High School

The foundations course follows a curriculum that explores two and three-dimensional design. Students are taught the fundamental principles of art through step-by-step lessons targeted at specific skills. Through these practices students have the opportunity to explore, discover, and develop their learned skills and creativity. Students have the opportunity to work in a wide variety of media and disciplines including drawing, painting, ceramics and printmaking.

This intensive full year drawing class puts emphasis on technique, composition and two-dimensional problem solving. This course focuses on observational drawing techniques with instruction on how to control and manipulate a variety of media to create original works. Students will learn skills in line depiction, value, volume, form, texture, and space in a variety of drawing media. Projects in still-life, portraiture, figure, interior space, and landscape will be introduced. Students will also be given the opportunity to develop their personal style and concepts. Students will engage in criticism and reflection of their own work as well as the works of others.

This course introduces students to classical and contemporary painting techniques and concepts, with emphasis on the fundamentals and principles of design. This course focuses on observational painting techniques with instruction on how to control and manipulate oil paint. Painting from still-life, landscape, and interior spaces from observation will be geared towards realism, however various other painting styles can be explored throughout the year. Color theory, linear perspective, compositional structure, figure/ground relationships, visual perception, spatial concepts, and critical thinking skills are emphasized extensively.

This course offers students a three dimensional vehicle for individual expression and exploration. Class assignments include pinch, coil, and slab handbuilding techniques, as well as a variety of wheel-thrown vessels. Students will further their understanding of pottery through carving, stamping, intaglio, slip usage as well as the addition and subtraction of clay. Glaze practices are investigated through brush application, stamping, wax resist, dipping and pouring. An introduction to basic kiln operations will be included..

The printmaking course provides students with the opportunity to explore printmaking techniques ranging from the traditional relief, intaglio, bookbinding and screen printing. Experience in drawing is recommended. Students will create a variety of original prints and explore the possibilities of mass production. Emphasis is placed on the historical/cultural and aesthetic foundations, artistic and technical properties of printmaking and their connections to other subject areas. Students will engage in criticism and reflection of their own work as well as the works of others.

This full year introduction to photography course examines photography from its infancy in the darkroom to the digital era. During the first half of the school year, student will learn how to shoot a manual 35mm camera, process film, and print photographs in the darkroom. In the third quarter, students will learn the manual operations of a digital camera and edit their digital works using Adobe Photoshop. Project genres include landscape, concept, portrait, and still-life. This class is designed to improve perceptual thinking by analyzing visual experiences in terms of composition, foreground, background, form, shape, scale, value, perspective, concept, and metaphor.

The graphic design course introduces the interaction of text and image and the fundamental principles of visual/graphic communication. Students will develop skills in working with text and image through Adobe Photoshop as they create solutions to a series of design problems or assignments. Visual literacy will be elevated through exposure to contemporary design examples and graphic design history. Students will be expected to increase their proficiency in all aspects of the design process, including the use of formal design principles, type as image, creative brainstorming, conceptualizing, critical thinking, collaboration, and presentation. Graphic Design is an academic elective; there will be an emphasis on study skills, writing, technological literacy, and students are required to complete daily homework.

This academic elective is designed for students who have taken Landmark’s Photography course. This course will explore techniques that go beyond traditional photography and introduce experimental and alternative photographic processes. Some of the techniques covered in this course may include non-silver processes such as cyanotype and vandyke brown printing, photogravure, image lifts and transfers, hand-made pinhole cameras, the use of large format cameras and negatives and other experimental processes. Students will explore how photography can be used in conjunction with other media such as printmaking, bookmaking, and sculpture. This course will also look at the historical significance of these techniques to the development of photography as an art form. Advanced Photography is an academic elective; there will be an emphasis on study skills, writing, technological literacy, and students are required to complete daily homework.

Landmark’s portfolio course focuses on the processes, components and structures of creating an effective portfolio. In addition, research and writing about art and artists, gaining professional skills in communication, digital archive creation, organization, curation and presentation of work are emphasized. Expectations include keeping a daily sketchbook, participating in class critiques, and the production of a substantial amount of original works, both in and outside of class. Various structured assignments, group and individual critique, visual research and daily homework will help guide students through the process of portfolio selection, editing, and submission. The formal portfolio will be assembled mid-winter, and a final presentation of student’s personal artist statement and portfolio in the spring is required. Academic elective. Application Only.