Visual Art
Department & Sequencing
Art Sequencing:
Do I have to take Studio Art I before I take another art class?
Yes.
Can I take Art 2 or Advanced Studio Art courses without taking Art 1?
You should take Art 1 first. If you have extensive art knowledge you can make an appointment to show me your portfolio. If your work shows mastery of skill you can take Art 2, 3, or Advanced.
Art as a Requirement Elective
All fine art classes provide training in creative problem-solving, critical thinking, and visual competency, which is the ability to think visually, see spatial relationships, describe stylistic differences, and critically assess and evaluate visual information. The opportunity for sustained personal expression enables students to engage in revelations leading to self-discovery, awareness, competence, and self-confidence. Students can also explore a craft by learning to produce an object or design that is functional and aesthetically pleasing. Students need one year of visual art to meet graduation requirements. At New West the requirement can be met in visual art, music, dance, or film.
Art as an Academic Path of Development
Admission to top college art and design programs is highly competitive. The art program goal is for students to develop a portfolio that exhibits skills in observational drawing, knowledge of design and color, art history, and the ability to produce a cohesive, visually arresting body of work.
Art courses are developed sequentially, from Studio Art I to Advanced Studio Art. Students must be aware of the art sequence when they begin their course selection process as freshmen and continue to have access to the sequence of art major course offerings through their experience.
California Visual Arts Standards
California Visual Arts Standards start page 199
“The visual arts standards are designed to enable students to achieve visual arts literacy and develop technical artistic skills. Visual arts include the traditional fine arts such as drawing, painting, ceramics, metals, printmaking, fiber arts, photography, sculpture, works in wood, and mixed media; architectural, environmental, and industrial arts, such as urban interior, product, and landscape design; and folk art, which was historically defined by “originating from, or traditional to the common people of a country” (Collins English Dictionary 2019). Today both formally and nonformally trained artists work in folk art media celebrating rich cultural traditions. What Is Literacy in Visual Arts? In the visual arts, developing literacy occurs as a result of engaging in an authentic creative process through the use of traditional and nontraditional materials and applying the formal elements of art and principles of design; knowing an arts language to describe art; and discovering the expressive qualities of art to be able to reflect, critique, and connect personal experience to art. The visual arts standards describe expectations for learning in the visual arts regardless of style or genre. The standards impart the breadth and depth of the visual art experience through the art-making process. The standards serve as an impetus for arts educators and administrators to inspire, support, and develop their students in the many facets of visual arts so they are prepared for a lifelong appreciation, understanding, engagement and, if pursued, additional study towards a career in visual arts.
The four artistic processes of visual arts (creating, presenting, responding, and connecting) are addressed linearly in written standards, but are envisioned to occur simultaneously for students in the actual practice of visual art. The concepts embedded in the standards reflect the scope of learning—the knowledge, skills, and understandings—taught through study of the visual arts. An artist imagines, executes, reflects, and refines work before finally completing a piece of work (creating), shares or displays the work (presenting), reflects on the completed work (responding), and connects the experience to other contexts of meaning or knowledge (connecting). Students engaging in the artistic process learn by solving problems, exhibiting their work, and thinking critically about it; then, they continue the process by relating other ideas, contexts, and meanings to their own as they refine their future work to a more sophisticated level.”
National Visual Arts Standards
"The National Core Arts Standards are a process that guides educators in providing a unified quality arts education for students in Pre-K through high school."
The National Core Arts Standards are divided into four sections: Creating, Performing/Presenting/Producing, Responding, and Connecting.
"The fact that the arts provide important touchstones confirms their value to the development of every human being. Nurturing our children, then, necessarily means that we must provide all of them—not just those identified as “talented”—with a well-rounded education that includes the arts. By doing so, we are fulfilling the college and career readiness needs of our students, laying the foundations for the success of our schools and, ultimately, the success of our nation.
The central purposes of education standards are to identify the learning that we want for all of our students and to drive improvement in the system that delivers that learning. Standards, therefore, should embody the key concepts, processes and traditions of study in each subject area, and articulate the aspirations of those invested in our schools—students, teachers, administrators, and the community at large. To realize that end goal, these new, voluntary National Core Arts Standards are framed by a definition of artistic literacy that includes philosophical foundations and lifelong goals, artistic processes and creative practices, anchor and performance standards that students should attain, and model cornerstone assessments by which they can be measured. The connective threads of this conceptual framework are designed to be understood by all stakeholders and, ultimately, to ensure success for both educators and students in the real world of the school.
The framework is being developed in the complex, evolving context of local, state, and national educational practice and public policy. Therefore, the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS) expects that this guiding document will evolve as the standards are brought to completion. This conceptual framework is intended to serve as an entry point into the further refinement of the standards through feedback and discussion with a broad range of stakeholders.
In addition, while extensive research has been done in support of the standards revision (ranging from international standards and to alignment to the Common Core Standards in Mathematics and English Language Arts), the research phase of the work is far from complete. To further refine and develop this new generation of arts standards, NCCAS is committed to seeking out and gathering input from a broad range of stakeholders with an interest in arts education. Teachers, students, parents, and decision makers all have a stake in the work of creating coherent standards that will shape policy and classroom practice, helping arts education to solidify its contributions to the students of America."
