The Art & Design program helps students develop their visual literacy (an understanding and appreciation of guiding concepts such as the elements and principles of design), creative problem solving, design thinking (a focus on steps in the process of making), and technical skills (craftsmanship). Students develop their Studio Habits of Mind (which comes out of the framework of Studio Thinking designed by practitioners at Project Zero at Harvard’s School of Education.). They develop their craft, becoming more technically skillful in using a wide range of tools, materials, and artistic processes, and they learn to take care of those tools and their studio workspaces. They begin to see and embrace problems as opportunities, develop focus, and they learn to persist and persevere at tasks. Art students learn to envision and imagine, thinking creatively, developing their ability to come up with new and better ideas. They learn to plan well and work through the many, sometimes messy, stages of the creative process. They express themselves, making art that conveys ideas, feelings, or personal meanings. They observe, looking closely and carefully at things, attending to nuance, noticing the small things that the casual observer won’t. They become more and more sensitive to the natural environment as they work from observation, memory, and imagination. They reflect on what they and their fellow artists have done, learning how to look at and talk about art, to defend their work, to take in and process constructive criticism from their peers. They stretch and explore, reaching beyond what they thought they could do. They learn to embrace opportunities, discover through play, and learn from their mistakes. They work and interact with one another in the community that is the art class, and they share their work with their school, family, and community. They make connections, learning about culture and history, current practices and innovation, and interacting with others through their study of art and art-making. We believe that students’ art classes help balance their academic classes, and that art-making is an essential, enriching experience that helps to more fully develop a well-rounded person.
Student work was published or displayed in Collab, the high school’s literary magazine, the Scholastic Art Awards, the high school’s 45th annual Art Exhibition, sixth annual Fashion Show, and twelfth annual Portfolio exhibition, the Regional High School Art Exhibition hosted by the Lexington Arts & Crafts Society, the 2018 Natural Burlington Photography & Art Exhibition, in other competitions and exhibitions, and on display in the high school’s Cambridge Street Gallery, which continues to provide exhibition space to BHS alumni artists, community members, students, and faculty. All the elementary art teachers held their annual school art exhibitions in May. Middle school teachers shared the work of their students during their Open House night. Advanced photography students once again collaborated with students in the Winchester High School photo program in an exhibition entitled “Photosynthesis XIII” at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester. One of our visiting artists, Bren Bataclan, spoke to the entire high school about his work and exhibited in the school’s gallery.
The Art & Design program hosted its first Inter-district Art Professional Development Day in November at Marshall Simonds Middle School. Nine school districts were involved, including Bedford, Belmont, Burlington, Concord-Carlisle, Holliston, Wellesley, Winchester, Woburn, and Weston, and almost 70 art teachers participated. The goals were to create a larger visual art education community with more support and resources; create valuable, content-specific professional development for visual art educators in the region for a minimum cost to the district by relying on the expertise of our own faculty; address the isolation that some art teachers feel as the only teacher of their discipline in their schools; address common concerns related to visual arts education in Massachusetts and specifically the region; share best practices among a larger group of art educators; and share, discuss, and improve curriculum.
For the 2019-20 school year, the high school will be offering more art & design choices for incoming freshmen, including 2D Design Foundation, 3D Foundation, Drawing Foundation, Painting Foundation, Photo Foundation, and Creative Art Foundation, as well as an entryway into our Portfolio program for the truly committed artist at any grade level (called “Art Fellows”). There will also be more semester courses and honors-level versions of many of the current courses.
We welcome Lindsay Appleby as the newest addition to our team. Lindsey is teaching at Marshall Simonds Middle School. The end of the 2017-2018 school year saw the retirements of two of our team: Elaine Dearden retired from Marshall Simonds and Betty Kerr from Francis Wyman Elementary School.
The art department has been addressing the action items of its three-year improvement plan using the Planning for Success model.
More information about the Art & Design program can be found at:
bpsk12art.weebly.com (a resource for district art teachers)
www.burlingtonhighschoolart.org (for students, parents, and the community.
Student work was published or displayed in Collab, the high school’s literary magazine, the Scholastic Art Awards, the high school’s 45th annual Art Exhibition, sixth annual Fashion Show, and twelfth annual Portfolio exhibition, the Regional High School Art Exhibition hosted by the Lexington Arts & Crafts Society, the 2018 Natural Burlington Photography & Art Exhibition, in other competitions and exhibitions, and on display in the high school’s Cambridge Street Gallery, which continues to provide exhibition space to BHS alumni artists, community members, students, and faculty. All the elementary art teachers held their annual school art exhibitions in May. Middle school teachers shared the work of their students during their Open House night. Advanced photography students once again collaborated with students in the Winchester High School photo program in an exhibition entitled “Photosynthesis XIII” at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester. One of our visiting artists, Bren Bataclan, spoke to the entire high school about his work and exhibited in the school’s gallery.
The Art & Design program hosted its first Inter-district Art Professional Development Day in November at Marshall Simonds Middle School. Nine school districts were involved, including Bedford, Belmont, Burlington, Concord-Carlisle, Holliston, Wellesley, Winchester, Woburn, and Weston, and almost 70 art teachers participated. The goals were to create a larger visual art education community with more support and resources; create valuable, content-specific professional development for visual art educators in the region for a minimum cost to the district by relying on the expertise of our own faculty; address the isolation that some art teachers feel as the only teacher of their discipline in their schools; address common concerns related to visual arts education in Massachusetts and specifically the region; share best practices among a larger group of art educators; and share, discuss, and improve curriculum.
For the 2019-20 school year, the high school will be offering more art & design choices for incoming freshmen, including 2D Design Foundation, 3D Foundation, Drawing Foundation, Painting Foundation, Photo Foundation, and Creative Art Foundation, as well as an entryway into our Portfolio program for the truly committed artist at any grade level (called “Art Fellows”). There will also be more semester courses and honors-level versions of many of the current courses.
We welcome Lindsay Appleby as the newest addition to our team. Lindsey is teaching at Marshall Simonds Middle School. The end of the 2017-2018 school year saw the retirements of two of our team: Elaine Dearden retired from Marshall Simonds and Betty Kerr from Francis Wyman Elementary School.
The art department has been addressing the action items of its three-year improvement plan using the Planning for Success model.
More information about the Art & Design program can be found at:
bpsk12art.weebly.com (a resource for district art teachers)
www.burlingtonhighschoolart.org (for students, parents, and the community.