I)

Color Mixing and Color Theory:

• Primary, secondary, tertiary colors, complementary colors, tints, and shades (R) • Use color to convey distance (I)

7th Grade Visual Arts Skills Drawing and Design

Fine Motor, Eye-Hand Coordination, Ability to work with a variety of materials and media:

• Control pastels, tempera, watercolor, colored pencils, collage, and printmaking • Cut and glue accurately

Application of the Elements and Principles of Art:

• Draw geometric shapes (I), objects, people, and cityscapes (R) • Compose creatively with shapes • Create a sequence of visual ideas in a book (I) • Communicate ideas through images

Spatial Organization:

• Understand scale, overlapping shapes, positive and negative space (R) • Understanding one and two-point perspectives (R)

Observational Skills:

• Use line to delineate form • Use the viewfinder to isolate interesting composition (I) • Measure with a ruler • Use grid to enlarge drawings (I) • Understand the proportions of the face and figure (I)

Color Mixing and Theory:

• Understand color as an expressive medium (R) • Create texture and atmosphere with paint (I) • Color schemes: complementary colors, warm and cool colors, tints and shades, primary, secondary, and tertiary colors (R)

7th Grade Visual Arts Skills Dimensional Design

Fine Motor, Eye-Hand Coordination, Ability to work with a variety of materials and media:

• Spatial acuity and control:

Model a preconceived form in clay

Measure and compare relative proportions (I)

Spatial Organization:

• Understand and create simple structural systems and how they can interact with gravity (I)

8th Grade Visual Arts Skills Painting

Fine Motor, Eye-Hand Coordination, Ability to work with a variety of materials and media:

• Work with pastels, tempera paint, colored pencils, collage, printmaking, and acrylics (I)

Application of the Elements and Principles of Art:

• Draw geometric shapes, natural forms, animals, and cityscapes (I) • Compose creatively with shapes (R)

Spatial Organization:

• Understand scale, overlapping shapes (R) • Use of aerial and linear perspective (R)

Observational Skills:

• Use line to delineate form • Use the viewfinder to isolate an interesting composition (I) • Measure with a ruler (R)

Color Mixing and Theory:

• Understand color as an expressive medium (R) • Color symbolism: creation of texture and atmosphere with paint (I) • Color Schemes: monochromatic color, warm and cool colors, tints and shades, primary, secondary, and tertiary colors (R)

Understand, Create, and Manipulate Three-Dimensional Space in a Two Dimensional Medium:

• Use value and chiaroscuro as a means of creating volume and depth • Use one-point perspective to create depth (I)

Use of the Language of Art to Describe and Interpret Works of Art:

• Class critiques: analysis of other students’ artwork (R) • Self-analysis and self-reflection in terms of the elements of art (R)

Art History and Cultural Context:

• Attain familiarity with a wide range of works of art by major artists who inspire various assignments (R)

Observational Skills:

• Measure, and compare relative proportions (I) • Measure accurately and use simple geometry (R) • Find perpendicular angles, measure angles with a protractor, use pi to find the circumference (I)

Understand, Create, and Manipulate Three Dimensional Space in a Two-Dimensional Medium:

8th Grade Visual Arts Skills Ceramics

Fine Motor, Eye-Hand Coordination, Ability to work with a variety of materials and media:

• Spatial acuity and control of clay in variety of conditions (R) • Control major and minor body movements on a potters wheel (R)

Application of the Elements and Principles of Art:

• Construct variety of three-dimensional shapes (R) • Compose three-dimensional objects (R)

Spatial Organization:

• Make three-dimensional forms by adding and taking away material (R)

Observational Skills:

• Follow complex steps to create pots on a potters wheel (R)

Understand, Create, and Manipulate Three-Dimensional Space in a Two-Dimensional Medium:

• Transferring two-dimensional drawing into three-dimensional forms (R)

Art History and Cultural Context:

• Learn skills used by ancient cultures for building functional and sculptural ceramics (R)

8th Grade Visual Arts Skills Photography

Fine Motor, Eye-Hand Coordination, Ability to work with a variety of materials and media:

• Work carefully with photographic chemistry (I) • Work with collage, sewing, and drawing (R)

Application of the Elements and Principles of Art:

• Judge photographic contrast and tonality (I) • Create artwork and transfer visual ideas with computer software (Adobe Photoshop) (I)

Observational Skills:

• Follow complex steps to create pots on a potters wheel (R)

