Illuminating Creative Expression & Independence Through Art Electives

MOVING FROM KINDERGARTEN to eighth grade is like passing through a series of doors. In the Lower School, the door is opened for you—held ajar to allow little footsteps over the threshold. As the little footsteps grow in size and horizons widen with increased maturity, our Lower Schoolers move toward Upper School—where they begin to open these doors on their own. Eventually, they begin to create the doors themselves.

In preparation for life after Peck, the eighth-grade program intentionally allows for students to practice agency and independence in many ways. One of the biggest is in crafting a portion of their academic schedule by choosing their own arts elective. Rather than following a slate of prescripted arts classes during their final year at Peck, eighth-graders get to experiment by choosing electives aligned with their interests in woodworking, visual arts, drama, music, or tech and design.

We know that children want to be independent, but independence and agency are skills that need to be taught. At Peck, we intentionally craft opportunities for students to practice these skills.

“Our students are more than ready to explore and share a passion,” says the 21-22 Art Department Chair Karen Dispenziere, who was instrumental in creating the elective program. “We see they’re more engaged in their coursework, which comes from allowing them to explore the arts within school. Hopefully, we foster their desire to continue that exploration outside of school and after graduation.”

Each elective gives students a space to celebrate and solidify skills in creative expression and independence.

The Tech & Design art elective looked slightly different this year. Also known as Creative Computing, this semester-long elective resulted in students creating the experience of a lifetime for their peers: a puzzle-filled escape room. “Creating this escape room taught students to design, collaborate, and take calculated risks. They also learned about new programming languages,” says Bruce Schwartz, director of the Osborn Idea & Design Lab. The students fully led this project, designing each stage and obstacle with care and zeal. Additionally, the project faced an unexpected challenge—it needed to be relocated out of the Idea & Design Lab and into the Lindenwold Library due to unforeseen circumstances. The change required the team to create a new floor plan and work with additional materials to start and finish each puzzle.

“Art is a global conversation and everyone has a voice—in the art room, you’re encouraged to find yours,” says Scott Beil, Upper School art teacher and instructor for The Art Studio elective. This elective is a semester-long, portfolio-based class, and this year’s theme was art investigation. Students were tasked with researching and writing down their passions and inspirations—from artists to any visual stimuli that they are drawn to. Some students join this elective knowing they want to create new and exciting pieces through drawing, painting, sculpture, or digital art while others receive more guidance. Some students explored landscapes and inspirational quotes, while others ventured toward sculpture and laser cutting.

Not far from the art room doorlies a different type of craft: woodworkingwith Mark Mortensen. In this year-longart elective, eighth graders can workon their capstone projects (if theircapstone involves woodworking) whilesimultaneously being granted theopportunity to design and learn theskills necessary to utilize various toolsin the woodshop. Some students createskateboards and sculptures, while othershone their familiarity with the techniquesto make furniture and other complexstructures. “I wanted them to choose aproject that’s going to be a challengefor them—not a frustration—and onethat will stretch their abilities,”says Mortensen.

Musical exploration and fun exist and persist in the classroom with Upper School Music Teacher Sebastian Guererro. Students interested in learning and playing music trace the roots of current popular American music through listening, analysis, and instrument playing in this fall semester elective. This year’s class also positively impacted the Peck community by sharing multiple videos during assemblies titled “Name That Tune.” Songs for “Name That Tune” were selected, curated, and played by our eighth-grade musicians. Learning and playing through the origins of music, our eighth graders are encouraged to continue experimenting with different styles of music and instruments. Guerrero notes, “I hope students feel empowered to make music and see that it’s possible for everyone—especially with kids who have never tried it before.”

In the spring semester, eighth-grade students interested in pursuing the art of the stage have the chance to enroll in the drama arts elective. Peck’s young thespians take charge and command the stage, choreography, tech, lighting, and marketing for their performance at the end of the school year. “Our eighth graders in drama found a rendition of Sidney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men called 12 Angry Villains. They took it upon themselves to write an epilogue and prologue for their performance in the spring,” states Guerrero.