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.
Art and Design
The Power of Creativity
Viewing the World Through the Eyes of an Artist
At King School, art is not just a subject — it's a whole new way of perceiving the world. Our art students embark on a transformative journey that encourages them to see through the eyes of an artist. Our artists immerse themselves in a creative process, cultivate their imagination, explore their individuality, and gain the confidence to express themselves.
Mastering the Palette of Skills: Communicate, Think Critically, Create, Collaborate
Our program goes beyond nurturing artistic talent; it hones essential skills for life. We understand the power of effective communication in the art world. Students learn to share their thoughts, ideas, and questions while mastering various media. They develop critical thinking by analyzing artworks and understanding the artists, genres, and cultures behind them. Through group critiques and self-assessment, students gain new perspectives and appreciate the nuanced nature of art.
At King School, inquiry and exploration are at the heart of everything we do. Students embrace innovation, explore different techniques and ideas, and bring their artistic visions to life. Collaboration is key — we encourage teamwork, sharing critiques, ideas, and skills to benefit from the collective wisdom of peers.
Unleashing Originality, Personal Vision, Experiences, Novel Approaches
Our curriculum revolves around the OPEN project — an embodiment of our students’ artistic journey. Regardless of grade level, every art class participates in this transformative experience. OPEN, or Original, Personal, Experienced, and Novel, empowers students to express their unique vision in original and innovative ways. Our artists design their own projects and engage in inquiry, research, and experimentation. The OPEN project is all about ownership and creativity, allowing students to explore and unleash their artistic potential.
An Artistic Intersection: Where Disciplines Meet
We believe in the power of interdisciplinary connections. Students benefit from interdisciplinary work that better reflects the real world and keeps students highly engaged. For example, an art class partners with the History Department's "Baseball and American Culture" class and the Innovation Lab to explore the dynamic intersections between art and other fields. Our Global Art History and Themes in Global Art courses expand students’ understanding of art across cultures and time periods, enriching the learning experiences. Students immerse themselves in fresh perspectives and diverse techniques by engaging with visiting artists who work directly with our students.
Areas of study include painting, drawing, printmaking, collage, ceramics, sculpture, and digital media, including photography, animation, filmmaking, web and graphic design.
Lower School
Building Foundations, Exploring Cultures, Expressing with Pride
In the Lower School, we lay the groundwork for artistic exploration and expression. Students work with various mediums, delve into different cultures, and build essential skills. They discover the elements of art and principles of design and let their creativity run free.
Middle School
Exploring Identity, Promoting Creativity
In Middle School, students hone their skills and focus on personal expression. They develop abilities in various art forms while exploring their unique identity and artistic voice, gain confidence in their abilities, and find their artistic footing. In Grade 8, students can immerse themselves deeper in the arts by choosing to major in Visual Arts, Performing Arts, or both.
Upper School
Expressing Themes, Visionary Projects
In the Upper School, art and design become a graduation requirement, highlighting our commitment to the arts. Students transition from skill-building to developing personal themes and visionary projects. They explore their chosen themes, working on self-designed problems and projects throughout the year. The culminating Art Colloquium during the senior year is a celebration of creativity, self-expression, and personal growth.
Art and Design in Action
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.
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.
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.
As part of the King School Visiting Artists Program, artist Jeilla Gueramain kicked off her residency this week with a lower school assembly during which she discussed her artistic inspiration and process. The King School Visiting Artists Program is an opportunity to enrich, enhance and inspire the visual arts students’ experience at King, providing them with an immersive experience.
Whether preparing for an upcoming ensemble performance or pursuing an individual passion, students enjoy a range of performing arts classes at King. Take a walk through the campus’s state-of-the-art Performing Arts Center, and you will find teachers thoughtfully guiding students through lessons that focus on building a sense of community alongside technical skills.
Culminating a year of self-discovery and exploration in the arts, the senior art students presented their capstone projects at the Art Colloquium, an annual arts seminar hosted in the Performing Arts Center at King School. The presentations are a result of the school’s O.P.E.N project experience: Original, Personal, Experiential, and Novel. Each year, seniors are encouraged to explore different mediums of art and create projects that are a personal expression of their interests or experiences to present to their classmates at the colloquium.
The students typically begin their projects with one idea, but the idea develops into new concepts or multiple projects as the year progresses. Jamie Munno ’22 likened the experience to the growth of a flower.
For the past 39 years, the Katonah Museum of Art has hosted a Young Artists exhibition that features the work of local high school seniors that participate in curating, installing, and promoting the exhibit for the public. Ten students from King School are participating in this year’s show, exhibiting artworks they have made in Advanced Art 3 and AP Art and Design classes taught by Ran LaPolla and David Hughes.