Visual Arts
Expression and creativity combined with technique and process is what we teach in our art classroom. No matter what age your student is or what their artistic abilities may be, our art studio is equipped with love, fun, method and mastery.
Aspen Academy’s Visual Arts program centers around the Lois Hetland’s 8 Studio Habits of Mind. Student artists tune their creative voice while sharpening their artistic skill by focusing on how contemporary artists work and think. As part of this, students focus on the process of the project, heavily investigating the how and the why behind their work. Before getting to a final piece, students practice inquiry through research of subject matter they are curious about. Students explore flexibility and problem solving through sketching and developing their works. Each art project offers opportunities for students to make authentic connections to art, self, and the world around them.
The visual arts program partners with teachers across the school community to develop project based learning opportunities. Our projects develop an authentic extension of the classroom environment and reflect curriculum benchmarks and goals. In the lower school we meet with classroom teachers to discuss highlights of the curriculum, to help to influence year long explorations of core concepts, and shape individual projects done in the art room. The middle school art curriculum is heavily influenced by current topics, as well as state standards, to prepare students for further visual art explorations in high school.
Aspen has been able to broaden its arts offerings to include studio based classes as well as STEAM integration classes. As well as Digital Art, where students develop or sharpen their skills in Adobe Cloud software while also discovering new avenues of self-expression.
Recent Blogs
![8th Graders Create Self-Portraits and Explore Their Story]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1615385484/aspenacademy/fxlk07hlpnldiiixekxd/Picture20.png","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_2/v1615385484/aspenacademy/fxlk07hlpnldiiixekxd/Picture20.png","width":512},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_3/v1615385484/aspenacademy/fxlk07hlpnldiiixekxd/Picture20.png","width":800},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_4/v1615385484/aspenacademy/fxlk07hlpnldiiixekxd/Picture20.png","width":1200},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_5/v1615385484/aspenacademy/fxlk07hlpnldiiixekxd/Picture20.png","width":1600},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_6/v1615385484/aspenacademy/fxlk07hlpnldiiixekxd/Picture20.png","width":2200}])
At Aspen Academy, in each grade, students are asked to do some form of a self-portrait. This is beneficial for developing the skill of drawing but more importantly it re-enforces the importance of encountering ourselves. Eighth graders were asked to encounter themselves by finding a part of their body they are proud of, examining the story behind that part of themselves, creating a final image which includes the Double Exposure Technique using Pixlr or Photoshop Software, and writing an artist statement to capture their thoughts and explorations
![Found Object Art -- From Ordinary to Extraordinary]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1588797705/aspenacademy/eilimkhq2rv8aftgzlrk/ScreenShot2020-05-04at110114AM.png","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_2/v1588797705/aspenacademy/eilimkhq2rv8aftgzlrk/ScreenShot2020-05-04at110114AM.png","width":512},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_3/v1588797705/aspenacademy/eilimkhq2rv8aftgzlrk/ScreenShot2020-05-04at110114AM.png","width":800},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_4/v1588797705/aspenacademy/eilimkhq2rv8aftgzlrk/ScreenShot2020-05-04at110114AM.png","width":1200},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1588797705/aspenacademy/eilimkhq2rv8aftgzlrk/ScreenShot2020-05-04at110114AM.png","width":1274}])
Our art students continue learning and expressing their artistry while at home in new and exciting ways. The students went on a live scavenger hunt around their houses to find things the could arrange as practice. Once we were done experimenting, students created two different compositions that incorporated color theory and some form of symmetry.
Visual Arts at Aspen Academy
