Art

Mike Dwyer, Department Chairperson - WVHS
Charles Staley, Department Chairperson - NVHS

• Art Department's User Guide

The District 204 Art Program seeks to provide a variety of experiences in the visual arts that enable our students to appreciate and enjoy art; to help guide life and career choices they will be making during their high school tenure; to prepare them for further study in art; and to increase their understanding of an increasingly visual world. In most art classes, students will make projects that can be taken home. There are material fees associated with such classes payable at the start of class.

Art Course Listings

Art Course Descriptions

All Art Courses are one semester. Level I requires Art Encounters. Level II or III require previous level(s).

4301 2-D Art Encounters - This is a gateway course designed for the beginning art student. By providing opportunities for two-dimensional creative expression through hands-on activities, professional materials and techniques, this course will guide students toward greater artistic awareness and visual literacy. Students will learn about and use the elements and principles of design to gain aesthetic understandings of historical and social influences in the visual arts, while applying these compositional devices to art products. This course is a prerequisite for Drawing I, Painting I, Printmaking, & possibly Jewelry.

4303 3-D Art Encounters - This is a gateway course designed for the beginning art student. Hands-on activities will expose students to professional creative techniques and materials in the area of three-dimensional forms while providing them with exciting opportunities for personal expression. Analysis, historical and social artistic influences, and appreciation of three-dimensional art will challenge students to develop creative problem-solving skills and greater aesthetic understanding. This course is a prerequisite for Ceramics I, and Jewelry as well as all future three-dimensional course offerings.

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4304 Printmaking - Grade 10-12. Prerequisite is 2D Art and Drawing I. This course provides a systematic overview of materials and processes essential to creative work in woodcut, intaglio, and silk screen printing.

4306 Computer Graphics I - Grade 10-12. This is a course with emphasis on learning art and design concepts primarily through the Adobe Photoshop software program. Students will learn how to edit, adjust, and compose imagery to create digital art and products of a graphic nature as seen in commercial art, advertising, publishing, and marketing. Students will learn to use peripherals in the production of their artwork. Can be used as a vocational credit.

4308 Computer Graphics II - Grade 10-12. This is a course with emphasis on creative problem-solving and visual literacy/communication skills of a commercial art nature. Students will add the vector-based Adobe Illustrator software program to their bank of skills while continuing to create original art products.

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4310 Drawing I - Grade 9-12. This semester course provides the student with the basic understanding of the elements of art and principles of design. Emphasis will be placed on basic drawing skills and perception while creating artwork in a variety of media.

4312 Drawing II - Grade 10-12. This semester course provides the continuing student with exposure to different media while continuing technical skill development, perception, skills, and creative problem solving.

4314 Drawing III - Grade 10-12. This semester course is for the advanced student and places emphasis on increasing drawing skills and expanding creative ideas. This course will also help students create projects for future portfolio review.

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4321 Painting I - Grade 10-12. Prerequisite is Drawing I. This semester course provides the student with the basic understandings of the tools, techniques, processes, and language relative to water-based paint media, including watercolors and acrylics. Students will synthesize these understandings into individual paintings and media studies.

4322 Painting II - Grade 10-12. This semester course provides the continuing student with further study of paint media including watercolor, acrylics, and oils. It will introduce new materials and approaches and provide contexts for individual projects. Emphasis is placed on design composition, color theory, and conceptual thought processes involved in creating complex, interesting paintings.

4330 Ceramics I - Grade 9-12. Prerequisite is 3D Art. This semester course focuses on creative problem-solving through the manipulation of clay. It stresses understanding the nature of clay through basic handbuilding techniques and methods, use of ceramic finishes such as glazes, and includes firing processes, equipment, and vocabulary.

4332 Ceramics II - Grade 10-12. This semester course introduces students to basic wheel throwing and more advanced handbuilding and glazing techniques.

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4334 Ceramics III - Grade 10-12. This is a one semester advanced course stressing problem solving using advanced wheel-throwing and handbuilding techniques. Emphasis is placed on developing the student as an artist who communicates ideas through the medium of clay.

4340 Jewelry - Grade 10-12. This course covers the basic techniques of jewelry making using a variety of materials possibly glass, wood, plastic, clay and metals. Students will become familiar with vocabulary terms and tools while creating small forms of sculpture.

4360 Art Independent Study (AIS) - Sem. Grade 11-12. Prerequisites are four semesters of Art courses and portfolio review by staff. This course is designed to meet the continuing artistic needs of the advanced art student. It is an individually directed study in a particular area of art agreed upon by both the student and teachers. This course requires a high degree of motivation and self-discipline and is to be offered only to students who qualify.

*Computer Graphics now qualifies for an art credit or a vocational credit.