Upper School Visual Arts
The Philosophy
The Arts & Design Department plays a vital role in helping students make sense of the world and their place within it. Through visual art, design, music, and performance, students explore how human beings communicate ideas, emotions, and experiences—often in ways that words alone cannot. Artistic and design practices teach students how ideas are formed, expressed, tested, and revised, building skills that extend far beyond the studio or stage and into every academic discipline and future pathway.
The Goal
Our courses provide structured opportunities for students to create, perform, reflect, and refine. Students learn to work through uncertainty, take creative risks, and develop confidence in their ability to shape meaning—whether through an image, a performance, a composition, or a designed solution. These experiences cultivate empathy, adaptability, and voice, helping students become thoughtful makers, collaborators, and communicators who engage the human experience with intention and care.
The Arts & Design department provides opportunities for students to practice:
- Creative Self-Expression & Exposure to the Arts: Courses that invite students to explore and communicate their ideas through artistic practice, while also engaging with artistic traditions, histories, and cultures. Instruction balances training techniques with experimentation, ensuring students both build discipline and discover their voices.
- Design Thinking: Courses that cultivate problem-solving as a creative habit of mind, emphasizing iteration, research, testing, and collaboration. Instruction balances structured frameworks with emergent learning in a sandbox environment, where experimentation and play allow students to adapt and innovate.
Note: Students may enroll in a seventh course in the Arts & Design department. Students may also carry an Arts & Design course as their sixth course.
Drawing as a Way of Seeing (F)
Open to: Grades 9-12
Graduation Requirement: Arts
This course invites students into the practice of drawing as a tool for observation and visual thinking. Whether returning to drawing after time away or building foundational skills for the first time, students develop their abilities through regular practice and focused attention.
This course frames drawing as the foundation of visual art. Students learn to draw from direct observation while exploring materials such as graphite, charcoal, and ink, building confidence, skill, and visual awareness over time.
Painting Methods (F, S)
Open to: Grades 9-12
Graduation Requirement: Arts
From oil paint to watercolor, this class serves as a guided exploration of pushing paint across a surface. Students will begin by utilizing paint as a drawing tool, laying down values and mixing grays to create the illusion of light. From there they will engage with color theory and paint-mixing techniques for both water and oil-based mediums. Rounding out their experience, students will be given the chance to create work independently, and unlock the joys of expression through paint.
Ceramics (F, S)
Open to: Grades 9-12
Graduation Requirement: Arts
This course will cover the expressive and creative aspects of clay. Students will learn the fundamentals of hand building—from coiled vessels to slab-built sculptures. Mold-making, stamping, and glazing techniques will all be explored as students create decorative, sculptural, and functional objects. Students will develop proficiency in working with clay, developing multiple unique ceramic forms over the course of the term. Assignments will explore sculptural form, surface marking, and color aspects of ceramic art.
Digital Photography (F, S)
Open to: Grades 9-12
Graduation Requirement: Arts
This course provides students with a foundation in digital photography techniques and composition. Students will develop their technological understanding by primarily working in a manual setting with DSLR cameras, and continue to strengthen their application of the elements of art and principles of design. Their growth as artists will be supported through their exploration of composition as it relates to portraiture, photomontage, landscape, abstraction, and the narrative. Daily use of digital editing software like Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop will help students to refine their photographic images. Presentation of historical and contemporary photographers and techniques, weekly digital sketchbook assignment, as well as regular class and one-on-one critiques will further support student understanding and growth. All students are expected to use their own digital camera. There are limited loaner cameras available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Graphic Design (S)
Open to: Grades 9-12
Graduation Requirement: Arts or Design
Graphic design is a way of thinking through visual communication. In this course, students explore how images, text, and layout work together to communicate ideas clearly and effectively in commercial and public contexts. Emphasis is placed on visual design principles such as hierarchy, balance, contrast, and alignment, and how these choices shape meaning and guide viewers.
Students develop original design solutions that integrate typography and imagery for applications such as branding, promotion, and advertising. Through iterative making and regular critique, students learn to analyze visual messages, refine their decisions, and understand design as both a creative practice and a strategic tool.
The Art of Worldbuilding (F)
Open to: Grades 9-12
Graduation Requirement: Arts
Avatar: the Last Airbender, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek: vastly popular intellectual properties that owe much of their success to the depth and richness of their worlds. They are tangible, meaningful, and enthralling. But how are they made? In this course, students will be introduced to a myriad of processes that artists, writers, and designers use to ideate anything from a simple character to an entire cosmology. This multimedia course will have students collaborating, writing, sketching, designing, and sculpting artifacts that will help to paint a picture of a vibrant, original world.
