Visual Arts

Art is a personal experience that encourages each student to express himself creatively. Art makes sense to children when they experience it as a basic form of expression and as a response to life. The curriculum's primary goals are to foster each student's creative growth and to help him gain personal fulfillment through art experiences. Boys learn through all four aspects of the art subject: perceiving, performing, appreciating, and criticizing. The program is concept-oriented, stressing the learning process and use of the art elements. Students have the opportunity to think, plan, and experiment with the use of line, shape, color, texture, space, and pattern.

Inherent in the art program is material that is directly related to other curriculum areas the students are studying; art is much more meaningful for children when it is incorporated into their daily work and interests. A most meaningful function of the art program is to teach the appreciation of artistic heritage and understanding of art's role in society. As the students gain an understanding of cultures past and present, they begin to appreciate and gain sensitivity and respect for our diverse Gilman community.

Each grade level in the Middle School focuses on specific themes in art that challenge and promote critical and creative thinking skills. Assignments draw inspiration from master artists, contemporary artists, art from various cultures worldwide, and images from popular culture. Students are encouraged to document their ideas and drawings in a sketchbook to further their development of artistic habits and foster their confidence in personal expression.

For boys who desire more time in the art studio, Gilman offers an art club for each grade level.

The Upper School Art Department offers students with an abiding interest in art-making the opportunity to explore practical activities through a range of conventional studio art courses in drawing, painting, photography, digital media, sculpture, and design and woodworking. History of Global Art and AP Art History are also offered, and combined with the practical courses, the art program challenges boys in an intellectually meaningful and stimulating manner. The program weaves visiting artists, assembly speakers, and field trips to museums into the curriculum.

Students receive ongoing mechanical training at all levels of engagement. As the courses become more challenging, students are asked to consider the broader implications of art-making in our culture, and each course is designed to allow a mix of hand training and personal exploration.

Students taking courses sequentially will develop a body of sophisticated personal work in line with the range of portfolio demands by the Studio AP and undergraduate art and architecture departments. Students produce and submit work to the literary arts magazine, Paragon, and seniors create a thesis exhibition.

Shop class at Gilman? The Design and Woodworking program, one of the School's most unique and venerable offerings (dating from the late 1940s), gives students everyday skills they will carry throughout life. From their earliest school days, students learn the basic skills of woodworking with hand tools and machines and study the elements and principles of design through individual instruction, demonstrations, critiques, and the use of the department's reference library. Using basic hand tools expands the experience with more sophisticated, high-tech equipment, such as a computer numerical control (CNC) router.

Whether building a tool carrier, making a lamp base, creating a side table, or designing and fashioning an electric guitar, students integrate and apply knowledge from science, math, art, social studies, and other subjects. Through acquired learning of basic principles of industrial design and engineering, students express their own creativity.