Middle School
The Middle School Fine Arts program gives students a variety of arts experiences in three basic areas: visual and industrial arts, drama and speech, and music. Students may choose areas of special interest for repeated exposure. To varying degrees, all courses seek to advance students’ growth in initiative, self-confidence, self-discipline, decision-making, and teamwork; all offer emotional release through ordered, non-threatening experiences. Several courses are sequential in nature: Band, Choir, Strings, Industrial Arts, and Drama. Beginning level courses in these fields are prerequisites for later courses.
Students in instrumental music classes furnish their instruments or rent them from the School or from local music stores. The majority of students rent instruments from the School, allowing changes in instruments and their size to be made over the course of a student’s musical studies. Rental fees support a fund for instrument replacement.
NOTE: Though an attempt is made to honor all fine arts selections, it is sometimes necessary to assign a student to a different course than he requests.
Upper School
The Upper School Fine Arts students are challenged to explore their creative selves through the performing, visual, and media arts. At the core of the curriculum lies the opportunity for students to express those creative instincts that make us uniquely human. The study of art at St. Mark’s includes scholarly inquiry into the history, theory, and style of artistic expression. Performing, visual, and media arts find expression in a variety of programs designed to allow students to fully express and develop artistic talents.
Criteria and Selection Process for AP/Honors Courses
Each spring, the department will solicit nominations from the faculty for placing students in AP/Honors courses for the following fall trimester.
Criteria for Nomination
The student should:
• Be a rising junior or senior in good standing.
• Have completed two years of study in the same field of art in the Upper School.
• Exhibit a mastery of art.
Selection to AP/Honors:
• A student may enter the honors sequence at the junior or senior level after two years of study in an art area in the Upper School.
• When the student is nominated for the AP/Honors course, his advisor will be notified so that the student may be placed in that course selection.
Appeal Process:
The student must first engage in a conversation with his most recent art teacher. The student has an option to appeal through the Department Chair.
# Several courses of a performing or creative nature may be taken repeatedly in successive years, and since the outcome of the work is different each year, the courses carry the credit indicated each time.