Visual Arts at Oak

student artwork by Kali Viel

Visual Arts Department Newsletter

Students' Artwork Preview Page

Director: Ms. LeBlanc

Visual Arts: Ms. Connolly

The art program at Oak consists of an introduction to a variety of methods and materials while learning about the elements and principles of art. Students will be participating in an art cycle for a 30 day period where they will be tested on 3 standards. The first standard is on vocabulary pertaining to the elements and principals of art. The second standard is on the use of methods and materials. The third is on the completion of work and a self reflection. Lastly, students are evaluated on habits of mind with focus on "consistently" working during class time.

One of the activities students will participate in is a "TAG" critique. This is designed to help students and their peers learn what they are doing successfully, what questions/concerns others have, and what areas they can improve on.


Grade 7 Art Class with their large mural of prints and their corresponding painted "plates"

Grade 7 

Grade seven students will complete several projects during this rotation. They will work on a dictionary art assignment using one of the vocabulary terms on a particular page and their image must reflect a chosen words meaning.  Following this assignment, they will move on to observational drawing, creating a realistic rendering of an apple,  emphasizing form through shading using five or more values.  Next we'll venture into Color Theory studies by creatively using and identifying warm, cool, analogous, neutral, complementary, and monochromatic colors. The final project will incorporate an assemblage of a plate for prints making and then finish the project with painting the plate with acrylic paints. The students will close out the cycle with a post test on vocabulary terms and a self reflection on one of the projects they have developed during the cycle.


Grade 8

The eighth graders will build on concepts on the elements and principles of art that they learned last year. We will break into the cycle with an activity based on a landscape breaking the composition into background, middle ground and foreground.This will prepare students to move into a more complex study on atmospheric perspective by developing a landscape using watercolor; students will explore this medium by using a variety of tools and textures. From there students will create a "city scape" using lInear perspective (2 point perspective). They will conclude the project with atmospheric perspective adding details to create mood and time of day. Lastly students will develop a self portrait where they will learn symmetry and placement of features. Students can choose from a variety of mediums such as graphite, charcoal or soft pastels. To close out the cycle, students will create a self reflection regarding their work and take a post test on the terms applied this cycle.

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