Students in Visual Arts Programs at Oak Hill School learn to communicate personal expression, cultural values, and heritage as they experience the power visual images have influencing human behavior. Art projects incorporate elements of problem solving, technical skills, and aesthetics in a variety of 2-D and 3-D media.
Lower School students in Kindergarten through 5th Grade study art within an integrated curriculum which bridges subject matter with core-class units and themes. Holidays, field trip experiences, and performance programs are enriched with symbolic interpretative projects. Students master basic skills and are introduced to new mediums with technical applications. Individuality is respected, and the seeds of constructive open discussion and self evaluation are planted. Students explore line, color, form, shapes, and texture and learn the dynamics of rhythm, acute observation, shading, composition, and color theory. Famous artists and their works are reflected upon during project instruction when historical information and artistic styles correlate.
The Middle School in grades 6, 7, and 8 use a progression of analytical and conceptual skills with each art project. Students create aesthetic resolutions using the elements of art and the principles of design. Bold graphic projects combine visual awareness, ingenuity, and critical thinking. Subject matter integrates into Social Studies, English, and Environmental Issues. Student art is shared with the Oak Hill Community through exhibits and displays.
High School Visual Arts elective classes focus on advanced techniques to express social concepts within outstanding Fine Arts projects. Students in 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Grade progress at individual levels and are stretched out of their comfort zone through differentiated projects. Students produce gallery quality works and their art is displayed throughout the the Eugene/Springfield area. High School art is evaluated in the classroom in accordance to the A.P. Rubric, and each student is required to write to analytical statements to validate their art work, its active message, the construction process, and influencing historical styles and periods. Upper School Art classes view gallery works at the L.C.C. Fine Arts Gallery, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, and the Portland Art Museum. Committed Visual Arts students prepare art portfolios with a wide range of breadth and depth for entrance into institutes of higher leaning. Oak Hill students take their art portfolios to interviews for evaluations by Arts Colleges, University Fine Arts and Architecture Departments, and Schools of Design. Our art students have earned recognition for their extensive portfolios resulting in multiple scholarships toward professional studies in the arts.