Graduation requirements
1-2 credit(s) of Fine Art
| Art | Music | Music Resource Center | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marginalized Gestures Throughout Visual Culture | Music Theory
Choir Keyboards Percussion |
Electronic Media |
Click a course title to jump to a description
COURSES
Art
Marginalized Gestures Throughout Visual Cultures
Academic Pathway: Honors
Term: year-long course
Credit: 1 fine arts credit
In this introductory art course, students will be encouraged to investigate the history of visual culture from indigenous origins through various modern and contemporary appropriations. Students will design, construct, and discuss projects engaging ideas of multiculturalism, semiotics, and appropriation through dynamic projects and focused critique.
Experiments with Materials and Techniques
Academic Pathway: Honors
Term: year-long course
Credit: 1 fine arts credit
Students must have had Marginalized Gestures Throughout Visual Culture to take this course. Experiments with Materials and Techniques is a second-level course where students will focus on experimenting with the traditional materials and foundational techniques surrounding the production of visual culture. Students will examine and apply ancient tools, systems, and techniques to express their relationship to contemporary issues through thoughtful projects.
Art History of Video Games
Academic Pathway: College Prep
Term: year-long course
Credit: 1 fine arts credit
This class doesn’t ask if video games are art but instead considers them a natural continuation and extension of the canon of art history. Students will learn about the cultural context for video games as they evolved over time, AND gain a framework for connecting to and conversing with art history. The course will include discussions, lectures, and assignments, both creative and academic.
Required books: Replay: The History of Video Games, Gateways to Art Third Edition
Digital Imaging
Academic Pathway: College Prep
Term: year-long course
Credit: 1 fine arts credit
In Digital Imaging, students will focus on the elements of art and the principles of design, to apply them to projects ranging from recreating a movie poster, to creating a satirical video advertisement, to creating a small publication for distribution. Students will learn how to appropriately utilize digital and photographic technology to best apply techniques conceptually in their art-making process.
Pre-requisites: Marginalized Gestures Throughout Visual Culture; Experiments with Materials and Techniques.
IB Visual Art Year 1
Academic Pathway: IB
Term: year-long course
Credit: 1 fine art credit
In the IB visual art class, students will make a two-year commitment to engaging critical theory, conventional and unconventional materials, and a diverse set of techniques and approaches to create a serious body of art that will reflect an internalization of spirit, self, and empathy.
During the first year of this course, students will respond to a spectrum of prompts that will touch on the origins of visual language and how that language has been developed over time and by a diverse spectrum of cultures. Students will take these experiences and apply them to their independent studies as they create a personal body of work that embodies the core of their studies.
IB Visual Art Year 2
Academic Pathway: IB
Term: year-long course
Credit: 1 fine art credit
IB Visual Art HL: Representation and Non-Representation in Art and Society is a rigorous two-year course in which students will be challenged with exploring the ideas of representation and non-representation through a range of traditional and non-traditional materials, techniques, art theories, social criticisms, and philosophy. What separates this particular course from other visual arts courses offered at the Castle is the technical and conceptual depth with which we will be exploring “your” art practice as it relates to historical and contemporary art practices from around the world. Through reading, writing, and research you will be tasked with creating a large body of work that will possess a concept born out of the personal relationship you craft with the course’s content.
Music
Music Theory
Academic Pathway: College Prep
Term: year-long course
Credit: 1 fine art credit
Choir
Academic Pathway: College Prep
Term: year-long course
Credit: 1 fine art credit
Keyboards
Academic Pathway: College Prep
Term: year-long
Credit: 1 fine art credit
Percussion
Academic Pathway: College Prep
Term: year-long
Credit: 1 fine art credit
Music Resource Center
Music Production
Academic Pathway: CP
Term: Year-long course
Credit: 1 full fine art credit
This class will cover the fundamental and foundational tools of 21st Century digital recording. We will go over the basics of understanding music and the fundamental science and behavior of sound and how this relates to the recording, editing, and mixing audio. Along with this, the student will learn proper techniques in handling technology and equipment that will prepare them for higher-level audio courses or professional work. This will range from competency on the computer’s operating system and recording software to proper handling and setup of recording equipment and on to understanding digital audio. The student’s knowledge will be assessed throughout the semester with quizzes and written assignments and end with a final project that will encompass what they’ve studied and learned. By the end of this course, they should be on par with an MRC Gold Artist.
Electronic Media
Academic Pathway: CP
Term: year-long course
Credit: 1 fine art credit
An introductory course which provides multimedia instruction to create content for convergent media audiences. This course teaches principal skills to prepare students to publish in audio, photo, print, video and web converged platforms. Conceptual, practical, and ethical frameworks for integrating traditional and new forms of media gathering, reporting, and storytelling are emphasized.
