Visual Arts
Brentwood School offers a wide array of visual arts experiences including drawing and composition classes, an active ceramics studio, traditional and digital photography, and two and three dimensional stained glass construction.
Students, using the elements and principles of art as their guide, turn basic concepts into personally relevant art. Teachers direct, and students imagine, experiment, practice, and grow in a supportive atmosphere that fosters creative self-expression.
This creativity spreads contagiously throughout each class, the department, and the school, producing actively engaged artists and the outstanding artwork that is prominently displayed in numerous campus locations. Our dedicated gallery space has a full yearly calendar and serves as a dynamic display center for student art, guest artist presentations, and faculty exhibitions. Regularly, art education extends beyond the classroom through a series of artists' talks that make concepts and imagery come alive for our school community. In April, our All-School Art Show spotlights K-12 visual art in a week long celebration that honors each artist and gives an overview of our comprehensive visual program. Each year, two department wide collaborative projects engage each visual discipline in the exploration of a shared theme, with opening receptions that invite the entire campus to participate in art and ideas. Additionally, our Theater Lobby Gallery presents work that enhances and supports performing arts events, and our Library display space engages all who congregate there.
Students also submit to and are accepted in various art competitions at the local, regional, and national levels. Preparation, production, and presentation are at the heart of Brentwood School's visual arts program.
Brentwood School's photography program provides students an opportunity to explore traditional, digital and alternative image making processes. Students first develop their skills through traditional means, which provides a strong foundation for understanding digital and alternative approaches. In addition to practicing technical skills and photographic genres, students are also challenged to address concepts or contemporary issues within their work.
Drawing and Composition classes are structured sequentially to give students the skills to translate their ideas into drawings, paintings, and mixed media pieces. Art history and the work of contemporary artists are integrated into lessons. In Drawing and Composition I, working from observation is emphasized. Experiences using resources and the incorporation of perspective and light sources are introduced into projects to help students illustrate personal and social ideas or themes.
Ceramics and Sculpture classes offer students the opportunity to build technical and creative skills in the concentration of clay and mixed media. Projects range from traditional utilitarian pottery forms to conceptually driven expressive art pieces. Beginning students develop technical skills such as hand-building, wheel throwing, and glazing. More advanced assignments investigate the art making process as a vehicle for critical thinking, personal inquiry, and discovery.
Sun light shining on colored panes sends rainbow hues reflecting throughout the studio as students learn to design and fabricate using art glass. Expressing creative ideas in this medium, those who enroll in the many levels of stained glass classes offered will experience both "Tiffany" and leaded glass construction in two and three-dimensional formats. Continued investigation and use of the elements and principles of art are explored through a series of student oriented, teacher directed experiences. Techniques are honed by experience and support an evolving artistic vision as projects gain in sophistication over time, both mechanically and aesthetically.
Click the image to the left to see pictures of the classroom process.
