Visual Arts
Visual Arts at The Newgrange School aims to connect individual creative styles with the application of art history, culture and mixed media.
Project-based Curriculum and Hands-on Opportunities
The art program is designed around project-based work in a creative environment, giving the students chances to experience various innovative hands-on techniques. This involves the use of different types of artistic tools and mediums, such as acrylic paint, watercolor, realistic drawing, clay, photography, and printmaking.
Education Technology
Technology transforms artistic learning strategies, and The Newgrange School provide abundant resources including Mac computers, TV monitors, digital cameras and 3D printers.
Collaboration Drives Creativity
STEAM is a great way to show students the opportunities there are for them in art across other areas of learning. Students also work well when contributing to a group outcome. Large art installations created during the school year teach teamwork, and leave behind a permanent reminder of accomplishments around the grounds.
Integrating Visual Arts with Other Subjects
Literature
There are many possibilities with visual literacy that support learning. Art is a natural fit for narrative because artwork tells a story. Our students love art and stories. With inspiration from renowned authors and illustrators, students study the art of storytelling, book design, typography and representational art. The students researched many different types of book covers, sketched and drew their own characters, and designed their own lettering. This hands-on exercise connecting children’s literature and art encouraged the students’ active imagination. It challenged them to translate their thoughts and feelings about the story and characters in the book into a form of visual art.
Science
“The greatest scientists are artists as well,” said Albert Einstein. A great deal of creativity is required to make scientific breakthroughs, and art is just as often an expression of and a product of scientific knowledge. Through explorations into the exciting fields of zoological, botanical, ornithological and medical illustrations, students are keen to observe and associate their hands-on learning from the print references, video presentations, books and photo research and were comfortably able to replicate and represent a detailed, hand-painted illustration of diverse topics. Connecting art and science gave the students additional insight into their shared learning experience.
History
History is told through art, especially before modern photography. Students learn to appreciate change in culture, fashion, politics and societies through the stories left behind, and about what each of the environments provided them with to use for materials. Ancient languages are written as art on walls, and great architecture was created for the highest rulers and most celebrated families. Battles were commemorated at paintings and sculptures. Jewelry and fashion have always been present in every culture. In the modern world, students can continue to explore patterns in art and how they relate to before, now and what will follow.