ART PHILOSOPHY
We believe…
Art is basic to the curriculum. A substantive art education provides balance and depth to the K-12 core curriculum. It helps create well-rounded graduates prepared to succeed in the 21st century.
The visual arts help students understand and relate to the multicultural world in which they live. A comprehensive visual arts program provides an overarching framework that fosters interdisciplinary connections throughout the curriculum. In short, art education enhances learning across the curriculum.
Visual art is essential in fostering personal development. Insights and feelings can emerge through exploration and discovery as art is a dynamic process which demands active participation and results in a creation that is reflective of personal experience.
Visual art is an avenue for transmitting artistic and cultural heritage. In their examination of the visual expression of their culture, students are led to better understand how artists express ideas and feelings in works of art. Students explore how art historians, aestheticians, and art critics respond to works of art.
Art education expands and refines students’ imagination while developing critical thinking and reasoning skills. The lasting dividends of a comprehensive visual arts education program include numerous skills needed in life. Such a program helps students:
| · | learn to solve problems and make decisions; | |
| · | build self-esteem and self-discipline; | |
| · | develop informed perception; | |
| · | build skills in cooperation and group problem-solving; | |
| · | develop the ability to imagine what might be; | |
| · | learn to weigh meanings and evaluate what is seen; | |
| · | appreciate, understand, and be aware of different cultures and cultural values. | |