NWCHS Scope & Sequence Mission Statement
STUDIO ART 1
Recommended For: Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors
Prerequisites: None
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the world of visual arts. The course will begin with an initial foundation and introduction to the visual arts vocabulary including the elements of art, principles of design and the steps of the critique process (description, analysis, interpretation, judgment). After the initial foundation, students will be exposed to different perspectives within the visual arts through six themes. The series of themes begins with focusing on the elements of art, art inspired by the natural world, printmaking, color theory, portraiture, sculpture, independent study. Through these sequential themes students will learn about various mediums in art, which include drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, observational skills, more in-depth art vocabulary, the lives of different artists, historical and cultural connections, as well as a variety of other topics. Students will create concept specific projects and will learn how to evaluate themselves as well as their peers through the use of rubrics. Writing assignments, discussions, critiques, group-work, and other activities will be the outlet for students to express their understanding of art and the creative process.
By the end of this course students will be able to discuss, interpret, and analyze works of art by identifying the use of the elements of art and the principles of design. Also, students will become exposed to the various purposes of art throughout time, and in their own culture as well as the culture of others.
STUDIO ART 2
Recommended For: Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors
Prerequisites: Applicant must have completed Studio Art 1
Studio Art 2 continues where Studio Art 1 left off. The course offers the student an in-depth study of expression and opportunities to develop a personal style. Emphasis is on idea development, creative thinking, self-expression, and non-verbal communication is stressed. The study of artists and their styles, with a focus on abstraction, is included in this course as well.
ADVANCED PAINTING
Recommended For: Juniors, Seniors
Prerequisites: Applicant must have completed Studio Art 2
The purpose of this Advanced Painting course is to prepare students to engage in an individual search for meaning and cultural representation through the development of strong visual skills, keen critical reasoning abilities and an understanding of broad historical and social contexts. This course encourages both the freedom and discipline essential to this process by embracing a wide range of aesthetic attitudes and offering flexible themes within painting and mixed media, along with a place where ideas rooted in the tradition of painting are openly examined and exchanged, challenged, and refined.
NWCHS Learning Expectations:
The mission of New West Charter School is to provide an academically rigorous, highly individualized education for 21st Century students in grades 6 – 12. In the decades to come, personal success will require increasingly high levels of competency, independence, and self-reliance in an ever-changing, ever more complex society, whether individuals choose to manage their own businesses, work within public or private organizations, or raise families whose children will face the same challenges. New West will produce competent, independent, self-reliant students by creating a learning environment that promotes academic excellence and strong character development as the antecedents for success in college preparatory high school programs.
NEW WEST CHARTER SCHOOL IS FOUNDED ON THE FOLLOWING PRECEPTS:
A rigorous core curriculum that provides a strong foundation in reading and language arts, mathematics, science, and history and social science, supplemented with diverse enrichment opportunities in world languages, visual and performing arts, physical education and health, and information technology;
A robust program of community service and extracurricular activities designed to have maximum synergy with the academic program;
Clearly defined and closely monitored performance standards that assure progress toward the school’s educational goals in full compliance with all applicable state standards;
A cooperative community of parents and educators that shares responsibility for the school’s governance, operation, and educational program in the best interests of the school’s students;
A goal of a small student body, taught in classes as small as resources permit (we aim for 30 students or less per class); and
A personal learning environment that both encourages and challenges each student according to his or her ability through differentiated instruction within an integrated curriculum.
New West Charter School will serve students of diverse cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds from throughout greater Los Angeles whose families share the common goal of creating a strong, unified educational milieu for their children. New West’s educational culture will foster academic achievement through high expectations, genuine accountability, and individualized attention both at home and in school. This home/school collaboration will enable students to become competent, creative, self-motivated, lifelong learners who have a clear sense of their individual worth and their responsibilities to society.
GRADUATES FROM NEW WEST WILL HAVE THE FOLLOWING QUALITIES:
Students will be self-motivated, taking a proactive approach to their own academic pursuits, as well as their social behavior and personal goals. They will be able to act ethically and take personal responsibility for their actions.
Students will be technologically competent in exchanging and accessing information, identifying what constitutes accurate information as they search the Internet, and communicating fluently through a variety of technologies to suit the ever-changing demands of a dynamic globally interconnected, multicultural, and multiethnic world.
Students will be life-long learners dedicated to exploring the richness of shared knowledge and inspired by the diversity of learning opportunities available in the environment around them. They will be well equipped to live and continue to learn in an increasingly complex and information-rich modern world.
Students will be critical thinkers, able to analyze and understand complex systems requiring problem-solving skills while questioning and inquiring using an “outside-the-box,” holistic, and creative approach.
Students will be global contributors, conscious of the far-reaching impact they can have by actively participating in meaningful service to their communities in a collaborative manner and using their individual voice as part of the collective to address the issues and needs they observe.
Demonstrate intellectual curiosity.Communicate appropriately and precisely.
Engage in critical and creative thinking.
Develop a disciplined work ethic.
Demonstrate respect for self and others.
