Visual Arts

List of 10 items.

• Art Foundations

  This required course is intended to give students new to the Visual Arts Department at Kents Hill, a basic foundation in art while also learning about contemporary artists and current art practices. Working in a variety of mediums, and with the elements of art as the main focus, the fundamentals of art and design will be considered. This course will provide the necessary background for students interested in pursuing any introductory course offered by the department.

• Advanced Placement Art History

  This year-long course is designed to provide students with an understanding of architecture, sculpture, painting and other forms within historical and cultural contexts. In this course, students will examine major forms of artistic expression from the past and present, from a variety of cultures. Our studies range across space as well as time to include the art of ancient Africa, Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, Asia and the Middle East. Students will learn to look at works of art critically, with intelligence and sensitivity and to analyze what they see.

• Advanced Placement Studio Art

  This year long course is intended for inspired artists who are serious about art making and are considering a major or minor in art in college. Students will prepare an art portfolio for the AP 2-D, 3-D or the Drawing Studio Art Exam in May and for their college applications. The goals of this course are to encourage creative as well as systemic investigation of formal and conceptual issues; to emphasize art as an ongoing process involving informed and critical decision-making; to develop technical skills and to familiarize students with the functions of the visuals elements. 

• Ceramics

  These clay based courses include the first stages of forming clay through hand building, learning the basics of throwing on a potter's wheel, and various glazing techniques. A variety of projects are assigned from clay tiles to teapots. For students with the basics behind them, the goal of the course is to allow for experimentation and skill building. Students learn by widening their approach and are challenged to develop the ability to reproduce a form. By the third trimester of ceramic studies, students will use various clay bodies and complete technical firings like raku and soda firings. Students are encouraged to be creative with regard to aesthetic, physical, and chemical problems involving clay, glaze and the firing process.

• Creative Woodworking

  Creative Woodworking is a thorough introduction to furniture making, with a focus on traditional hand skills. The proper use of hand and power tools, such as the table saw, jointer, planer and bandsaw will be addressed. A healthy respect for each approach will be an integral part of the learning experience. Through daily lectures and demonstrations, the teacher will introduce skills such as lumber selection, milling, joinery, scraping, sanding, assembly, and finishing. Individually designed projects as well as a class project will be introduced.

• Drawing & Painting

  We offer a variety of courses for the practice of painting and drawing.  Drawing and Painting I, II, and II, Digital Illustration, and AP Studio Art Drawing all provide our students with the development of drawing and rendering skills. Using a wide range of mediums, students will experiment with the concept of drawing as a communication tool. The basic elements of art continue to be a focus in this class. Students in these drawing and painting courses will be trying out new ideas, using different materials, and experimenting with drawing techniques are the foci of this course. All of these courses allow serious art students an opportunity to explore their own creativity and problem solving capabilities. 

• Environmental Art & Design

  The purpose of the environmental art and design course is to focus on a variety of interrelated topics with the environment at the center of our creative thinking. Core objectives are to develop in students an informed understanding and use of language in materials/media and ideas, and to make art in response to a context that includes our environment, the state of our environment or elements of our environment. Students will also develop confidence as artists and practice critical language in response to contemporary environmental art and design.

• New Media

  New Media is our component of creative courses that combine art, design, and technology to produce a variety of works of art from film, game design, logo development to marketing materials. These offerings are for students with a willingness to create and discover with the use of technology. The cutting edge, industry-standard Adobe suite of software is utilized in these courses, including Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere Pro. All courses are taught in a state of the art lab containing 13 iMacs with 27" monitors, Wacom drawing tablets, access to a large format scanner and two large format color printers. The courses are digital illustration, digital imaging, graphic design, digital film and the art of short film.

• Photography

  Students in photography courses study the fundamentals of photography including composition, exposure, and the use of light. Students also explore the history of photography by examining modern master photographers and studying the use of photographic elements essential in designing a technically and artistically creative photograph. Students actively explore their own creativity as they build their own portfolio of images during the course of each trimester. Regular critiques of their work help to build the students' confidence as artists and photographers. Courses offered in photography include: Photography, Studio Photography, Environmental Photography, Black and White Film Photography I, II, II and AP Studio Art 2D-Photography Portfolio.

• Sculpture & 3D Design

  The sculpture and 3D design courses will explore concepts and process associated with: form, volume, line, space, texture, additive, subtractive, casting and fabrication. Wood, clay and metal will be the primary media used, but there are opportunities for students to explore plaster casting, found object mixed media assemblages, site specific works, and 3D rendering with software programs in the New Media lab. These courses will explore visual, social and physical concepts of 3D sculpture with a focus on idea development. Working on a more advanced level, students will have the ability to immerse themselves in a diverse selection of sculptural processes including construction or fabrication, carving, manipulation and casting. Contemporary issues related to sculpture will be explored through assigned readings, personal research, class discussion, video tutorials, website postings, critiques and individual projects.