Visual Arts

The Lower School Visual Arts course aims to promote art as a meaningful and enjoyable activity that allows for exploration, experimentation, and personal expression. Our objectives are to encourage imagination and creativity to establish critical thinking, invention, problem solving, and innovation. While the course covers drawing, painting, sculpture, and crafts, emphasis is on the development of practical drawing skills that may translate into a valued asset later on in professional and personal life. As young artists, the children are encouraged to focus on the process of creating and collaborating, not on the success or failure of an end product. Students will also be exposed to artists, movements, and art history to inform their understanding and appreciation for the Visual Arts.

The art program at Adda Clevenger for upper school students begins with developing a strong drawing foundation. With an emphasis on realism that allows for objective feedback, students gain confidence as their skills develop. Throughout the year we work with different 2-D mediums, from charcoal, paints, soft pastels and pen and ink. Students learn shading, shapes, value, creating dimension, perspective, landscapes, still lifes, creating textures, drawing from imagination, portraits and human form. The goal for the upper school art department is to prepare our students to be able to see the world and represent it in a thoughtful manner.