The Visual Arts program at Friends Seminary offers Middle School students opportunities to experiment, invent, create, play and wonder. Through this process, students celebrate themselves as thinkers and observers of the world. Students are provided with structure that fosters individual and collaborative discovery, and work towards mastery of the materials and methods presented. From exploring mixed media and sculpture to working with pencil and brush, middle schoolers focus on myriad forms of visual expression. We celebrate the willingness of each student to take risks, engage their curiosity, practice unhurried contemplation and reflection, and strengthen their artistic voice. Along the way they achieve not only artistic growth, but also personal growth: embracing the traditional, challenging the conventional, occasionally brushing against the avant-garde.
Grade 5 students attend 2D and 3D Studio Art over the course of the year, meeting three times during our eight-day cycle. Grade 6 students take Shop and Fiber and also meet three times per cycle. Students in Grades 7 and 8 take one semester of Studio Art each year and meet twice during an eight-day cycle.
The goal of this course is to build upon the discoveries made in past art experiences, provide young artists with the creative freedom to experiment with a variety of media, and build their sense of independence, responsibility, pride and ownership of the studio environment.
In collaboration with their goLEAD curriculum, students gain a richer and deeper understanding of the effects of climate change on animal habitats and endangered species. Through art-making and research they explore these effects on the birds of North America. Students will have their work displayed for the school community to view and celebrate throughout the semester and in a culminating spring art show.
Grade 5 students explore a myriad of skills in 3D art. They learn concrete skills of measurement and geometry to create 3D objects from paper. Students use these new techniques to explore the idea of community by making various sculptural structures and buildings that combine to create a neighborhood. They continue to explore collaboration and paper craft through the art of origami. With the goal of making one thousand paper cranes as a collective grade, this project works on fine motor skills, as well as the more expansive concepts of peace, empathy and nuclear disarmament through the story of “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.” Additionally, students expand their art-making repertoire by creating stop animations using various materials, from clay to everyday objects.
We are especially proud of our Fiber Arts program. This course continues a tradition that has gone on at Friends since the very beginning. What once was a more craft-based pursuit, is now a combination of function and fine art. Fiber is treated as a studio class that helps foster basic skills concerning traditional sewing techniques while advancing students' understandings of the elements of design. Students begin with basic management of embroidery floss (splitting it and organizing unused portions), threading a needle and experimenting with basic stitches (chain, satin, cross, french knot and blanket stitches). Students create self-portraits containing elements of their favorite activities, experiences, toys etc. Later in the course, students are given the design challenge of using basic geometric shapes to explore compositional possibilities in an appliqué pillow project. Students look at the work of contemporary artists as well as traditional fiber work for inspiration and background. The course concludes when students learn machine piecing and return to their self portraits to ‘frame’ and back their work.
In the Grade 6 2D/3D Shop class, students create a monogram using the first letter of their name as a compositional structure and produce an edition of prints from this design. Next, students explore structural engineering, the creative interpretations of gateways and connection, and consider bridges that have been built across many different cultures and times. Students invent their own bridge and built an architectural model of it. Finally, inspired by a myth, legend or fairy tale from various world cultures, students create a shadow puppet show to be performed for Lower School children.
Grade 7 students create work that oscillates between representation and abstraction. Our young artists discover a plethora of materials and methods, including charcoal, pen and ink, acrylic paint, construction, mixed-media and collage. Additionally, they are presented with a wealth of contemporary and historical artist references to build their visual arts vocabulary. Our young artists challenge themselves to take risks and reflect on their own unique point of view and process of art making. The practice and mastery of techniques and materials, coupled with the joy of creating, is encouraged in all classes. Whether conveying the visual and emotional complexity of a van Gogh or interpreting a contemporary piece that dances nimbly around the proverbial void, students are encouraged to explore the possibilities and wonder that is unique to the art studio.
Grade 8 students develop a myriad of art-based skillsets and explore the fundamentals of visual literacy: color, line, space and design. They learn to work with a collection of tools and materials, working individually and collaboratively. Studio Art introduces students to art-making processes and a wide range of artists that have mastered these techniques in their own practice. Students study historical and contemporary art works to construct their own art-making narrative.
Friends Seminary actively promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism in all its programs and operations, including admissions, financial aid, hiring, and all facets of the educational experience. To form a community which strives to reflect the world’s diversity, we do not discriminate on the basis of race or color, religion, nationality, ethnicity, economic background, physical ability, sex, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation. Friends Seminary is an equal opportunity employer.