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Visual Arts Program, Visual and Performing Arts Department

The Visual and Performing Arts Department awakens and nourishes the creative process in every student. The Department offers a selection of courses in musical arts, photography, digital art, ceramics, sculpture, art history, and studio art. The curriculum promotes creativity, original thinking, perseverance, resourcefulness, personal exploration, and safe risk-taking. Students have the opportunity to curate and show work in gallery spaces, develop a portfolio throughout their CH-CH career, participate in musical performances, work with industry-level design programs, and collaborate on projects with students as well as visiting artists.
  • Introduction to Visual Arts

    Introduction to Visual Arts is a foundational course that introduces the elements and principles of design in a 2-Dimensional framework. It is open to students with or without art experience. Students will fine-tune their observational and imaginative skills and experiment with a variety of materials and techniques such as drawing, painting, and printmaking. They will learn to critique their own work and the work of their peers. Students will participate in three student art shows throughout the school year.
     
  • Ceramics I

    Ceramics I is an art elective suitable for students with or without art experience. The course focuses on the use of the potter’s wheel as a tool. Students will learn to throw, trim, glaze and critique their work and the work of their peers. Students will create projects such as mugs, bowls, jars, and plates and will participate in three student art shows throughout the school year.
  • Ceramics II

    Wheel Throwing II is an art elective that is open to students who have completed Wheel Throwing I. The course focuses on the use of the potter’s wheel as a tool. Students will learn to throw larger forms and apply more complex surface techniques. Students will have more freedom than Wheel Throwing I to choose what types of forms that they want to throw. Students will participate in three student art shows throughout the school year.
  • Sculpture

    Sculpture is a foundational course that introduces the elements and principles of design in a 3-Dimensional framework and is open to students with or without art experience. This course centers on using hand-building methods to make sculpture out of clay. Students will begin by focusing on more traditional methods of art making such as working from observation and then gradually transition to a more conceptual and personal approach to art making. Throughout the course, students will investigate some of the many technical aspects of working with clay, including mold-making, building armatures, firing kilns, and glazing. Students will participate in three student art shows throughout the school year.
  • Advanced 2D & 3D Design

    Advanced 2D and 3D Design is an art elective open to juniors and seniors that expands upon the material from the introductory classes. An introductory art course and a teacher recommendation are prerequisites for this course and it is a prerequisite for the AP Studio Art class. Students will use traditional and non-traditional media in this course and are encouraged to experiment and find their own artistic voice. The class curriculum is designed to prepare students for AP Studio Art by providing them the opportunity to begin creating work for their AP portfolios. Students will participate in three student art shows during the school year.
     
  • AP Studio Art

    AP Studio Art is the culminating elective in the visual arts and requires a prerequisite of Advanced 2D and 3D design along with a teacher recommendation, enrollment in Art History and a completed summer course prior to entry into the class. Students are required to enroll in Art History to provide a tandem learning experience that strengthens their own art-making. In this course, students are required to create a series of teacher-initiated assignments, as well as student-initiated assignments, for the AP Two-Dimensional Design Portfolio. By concentrating on a particular visual interest or problem, students will gain experience in the formal, technical, and expressive means of artistry and at the same time, develop a sense of quality in their own art. Once students complete this advanced-level portfolio, they will show and promote their work in a solo show in the professional Mankiw Gallery in the spring trimester.
  • Art History, Theory, and Criticism

    Art History is a yearlong elective open to upperclassmen. It examines major forms of artistic expression from the past and present, as well as from a variety of cultures. Through readings, slide lectures, interactive class discussions, hands-on art projects, and museum and gallery visits, students learn how to look critically at works of art. (Art History may be taken either for history or for arts credit. In order to enroll, students must have completed an advanced course in visual arts or received permission from the instructor.)
  • Digital Photography I