Understand, Create, and Manipulate Three-Dimensional Space in a Two-Dimensional Medium:

• Isolating composing a photograph based on observation (I)

Use of the Language of Art to Describe and Interpret Works of Art: Art History and Cultural Context):

• Attain familiarity with various master photographers who inspire various assignments (I)

Art 4

Fourth grade students learn about various artists and receive an introduction to drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, sewing, and mixed media. Specific assignments introduce the basic vocabulary of art: line, shape, color, volume, space, and composition. Working from observation and imagination, students create abstract and representational art. They are encouraged to make thoughtful choices about the balance, variety, and unity of their compositions. Art assignments include a tactile paper collage inspired by Kurt Schwitters, a quilt based on the work of the African American women of Gee’s Bend, as well as pieced textiles from various Asian cultures, an observational drawing of a pumpkin that introduces ways to achieve an illusion of volume, a painting of a natural form in the monumental style of Georgia O’Keeffe, a drawing of repeated objects inspired by self-taught artist Heinrich Reisenbauer, and a watercolor painting in the style of Paul Klee. Every art teacher includes an assignment related to their area of expertise. These include an introduction to the potter’s wheel, creating a found object circus inspired by Alexander Calder, constructions based on the work of self-taught artist James Castle, woodworking, papermaking, Japanese marbling, handmade books, and sewing. Students develop fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, and perception of edges, shapes, proportions, and facilities with various materials as they respond to these assignments.

Art 5

The 5th grade art curriculum is an introduction to texture and relief. Through box constructions inspired by Joseph Cornell, assemblages in the style of Louise Nevelson, texture rubbing books, masks, collagraph and linocut printmaking, and perspective drawing, students develop skills in representational and abstract art. Teachers also integrate woodworking assignments, papermaking, handmade books, ceramics, and helmets that reflect their own expertise. Students occasionally use Photoshop as an additional tool for making art.

Art 6

Students work on a sequence of assignments that include black and white collages of positive and negative shapes, color collages inspired by Matisse, motif and pattern paintings, rubber stamp patterns that play with color and alignment of the motif, handmade books, a perspective drawing that creates the illusion of depth, Greek Festival clay relief tiles, observational contour drawing, and linocut prints.

Art 7

The 7th grade art curriculum includes one semester of twodimensional Drawing and Design and one semester of threedimensional design. Drawing and Design introduce design elements through assignments such as an abstraction of a still life, enlargement of composition using a grid, linocut cityscapes and collages, imaginative shoe designs, and portraits inspired by Arcimboldo. Students use line shape, color, value, and pattern to design balanced and unified compositions. Dimensional Design teaches the basic elements of three-dimensional design. Students create a stable structure using corrugated cardboard. They learn to measure accurately, cut, and join materials with precision. The construction can be representational or abstract. By modeling a figure in clay, students learn about proportion and observation. Studying vanishing point perspective, they make a drawing that creates the convincing illusion of three-dimensional space.

Art 8

The 8th grade curriculum consists of Painting, Ceramics/New Media, Photography, Culinary Arts, and more. These courses teach greater facility in a range of media, techniques, and basic design concepts. The sequential assignments prepare students for a variety of high school art courses.

Painting In Painting, students use gradations of color to create the illusion of volume on a flat surface. They work with a variety of media, using direct observation as well as imagination. First, they paint a cylinder in gradual values and transform it into an interesting composition. Next, they draw a pear under a single light source, using chalk pastel to suggest the volume. Other assignments include a torn paper collage of a pear, a mosaic of a pear, a painting of an object under a single light source, Sumi ink painting, a landscape painting, and a still life inspired by Giorgio Morandi.

Ceramics/New Media Students learn how clay responds to their sense of touch and timing while building familiarity with a variety of construction techniques. The class emphasizes intensive instruction in wheel throwing. Through repetition, students learn to center, open, and raise simple cylinders. They also learn hand-building techniques such as pinch pots, coils, and extruded forms. Students learn a stop-action clay animation technique on their laptops. While utility and function are often considerations of clay, sculptural explorations are also encouraged. Most assignments allow students to define the form and content of their studio investigations.

Photography Photography introduces students to basic camera handling, film development, and darkroom printing techniques. Students also work with Adobe Photoshop, using the software to create several design-based assignments. Combining mixed media with photography, students experiment with hands-on techniques such as painting, collage, and sewing to alter their pictures.