Upper School Visual Arts
The mission of the Visual Arts department is to guide students through the creative process while teaching visual language within personal, contemporary, historical, cultural, political, and social contexts. We emphasize projects and discussions that invite a greater understanding of equity and equality, current events, and the importance of diversity. Courses encourage students to develop concepts, practice skills, problem-solve, and eventually reach an impressive degree of mastery. A variety of hands-on approaches teach students how to identify and apply the elements of art and the principles of design. In each discipline, students express their artistic vision using contemporary practices, while working in observational, abstract, realistic, functional, and imaginative ways.
Advanced art students submit to various art competitions at the local, regional, and national levels, where their work is showcased. Projects are also displayed throughout campus in our gallery spaces.
All classes follow the University of California VPF (“f”) subject requirement guidelines that hold students to a high standard of learning about the creative process.
Project Summary: Explorations of Surrealism
by Samantha Ho '23
Surrealism communicates unconscious, unnatural and/or fantastical feelings. In my collage, I used a silhouette of the man's head and hand (anywhere there was visible skin) and left his suit intact, creating partial delineation. I also used a little paint to indicate the outlines of the missing features and transference by using the contrast of flat, retro-esque designs alongside the otherwise austere and monochromatic collage. These elements both overlap and underlap the man's figure in different areas, creating a surreal-looking collage.
In the other piece, I featured many vibrant colors and made a prominent form both with the woman herself and the details such as the mushrooms, mountains, and snakes. The variety of different colors, shapes, and elements creates movement, with many details to draw the eye throughout the piece. There is a sense of unity and lots of prominent contrast between the colors to make each element pop.
Creating fine detailing to make the edges sharper and the elements more defined, especially on the fish, snakes, and trees, challenged me most in the project, as well as trying to mix all the different shades to allow both a variety of colors and tones while keeping them all distinct.
