Visual Arts

In Pre-K and Kindergarten, we provide the opportunity for our children to have the freedom to explore art materials and create, as they develop their love for art. The art center within the class is a space that children are free to visit daily. There are no templates or step-by-step directions to follow, but creative, individual designing of art work. We believe that art engages the imagination and minds of our young artists. Hands-on activities build fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, and the skills that lead to growth and development.

Throughout Lower School (through fourth grade), students study the principles and elements of art, the components of color, form, line, shape, space, and texture. Students are encouraged to practice self-expression in their craft and explore their talents while appreciating art and its role in the world around them. A variety of artists and their particular styles and mediums are shared with students throughout the year. Students throughout Lower School continue to study the elements of art, growing their love and appreciation of the fine arts. 

Students in fifth and sixth grades have five days of visual arts in our six-day schedule, alternating rotations with music class. The curriculum includes drawing, painting, printmaking and ceramics. The elements and principles of design are reviewed and incorporated during the process of creating art. The fifth-grade art students will occasionally collaborate with other core subjects as they learn how and why artists express themselves. Beginning with cave paintings through the modern times and currently in the digital era. The sixth-grade students critique their own work and present reports on artists for historic context. This emphasis on various movements of 20th-century art helps students recognize how art reflects the values and beliefs of a culture in a specific time. Student work is celebrated and freedom of expression is encouraged. 

Seventh-grade students rotate among choir, drama, and visual art, spending six weeks in each rotation per semester. Visual Arts encompasses creative expression, criticism through artistic judgments based on critical thinking skills, and an extensive approach to technical processes. Studio work includes an array of art techniques, including drawing and painting both digitally and with hands-on materials as well as printmaking. Students curate a digital portfolio of their work throughout the year. 

Eighth-grade students elect to study two of our three fine arts courses - Choir, Drama, and Visual Art - spending 18 weeks in each course per semester. Visual Art encourages students to develop a deeper understanding of purpose and content in their creations. The course focuses on and provides opportunities for students to practice techniques of the arts by investigating the principles and elements of art and design, while curating a digital portfolio of their work. Grades are earned on an effort and discipline basis rather than on natural artistic ability.

Art I is a year-long course that will introduce students to the fundamental elements and principles of design, production oriented problem solving, and aesthetics with connections to art history. Students will explore introductory technical skills in drawing, design, painting and printmaking. Grades achieved in this class are determined by the student’s efforts, self-discipline, and motivation, not talent. Art I is a prerequisite for all upper-level, visual art classes.

Once students have completed Art I, they are eligible to take Art II, Studies in Ceramics, Studies in Glass, or Photography I. Other offerings that are more advanced (Art III, Advanced Studies in Ceramics, and Photography II) require teacher approval. TVS offers a Senior Portfolio class that requires teacher approval as well as a portfolio review. 

Trinity Valley School maintains a gallery for both student and guest artist exhibitions in the Middle School/Upper School Library.