DEPARTMENTAL COURSE OFFERINGS The Arts 1 credit Arts and Music Curriculum Coordinator: Emanuel Del Pizzo • edelpizzo@malvernprep.org The Arts (including visual art, music, and performance art) seeks to enlighten the students’ inner creative voice by cultivating and defining it through thoughtful innovative experiences highlighted with performances and gallery showings throughout the year. Visual Arts The Visual Art Studio Courses focus on two-dimensional productions and should be taken in sequence or with special permission by the art teacher. They will touch upon all areas of art history, mediums, and techniques. These courses are designed not only to build a diversified two-dimensional portfolio of artwork for college but also to enhance and develop a student’s creativity and artistic mind. Studio Art should be considered if students are planning on exploring architecture, animation, video gaming development, graphic arts, or any field or subject that falls in the creative realm in college. Each year the course skill levels become more advanced. By the end of the fourth studio you will have a well-rounded understanding of art techniques, mediums, and art history.
Ceramics I (Form and Function) - 2060
0.5 Credit
Single Term | Grades: 9, 10, 11, 12 Limit 15 Students Students will develop skills in handbuilding techniques (pinch pots, coiling, slab building, and sculpting) through hands-on activities/projects, live demonstrations, personal research/design, and group discussions/reflections. Working with clay requires you to first understand the material so that the process of purposeful and creative making can occur. This means that most of your learning will occur through your dedicated and focused interactions with the clay itself while working on short term activities (with clay and other materials). This course requires multiple elements of full involvement, such as focus during demonstrations, participation during class, involvement in critiques, and completion of homework/reflections that will determine the student’s overall grade and success in the class. While the finished art piece is important, this class focuses additionally on the creative process of research, technical understanding, and the development of your artistic behaviors.
Ceramics II (Ceramic Surfaces) - 2065
0.5 Credit
Single Term | Grades: 9, 10, 11, 12 Prerequisite: Ceramics I Limit 12 Students This Ceramics 2 course will introduce students to the ceramic wheel. They will learn and develop the techniques in throwing with emphasis on the improvement of craftsmanship, critical thinking about forms, the aesthetics of functional ceramics, and most importantly the understanding of the material. Students will be expected to explore more advanced surface techniques and develop their throwing skills on the wheel to push their Ceramics 1 work into the next level of craftsmanship. Although the focus of Ceramics 2 is the wheel, students will have the opportunity to gravitate towards handbuilding techniques if their ideas and/or personal aesthetic drives them in that direction. The importance is that the students practice how best to develop their idea through ceramic techniques. This course requires multiple elements of full involvement, such as focus during demonstrations, participation during class, involvement in critiques, and completion of homework/reflections, that will determine the student’s overall grade 16
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and success in the class. While the finished art piece is important, this class focuses additionally on the creative process of research, technical understanding, and the development of your artistic behaviors.
Ceramics III (Vocalizing Concept) - 2067
0.5 Credit
Single Term | Grades: 10, 11, 12 Prerequisite: Ceramics II Limit 12 Students Students will focus on developing the why to build depth in the artwork while continuing to understand and develop the techniques in throwing and handbuilding. Drawing from this accrued knowledge, Ceramics 3 students must begin to build a body of conceptually advanced work. This means that students will be challenged to build work by interpreting a postmodern principle. It is this pairing on craftsmanship and concept that will advance the work of Ceramics 3 students. Students will be expected to explore a wide range of scale options within the handbuilding and throwing techniques. Work should start to reflect each student’s personal style and must be crafted in a way that demonstrates the students’ knowledge around engineering ceramic work. This means the student is able to select the correct technique to create a specific piece or how to combine different techniques to create portions of a whole art piece. This course requires multiple elements of full involvement, such as focus during demonstrations, participation during class, involvement in critiques, and completion of homework/reflections that will determine the student’s overall grade and success in the class. While the finished art piece is important, this class focuses additionally on the creative process of research, technical understanding, and the development of your artistic behaviors.
Ceramics IV (H) (Kiln Firing and Maintenance) (Building Artistic Identity) - 2086 0.5 Credit Single Term | Grades: 10, 11, 12 Prerequisite: Ceramics III Limit 12 Students Students will continue to practice the techniques in throwing and handbuilding while also further building knowledge of surface treatments through teacher lead activities and student
