The ultimate goal of the Art Program at the Open Window School is to provide students with a meaningful experience in the visual arts by creating a supportive environment that celebrates creative exploration and individuality. The art program takes a discipline-based art education approach to its curriculum, which combines experiences from four disciplines in the study of art: Art History, Art Criticism, Aesthetics and Art Production. Upon integrating this, lessons merge the disciplines instead of teaching concepts from each discipline separately.
OWS Art Students are: Philosophers(Aesthetics) · Asking the Big Questions: What is art? What is good art? What is beauty? · Engaging in group discussions to think about what they are doing, learning, and feeling about their art and the art of others · Approaching their art endeavors through aesthetic questioning Art Critics (Art Criticism) · Describing, interpreting, and judging works of art · Examining and discussing formal principles of design and elements of art · Expanding and utilizing artistic vocabulary Art Historians (Art History) · Studying the history of objects and the history of people through art · Recognizing how art uniquely documents cultural changes throughout history · Studying historical artists and works to gain insights about the past and the present Artists (Art Production) · Producing original artworks · Utilizing a wide variety of mediums and tools · Identifying and employing the Elements of Art and Design: value, color, texture, shape, form, space · Exploring and challenging individual expression
All art projects are aligned with the Open Window School’s Adopted Standards and are taught to reach the benchmarks for each grade level.
