This course is designed to help students refine their skills in observational drawing and painting, making purposeful choices about lines, form, and color. Students will experiment with materials as they learn to make decisive lines and cohesive color palettes and apply both realistic and expressive colors to their pieces. Art exemplars will be used to emphasize the incredible diversity of styles and expressiveness that can be achieved with color, line, and texture.

Using a variety of paint media such as inks, watercolor, tempera paint, and acrylic paint, students in this course explore a variety of paint materials, brushes, and techniques, both traditional and non-traditional, to create a body of work that spans realism to expressive abstraction. Emphasis is on breaking "out of the box" in expressive use of color media, with a variety of prompts guiding students to make meaning and incorporate narratives into their work. This is a fast-paced class, with students generating a large body of studies and exercises as they build a strong foundation and comfort with each color medium. The confident painter will then be asked to synthesize this knowledge to create larger, cohesive paintings based on a selected theme.

In this class, students will explore how to use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator for a variety of drawings and designs! Students will learn about character development, portraiture, settings and environments, design, and metaphorical approaches to making. Access to the Adobe Creative Suite is included for the duration of this course.

Using a variety of created and found images, students learn how to make complex compositional and design decisions digitally through the use of filters, color effects, and artful use of text. Students will experiment with typography, logo design, branding, and other elements of designing for print and publication. The class will work with the Adobe Creative Suite and develop design strategies to communicate clearly through design and digital imagery. Access to the Adobe Creative Suite is included for the duration of this course.

In this course students will use acrylic paint to explore expressive use of color, color mixing, and color theory. Using a variety of painting surfaces—assorted papers, board, canvas board, objects—students learn the unique qualities of acrylic paint. This water-based, fast-drying paint medium has unlimited possibilities. Students have an opportunity to try a variety of acrylic mediums (modeling paste, gloss/matte polymers, gel medium) to experiment with textures, washes, and varied opacities.

This course is designed to help students grow their artistic and professional development skills in order to better prepare them for college and a future career in art and design. Students participate in class critiques, writing workshops, community building activities, field trips and have the opportunity to hear from professional visiting artists.