Visual Arts
Fairview High School’s Visual Art department promotes art education as a form of visual communication. Our program is designed to explore and enhance problem solving and critical thinking skills. Fairview’s art department challenges students to develop their understanding of the contemporary art language through critiques, writing, and practical application.
Mission Statement
Fairview High School
Visual Art Department
Mission Statement
Fairview High School’s Visual Art department promotes art education as a form of visual communication. Our program is designed to explore and enhance problem solving and critical thinking skills. Fairview’s art department challenges students to develop their understanding of the contemporary art language through critiques, writing, and practical application.
Our students will be exposed to a wide variety of cultures and communities along with a variety of artists and artistic techniques.
As artists and educators we will address different styles and skill levels of individual students. Every student is respected and evaluated as an individual. Our approach to art education is consistent with state and district standards which highlight the significance of a comprehensive art education.
Listed below are the Colorado state standards for the Visual Arts:
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Standard 1 Observe and Learn to Comprehend: The student uses the visual arts to express, communicate, and make meaning. To perceive art involves studying art; scrutinizing and examining art; recognizing, noticing, and seeing art; distinguishing art forms and subtleties; identifying and detecting art; becoming skilled in and gaining knowledge of art; grasping and realizing art; figuring out art; and sensing and feeling art.
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Standard 2 Envision and Critique to Reflect: The student articulates and implements critical thinking in the visual arts by synthesizing, evaluating, and analyzing visual information. To value art involves visualizing, articulating, and conveying art; thinking about, pondering, and contemplating art; wondering about, assessing, and questioning art concepts and contexts; expressing art; defining the relevance, significance of, and importance of art; and experiencing, interpreting, and justifying the aesthetics of art.
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Standard 3 Invent and Discover to Create: The student is able to generate a work of art that employs unique ideas, feelings, and values using different media, technologies, styles, and forms of expression. To make art involves creating, inventing, conceiving, formulating, and imagining art; communicating, ascertaining, and learning about art; building, crafting, and generating art; assembling and manufacturing art; discovering, fashioning, and producing art; and causing art to exist.
- Standard 4 Relate and Connect to Transfer: The student is able to recognize, articulate, and validate the value of the visual arts to lifelong learning and the human experience. To respond to art involves relating to art; connecting to art; personally linking to art; associating with art; bonding to art; moving toward art sensibilities; shifting to art orientations; thinking about art; attaching meaning to art; replying to art; reacting to art; internalizing art; personalizing art; and relating art to diverse cultures.
Courses
- Pottery & Sculpture 1 and 2
- IB Art
- Drawing & Painting 1 & 2
- Photography 1& 2
- Digital Art & Design 1 & 2
- Portfolio Art
Pottery & Sculpture 1 and 2
Pottery & Sculpture 1: This is a foundation course that emphasizes the art elements and principles of design to produce nonfunctional and functional three-dimensional art forms constructed from clay. Students may explore both functional and nonfunctional forms using hand-building, the potter’s wheel, and various other sculptural techniques. Students will be exposed to contemporary and historical clay artists.
Pottery & Sculpture 2: This second level course will build upon experiences in Pottery/Sculpture 1. Students will be challenged with more advanced techniques and problems in the area of pottery and sculpture to create both functional and nonfunctional three-dimensional forms. Students may explore in greater depth the process of hand-building, the potter’s wheel, and other sculptural techniques. New firing techniques, different clay bodies, new glazes and new sculpture techniques may be introduced. Students will be exposed to contemporary and historical clay artists.
IB Art
IB Visual Art SL: IB Visual Arts SL is the first year of a two year sequence in the IB Visual Arts curriculum. It is a thought-provoking course in which students develop analytical skills in problem-solving and divergent thinking. Students will gain technical proficiency and confidence as art-makers while exploring and comparing visual arts from different perspectives and in different contexts. Students are expected to engage in, experiment with, and critically reflect upon a wide range of contemporary practices and media. The course is designed for students who want to study visual arts in higher education as well as for those who are seeking lifelong enrichment through art.
IB Visual Art HL: This is the second year of a two year sequence which covers the IB Visual Arts curriculum. Students will continue to develop analytical skills in problem-solving and divergent thinking, and expand technical proficiency and confidence as art-makers. Students will develop a sketchbook/journal and complete an artwork portfolio consisting of multiple pieces of art. While preparing work for public display, students will learn curative skills and techniques. This class is the final preparation for the IB Visual Arts HL assessments. Students will refine their artistic analytical and problem-solving skills. Students will engage in, experiment with, and critically reflect upon a wide range of contemporary visual arts practices.
Drawing & Painting 1 & 2
Drawing/Painting 1: Students can expect to gain a strong foundation in drawing and painting in this beginning level class. Composition, the visual element, the principles of design, and the basic techniques and concepts of both drawing and painting will be covered. The end goals are to increase artistic self-confidence, increase one’s understanding of the basics of drawing /painting and to produce successful works.
Drawing/Painting 2: This second level course builds upon the experiences of Drawing and Painting 1. Students who choose to take this course should be confident with their drawing skills and ready to produce more complex finished drawings and paintings. An emphasis will be on the development of a more personal style, sophisticated approaches to the development of ideas, development of a greater awareness to art beyond school, and the introduction of new techniques.
Photography 1& 2
Photography 1: This introductory course deals with traditional black and white 35mm photography as well as digital photography and teaches the basic camera handling, film processing, and darkroom procedures. Students learn how to control light to produce an aesthetically pleasing image. Composition and the elements and principles of art are introduced. In addition, pinhole cameras, photograms, special effects and the history of photography may be addressed.* An additional fee of $25 for camera rental will be assessed if the student's personal camera does not meet equipment requirements for this class.
Photography 2: This second level course will build upon experiences of level 1. This course deals with improving the student’s ability to see, take and create a photographic image. Students may be given opportunities to work with sepia toning, hand coloring, multiple images, special films, digital images, and other photo techniques and processes. Masters of photography may be studied. Special emphasis is placed on the critique. * An additional fee of $25 for camera rental will be assessed if the student's personal camera does not meet equipment requirements for this class.
Digital Art & Design 1 & 2
Digital Art & Design 1: This introductory course deals with controlling computer technology to produce an artistic image. Students will learn computer illustration techniques, image manipulation, digital camera use, graphic design, visual literacy, and principles and elements of art in composition. Some artistic movements will also be studied as they relate to student projects.
Digital Art & Design 2: This course extends the fundamental concepts and skills of Digital Art and Design 1 of using computer technology to produce an artistic image. Students further advance their computer illustration technologies, image manipulation, digital camera use, graphic design knowledge, art history concepts, visual literacy and the principles and elements of art in composition.
Portfolio Art
Portfolio Art: This course is imperative for the student who is preparing a portfolio of art for entrance into college or art school. Guidance and instruction on portfolio building will be given with the individual’s goals in mind. Students will be expected to initiate and carry out ideas on a more independent basis, and they will choose their own materials. This course may be taken for up to six semesters, not necessarily sequential, for credit.
Faculty
Visual Arts Department Chair
Pottery & Sculpture 1 & 2
IB Art
Drawing & Painting 1 & 2
Photography 1& 2
Digital Art & Design 1 & 2
Contact
(720) 561-3290
Room: 521