Digital Art: Prop Design (F)
Open to: Grades 9-12
Graduation Requirement: Arts or Design
Iconic fictional worlds and franchises captivate audiences with the depth and richness of their worlds. A crucial part of their success lies in the meticulously crafted props that make these universes tangible and immersive. But how are these objects imagined and brought to life? Embedded within The Art of Worldbuilding, students will dive into the creative processes behind prop design, exploring how artists and designers conceptualize and realize everything from a simple trinket to the artifacts of an entire fictional civilization. Through collaboration, writing, sketching, and hands-on sculpting, students will create original props that breathe life into a unique and vibrant world of their own making.
Sculpture and 3D Art (S)
Open to: Grades 9-12
Graduation Requirement: Arts
Students will learn to problem-solve creatively through traditional and contemporary ways of working in three-dimensions. Students will learn how to manipulate a variety of materials and use sculpting tools safely. They will analyze other works of sculpture through reading, discussion and critique and examine geometric, abstract and organic forms. Projects will include recycled and found-object, site-specific, and conceptual sculptures.
Studio Art: Intro to Creative Practice (F)
Open to: Grades 11 & 12
Graduation Requirement: Arts or Design
Prerequisite: 2 semesters of any visual arts course, or with permission of the department chair.
This course is designed for students wishing to explore creating artwork within a more rigorously structured environment. Students will learn and practice the essential skills artists deploy as they claim being a practicing artist for themselves. They will be given the opportunity to experiment with new techniques and materials, or reinforce skills already developed in prior classes. Students will meet professional artists and attend arts-oriented events and field trips. Outside readings, sketchbook assignments, class critiques, and collaborative projects will further enhance and support student artistic appreciation and growth. In-studio efforts beyond the scheduled class time are required to meet the expectations of this class. Juniors who wish to develop a portfolio for college applications will find this class especially useful. Seniors already on the path to further artistic study will also be enriched by this intensive, studio-oriented environment.
Studio Art: Portfolio Building Seminar (S)
Open to: Grade 11
Graduation Requirement: Arts or Design
Prerequisite: 2 semesters of any visual arts course, or with permission of the department chair.
This course is designed for Juniors who are heavily invested in pursuing art, and plan on applying to a college-level art program. We will begin this course by compiling student artwork to excavate and illustrate the student’s goals for their artistic pursuits. We will then design a bespoke action plan that the student will execute during the term to fill any gaps, revise unfinished work, or conceptualize new works. We will also develop optional plans for the forthcoming summer break.
Studio Art Honors (Year Long)
Open to: Grades 11 & 12
Graduation Requirement: Arts or Design
Prerequisite: 2 semesters of any visual arts course, or with permission of the department chair.
Exhibition within an art context facilitates a conversation between the maker and a viewer. Working in series allows for a longform engagement with a topic, and facilitates deep articulation of a concept. This course offers holistic guidance on the development of the student’s creative practice, while also giving them multiple opportunities to forge profound connections with the public through their artwork. Starting in the fall term, students work with prompts, and experience a structured engagement with the creative process. From inspiration to intent, then subsequent research, making, critique, and finally reflection, students will experience the life cycle of creating art at a rigorous level. In the winter, students conceptualize their own prompts, culminating into a budding series. They will arbitrate critiques and design periodic, pop-up shows so they may refine their vision. The spring semester is oriented around revising and refining work, as well as supplementing additional pieces to develop a series to exhibit in an end-of-year show.
Essential questions include: What influences and inspires me to create? What do I have to say using visual media? What kind of material can I use to communicate my intent? How does one learn to create affective experiences through works of art? In what context should my art piece be experienced? How can I create art consistently and in a sustainable way? In addition to visual art engagement, this course will emphasize sophisticated reflective writing, and articulate oral and written feedback during peer critique. Students may enroll in this course multiple times over their time at Derryfield with permission of the instructor.
Advanced Topics Studio Art (Year Long)
Open to: Grades 12
Graduation Requirement: Arts or Design
Prerequisite: 2 semesters of any visual arts course, or with permission of the department chair.
The Advanced Topics Studio Art course is a capstone course for the visual art curriculum at Derryfield. This advanced course provides robust, integrative support for the evolution of students’ creative practices while offering numerous opportunities to establish impactful connections with audiences through their work. Successful students in this class will be those who have developed responsibility for their own learning, have developed a distinguished voice, and have a curiosity and drive to explore deeper questions about the nature of art & society. Embedded within Honors Studio Art, this course is for the student who is interested in organizing exhibitions, refining their established portfolio, and developing their own independent projects.
