Visual Arts
lower school visual arts
In the Lower School Visual Art program, students explore a variety of materials and artistic processes. Inspired by artists from diverse cultures, time periods, and contemporary practices, young artists are encouraged to imagine, experiment, and take creative risks. Through a balance of skill-building instruction and open-ended MakerTime, students develop confidence, creativity, and problem-solving skills while learning that curiosity, persistence, and especially mistakes are valuable parts of both learning and the creative process. Along the way, they discover their unique artistic voice and develop a lifelong appreciation for art, creativity, and the joy of making.
middle school visual arts
The Middle School art studio is a place where students can explore, create, and connect with their imagination.
In a supportive environment, students are encouraged to experiment, embrace challenges, and express themselves through a wide range of artistic media. Highlights of Middle School Visual Arts are printmaking, clay, wood sculptures, and creating copper birds.
Whether or not they continue to concentrate in the creative field, this process encourages them to be self-confident, independent thinkers.
Upper School visual arts
The Upper School Visual Arts Department prepares students to think, make, and see like artists. Our rigorous, studio-centered approach gives students the time, tools, and critical framework to develop a genuine creative practice. Students work across sun-filled drawing, painting, and sculpture studios, a darkroom and photo studio, and digital media and design labs. Germantown Academy's beautiful 126-acre campus serves as our largest classroom. We emphasize process over product, risk-taking over polish, and collaboration. We prepare students not only for college-level art programs, but for a life in which visual literacy, creative problem-solving, and the courage to make something new are essential capacities.
Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking
Students begin by building foundational skills in drawing, design, and visual expression, working across a broad range of traditional and experimental media. As they advance, projects grow in complexity and ambition, deepening conceptual thinking and creative independence. At the honors level, students work as independent artists, developing cohesive bodies of work that reflect a personal point of view.
Sculpture and 3D Design
Students explore the physical world as artistic material, working in methods including construction, casting, carving, and fabrication. In an increasingly digital age, the program places particular value on the handmade, engaging students in the iterative process of forming, rethinking, and refining. Through projects ranging from wearable designs to symbolic and conceptual work, students are encouraged to take creative risks and develop a personal artistic voice. Creative exploration is at the heart of everything we do.
Photography
Students develop a working knowledge of photography through both analog and digital practice, using traditional darkroom processes, film cameras, professional lighting equipment, and software including Lightroom and Photoshop. The program emphasizes visual storytelling, composition, and observation, grounded in the study of historical and contemporary photographers. Field trips to local sites and opportunities to present work to the broader community bring the learning to life beyond the classroom.
Digital Media and Design
Students explore video editing, compositing, and motion graphics using industry-standard Adobe and Apple software. The program covers core concepts in cinematography, visual storytelling, and sound design, while developing both technical proficiency and original creative voice through the study of professional film and media practitioners.
