It would be a mistake to underestimate the skill and efforts of advance visual art courses. Students get to demonstrate their artisanship through a variety of mediums and techniques. From ceramics to drawing and painting, visual art classes offer students so much more in enhancing one’s talent.

 “The classes helped my skill through understanding all the fundamentals to be able to create the pieces I want, meaning it takes it step by step kind of like building a house.” Junior Darcy Segura said. “You start with the foundation and start slowly building up.”

Sculpture

For those who aren’t afraid of getting their hands dirty to create something three-dimensional, sculpture presents the perfect course. Students learn the technical and aesthetic skills in building sculptures through a variety of materials such as paper, plaster, wire, and clay. The ideas for creations are abound, from a rearing horse and busts to anything else that can be physically shaped.

“I wanted to get more a more 3-D understanding of form,” senior Allison Maeker said. “When you’re in art you kind of only think of things two dimensionally so you always need a reference. But when you can understand what a head looks like from three-quarters view, the back or a specific angle because you’ve sculpted it, then it helps a lot with drawing by envisioning it in your head.”

Digital Graphics and Animation

In Digital Graphics and Animation, students experience limitless opportunities in what they create using computer programs. Students utilize tablets connected to Photoshop, Premiere Pro and other graphic design programs, as well as cameras and scanners, to create digital paintings and posters.

“The first project we did was supposed to be inspired from scholastic magazines where they used realistic looking people and patterns intertwined with them,” Segura said. “When I came into this class, I learned a ton of information that I didn’t even know existed, like anatomy. I didn’t know I needed that.”

Painting

This course allows students to use different mediums and tools to create to their heart’s desires. By using different brushes and paints like acrylic and watercolor, students learn various techniques and essentials for painting, such as color theory. Students are currently working on monochromatic pieces to experiment with tints and shades.

“It’s a way to express myself creatively and it’s a break from the stress of all my other academic courses,” senior Fernanda SanJose said. “I just really wanted to expand my horizons and develop a new skill in a different medium. I learned how to use watercolor, which is really hard still, and color theory, which I didn’t think about much in drawing.”

In the end, visual arts courses allow creative students to follow their passion and develop their skill through learning anatomy, color schemes, and other essentials for art. In addition to developing artisanship, students also learn skills valuable outside of art.

“These art classes encourage creativity which you don’t really find in other classes,” Maeker said. “It’s a more realistic way of learning time management. You don’t really have homework, but you do have to get assignments done in time.”