    This elective introduces students to the digital camera and to techniques for manipulating images using the digital camera. Students will learn how to use their digital cameras to control images, how to apply composition, lighting, and exposure to their images, and how to download and manipulate images using Adobe PhotoShop.
  • Digital Photography II

    Digital Photo II is a continuation of Digital Photo I, which is a prerequisite for this class. Students in this class will photograph an even wider variety of subject matter than in Digital Photo I as well as experience using a tripod, photographing indoors using natural and artificial light and delve further into working with Adobe Photoshop to manipulate and improve their images. Larger projects will involve photographing an event as a photojournalist, shooting self-portraits and exploring a social action topic of their choice in a visual graphic poster. Students will participate in three student art shows throughout the school year.
     
  • Digital Video Production

    Whether it’s through news, short film or motion graphics, video is one of the most compelling ways to tell a story. Digital Video Production will encourage students to experiment with the types of shots used in video filming and to develop original ideas to discover how their ideas can be communicated to an audience. They will also watch films that have historical significance in the world of movie-making. Student projects include writing scripts, creating storyboards, making voiceovers, conducting interviews, and coming up with their own ideas on how to create short films that engage an audience. Each student will create several short digital video projects with an emphasis on personal, creative video construction. Students will be using their iPad to film footage on their own and a Mac desktop in our Digital Arts Lab to do much of the editing and construction of each video. Class time will be used for class critique and discussion of individual works, editing films, and discussing the responsibilities of filming and editing, as well as film history and criticism. The software taught in the class will be iMovie with the hopes of transitioning to Premiere Pro in the spring term. 
  • Publications

    Publications is open to students in the junior and senior classes. Students in this class will have a hands-on opportunity to explore digital media and the print publication process from design to publication of the school yearbook. This course offers students the opportunity to experiment with digital photography, graphic design and journalistic writing. They will work extensively with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator to manipulate print and print design. After publishing the 152-page yearbook, students will develop 2-3 independent projects of their own choosing during the spring trimester to strengthen their graphic design skills and allow them to explore their own artistic voice, in addition to designing a 16-page spring supplement to the yearbook.
     
  • Publications II

    Publications 2 is open to students in the senior class who have already completed a year of Publications. They are expected to take on an Editor or Editor-in-Chief role in level 2. Students will have a hands-on opportunity to explore digital media and the print publication process from design to publication of the school yearbook while also leading their peers in design and photography, and serving as a kind of teacher’s assistant with the Adobe technology used in class. They will be expected to take on a heavier page design load and to lead bi-weekly editor meetings as part of their leadership training. After creating the 152-page yearbook in the first and second trimesters, Publications 2 students will be expected to design the 16-page spring supplement to the yearbook along with another peer, and participate in one or more graphic design projects in the spring trimester.
     
     

Department Faculty

  • Photo of Jamie Palmer Keating
    Jamie Palmer Keating
    Visual and Performing Arts Department Chair; Yearbook Advisor
    St. Michael's College - B.A., Fine Arts
    Lesley University - M.Ed., Teacher of Visual Art, 5-12
    Bio
  • Photo of Chris Abrams
    Chris Abrams
    12th Grade Dean; Visual and Performing Arts Teacher
    Harvard University - B.F.A., Visual and Environmental Studies
    Mass College Art of Boston - M.F.A., Sculpture
    Harvard University - Certificate, Architecture Associate Degree
    Bio
  • Photo of Luke DiOrio
    Luke DiOrio
    Visual and Performing Arts Teacher
    University of Hartford - B.A.
    Bio
  • Photo of Maeve Doolan
    Maeve Doolan
    Visual and Performing Arts Teacher; Gallery Director
    The College of Fine Arts, Boston University - B.F.A., Sculpture/ Painting
    Bio
Located 10 miles from Boston, Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall (CH-CH) is a private, college preparatory day and boarding school for grades 7-12/PG. CH-CH cultivates intellectual courage, creative ambition, and unwavering empathy that drives students to achieve their best.
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