Arts

King School’s Art and Design program provides students across divisions with a strong technical foundation to express their ideas and identities in visual form. As students explore different techniques and ideas, they bring their artistic visions to life. Whether it's sketching en plein air, sculpting in our studios, or harnessing the power of digital illustration, artists thrive throughout King, refining their skills and enhancing their capacity to communicate through the language of art.

The Performing Arts Department is offering two new classes in its new recording studio. Audio Engineering I is being offered for the first time this semester, and Audio Engineering II will be offered next. The classes allow students to dive into audio production techniques and use their new skills to shape their artistic style, which are already emerging in the students’ new music mixes.

Upper School Art Teacher Corina Alvarezdelugo was recently named the 2023 Connecticut Outstanding Art Educator of the Year by the Connecticut Art Education Association (CAEA), a professional organization which represents the art teachers of the state. Alvarezdelugo earned the recognition for her work cultivating artistic growth and critical thought in her students by offering a multidimensional and rich multicultural curriculum.

This week, “The Morning Show” returned with a teaser for the second season of the episodic, student-produced series on Tuesday, October 10. The show was created by Connor Neary ’25. Previous productions included athletic highlight reels, a promotional video for the King 5K, short student and teacher interviews, and a podcast. Connor expanded the show this year by creating a club to support the production. “The Morning Show” Club allows more students to contribute ideas and segments. 

Romance and magic were in the air at King School as a middle school cast of 37 actors and 12 crew members staged “Beauty and the Beast Jr.” in King School’s final theatrical performance of the 2022-23 school year. The show, which was double cast, filled the Performing Arts Center with music and applause during performances on May 4 and 5.

Culminating a years of research and self-discovery in the arts, nine senior advanced art students presented capstone projects at two Art Colloquia in the Performing Arts Center at King School in late April. The presentations result from the school’s O.P.E.N project experience: Original, Personal, Experiential, and Novel, with the advanced students spending an entire year exploring a theme of their choosing. Students used different mediums to explore topics including the environment, human behavior, geology, and technology creating work that reflect their interests or experiences.

On the first weekend of April, King School hosted its eighth annual El Sistema residency. The event uses music ensembles as a means of communication and connection between communities of different socioeconomic backgrounds. Musicians from the Middle and Upper Schools joined visiting students from various El Sistema USA programs, including Stamford’s Project Music, for intensive music workshops.

In the first part of their linear perspective unit, Grade 8 students majoring in Art and Design created murals in the Middle School, demonstrating their knowledge of one-point perspective. Working from initial sketches, students carefully placed and trimmed colorful masking tape to create the illusion of depth on the flat walls. After Spring Break, students will use this experience to inform work using a two-point perspective.

“Rodger & Hammerstein’s Cinderella” dazzled audiences last weekend at King’s Performing Arts Center. Students wrapped in colorful costumes sang witty show tunes with a modern message that transformed the centuries-old tale. In this adaptation of the classic, Cinderella is empowered by the virtue of kindness.