Visual Arts

At Unity School, it is understood that art is an essential part of the common core of knowledge. Art

• develops aesthetic perception through multi-sensory experiences.
• enables students to express their own creativity and to experience satisfaction, accomplishment, and joy in the process.
• develops aesthetic values and provides criteria for making informed judgments.
• develops mental skills that are not developed by other disciplines.
• deals with symbols that cannot be expressed in any other way. Studying art, then, calls on and develops new forms of cognition

Program Structure

Elements and Principles of Design:

Design being the structure of art, Unity students are guided through seeing and understanding these elements and principles as unifying the different parts and giving the work visual order.  The elements and principles are always used in combination and therefore work together to create a composition with a good design.  These various elements and principles are introduced separately and a project is created at each grade level.

Elementary Art (Kindergarten through 5th Grade):

During the elementary-school years, children respond eagerly to the nonverbal language of art.  At Unity this enthusiasm is nurtured.  Even young children learn to analyze the structural content of art by responding to design elements and principles and other sensory stimuli.  The students perceive, interpret and judge symbolic or expressive subtleties in art forms.  The students advance their understanding by emulating artists as they produce art. K-3 students meet once per week for 45 minutes.  4th and 5th Grade students meet twice per week for 45-minute periods.

Elective Art Classes (6th through 8th Grade):

Art is an elective class in Middle School.  Two electives are offered, Intermediate and Advanced Visual Arts.  Students attend one or the other of these classes three times per week for a full year.  The goal of the program is to develop the students’ appreciation, understanding and ability to create a meaningful work of art.  Visual thinking depends on learning to see and interpret visual symbols and learning to understand messages in a work of art or in the world around us.

Throughout the year, every effort is made to highlight the incredible work of our students. Student work is exhibited throughout campus including framed pieces in the Front Office and Office of Development. At the end of each year, students work is showcased in a school-wide art exhibition that includes at least one piece for every child in grades K – 8.  And the school’s annual calendar includes student art for each month.