Fine Arts

2D Art

Beginning in Lower School, GSB students explore art elements and design principles in a number of 2D mediums. Studio art classes provide our young artists the opportunity to create projects through acrylic, tempera paint, and watercolor ink in a range of subjects and styles. 

GSB offers AP 2-D Art and Design to advanced Upper School students, a yearlong course in which students develop and submit personal portfolios. This course emphasizes making art as an ongoing process that involves the student in informed and critical decision making using the elements of art and the principles of design. 

GSB proudly offers two full art studios on campus — a dedicated Lower School art studio in the Cox building and an Upper School space located in Founders Hall. Each art studio is designed for students to take full control of the creative process and hold a variety of materials for classes to explore concepts in form, depth, space, and perspective. 

Art History

The AP Art History course welcomes students into the global art world to engage with its forms and content as they research, discuss, read, and write about art, artists, art making, and responses to and interpretations of art. By investigating specific course content of 250 works of art characterized by diverse artistic traditions from prehistory to the present, the students develop in-depth, holistic understanding of the history of art from a global perspective. Students learn and apply skills of visual, contextual, and comparative analysis to engage with a variety of art forms, developing understanding of individual works and interconnections across history.

Computer-Aided Design (CAD)

Middle School students explore the world of drawing three-dimensional objects through our CAD course. During their classes, students will experiment within the TinkerCad program to create scale models and objects of their own design–both practical and artistic. Class is held in our MS MakerSpace, where students learn how to format and slice their drawings for our 3D printers.

Graphic Design

As an Upper School course for 9th to 12th Graders, students are introduced to the interaction of text, image, and fundamental components of graphic communications. Classes hone their skills by working with text and image to create solutions to a series of design problems. A major focus of the course is to develop students’ abilities to think creatively and generate innovative ideas while learning digital design tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.

K-12 Art Show

The GSB Fine Arts Department proudly hosts two annual arts shows per school year. Feature work is displayed in the SBS Pavilion to showcase projects from all grades and in all mediums, including 2D, 3D, and digital art, drawings, paintings, photography, ceramics, woodworking, and multi-media creations.

Photography

The GSB Photography program offers introductory, intermediate, and advanced courses for Upper Schoolers interested in building their digital photography skills. Through their course work, students spend their classes in lectures, demonstrations, shooting assignments on campus, lab time, and critiques. As students gain a deeper understanding and confidence in camera functions, shooting techniques, lighting, composition, and editing, they are introduced to more advanced concepts in the use of photography as a documentary and artistic medium.

Woodworking Program

As a longstanding staple of GSB Fine Arts, our Woodworking program provides opportunities to elicit creativity, problem solve, and build self confidence. Beginning in 5th Grade, Middle and Upper School students partner with GSB faculty to learn proper tool safety, understand the role of mathematics in art, and create diverse projects such as birdhouses, dovetail boxes, benches, and chessboards.