Visual Art
In the studio, we are all artists. Regardless of students’ experience level, Visual Art courses at Dublin School are designed to meet you where you are and focus on developing one’s individual creative process and voice.
Horgan Art Studio
The Horgan Art Studio in Gillespie Hall, which opened in 2012, includes three working spaces: a 2D studio with individual studio spaces for Advanced Art & Portfolio students, a 3D / ceramics studio, and a digital studio space.
Students create artwork and present to audiences in our School community and beyond. Dublin School artists have the opportunity to showcase their work in the Putnam Art Gallery on campus, and can participate in the annual Scholastic Art Awards on a state and potentially national level.
2D: Drawing & Painting
Learning to draw is inextricably linked to the practice of “close looking.” At the beginning of the semester, artists in our Drawing course will learn to build their own sketchbook and be given frequent assignments to help them build an intentional looking and drawing practice. In this semester course, students will explore mark-making and a variety of drawing techniques. Projects include: realistic and symbolic self portrait, still life, and landscape drawings. Students will learn an array of strategies for drawing from observation and expand their understanding of what it means to make a drawing. Artists will practice depicting proportion, space, form, and light on a two dimensional surface. Assessment is in the form of self, individual and group critique, as well as rubric-guided project grades and in-progress and summative artist portfolio presentations.
In Painting, artists will be introduced to techniques using watercolor, acrylic, and potentially oil-based paints. Projects include: traditional painting assignments like still life, landscape, and portraiture as well as thematic assignments that are open to each artist’s interpretation. Assessment is in the form of self, individual and group critique, as well as rubric-guided project grades and in-progress and summative artist portfolio presentations.
3D: Sculpture & Ceramics
In 3D Design: Sculpture, artists move off the flat page and into three dimensions. The primary focus of this class will be exploring art and design concepts through three-dimensional materials such as cardboard, paper, wire, and found objects. Projects include: Wearable Sculpture, Lost Childhood Objects, Desktop Monuments, and Edible Sculpture. Assessment is in the form of self, individual and group critique, as well as rubric-guided project grades as well as in-progress and summative artist portfolio presentations.
In 3D Design: Ceramics, students will work in slab, pinch coil, wheel throwing, and additive / reductive clay sculpture on the round. The process of imbuing material with meaning through moving from the abstract to the concrete and back again is the major conceptual task of this course. Projects include: Collaborative Clay Olympics, Creative Hero Vessels, and Anchors for Mindfulness. Artists will explore form, function, and surface design, and will learn to follow their own thematic ideas.
Fiber Design
This course introduces artists to the basics of an array of traditional craft practices — knitting and / or crochet, weaving, sewing, embroidery, and bookbinding — while also learning about contemporary artists who use these techniques currently in new and surprising ways. Projects include: hand binding their own Coptic Sketchbook, collaboratively crocheting a coral reef, and an embroidered drawing. Artists will develop their own extended investigation of a fiber design process while developing their own artwork or series of artworks. Assessment is in the form of self, individual, and group critique, as well as rubric-guided project grades and in-progress and summative artist portfolio presentations.
Advanced Art / Art Portfolio
Advanced Art / Art Portfolio is for artists who want to hone their technical skills and take their creative practice to the next level. It meets for two hours each day during the afternoon activities block. Each student designs their own curriculum with the common goal of creating a body of work to be shown to prospective colleges. Elements of art history, criticism and aesthetics are explored as a group and through independent work. A college portfolio requires between fifteen and twenty images. On average, a Portfolio student creates between six and eight pieces in a trimester. Prerequisite: students must gain permission from the instructor to enroll in Art Portfolio or Advanced Art, and in most cases will be required to have taken at least one prior Studio Art class at Dublin School.
Visual Arts Department
Mary Goldthwaite
Visual Arts Teacher, Curator of the Putnam Gallery and the Putnam Sculpture Park, Advanced Portfolio Advisor
Courses and Extracurriculars
- Drawing
- Painting
- 2D Studio Art: Continued Practice
- 3D Design: Sculpture
- 3D Design: Ceramics
- Fiber Design: Traditional Process, Contemporary Practice
- Advanced Art
- Art Portfolio* (Afternoon Activity during Fall & Winter seasons)
