King School’s Art and Design program provides students with a strong technical foundation to express their ideas and identities in visual form. A wide range of classes and lessons allow students in all divisions to explore different techniques and ideas and bring their artistic visions to life. On any given day, you can find students outdoors illustrating King’s campus, in the studio creating mixed media collages of their homes, sculpting monsters out of various materials, editing page layouts for the yearbook, and more.

In Advanced Art I, upper school students use charcoal to illustrate images of their hands for the “Hands Up for Justice” project. The lesson asks students to consider how they can raise awareness about issues important to them and their communities while using highlights, tone, and shadows to imply form in their work.

Publications Design & Content teaches students the fundamentals of publishing, including digital design, copy editing, photography, and journalism. The year-long course culminates in the King School yearbook. Above, Lilly Heaton ’24 reviews and designs senior photo spreads.

CeCe Campbell ’26 works on an oil pastel illustration of King’s campus for Advanced Art II. The plein-air lesson allows students to build composition and observational skills while enjoying the beautiful fall weather.

In Grade 8 Art, students create unique and original three-dimensional sculptures of monsters and creatures, exploring a variety of materials and techniques that bring their vision to life.

In the Lower School, students learned about mixed media and collage. Drawing inspiration from Romare Bearden's “The Block,” they used paper, markers, pom poms, buttons, popsicle sticks, gems, tissue paper, watercolor, toothpicks, pipe cleaners, and glue to create pieces depicting their homes. Above, Lower School Art Teacher Alexa Orndahl talks with Grade 3 student Clyde David Beverly ’33 about his home-collage project.  

In his Digital Media class, Art and Design Chair Brady Shoemaker talks with Grade 8 students about their pixel designs. The class provides students the opportunity to explore and experiment with digital media using professional equipment and software to create digital content for video, audio, and online platforms.

Students in Clay Explorations design their curriculum focused on creating work using the Original, Personal, Experienced, and Novel (OPEN) format. Under the guidance of Art Teacher David Hughes, students create a body of work over the semester-long course using a variety of clay shaping and building techniques.