Visual Arts

Student Voice and Choice in the Art Studio

Our philosophy has centered on empowering students in the studio and we have anchored our teaching in the Artistic Thinking Process.  Making choices about media, technique, process; finding ideas and deciding if they are good and knowing when an artwork is finished or even needs to be scrapped is the real-world work of artists.  We let students do all of the above at every level because we learn from experimentation, especially experimentation that takes place in a safe and supportive studio environment.   

Students explore all of the core media beginning in Primary School, and courses become increasingly more tailored as you enter Middle and Upper School.  Students are creating art through computer code and game design, exploring fashion design or jewelry and metalworking, making digital and darkroom prints and creating on the wheel, sewing machine, cricut, laser cutter and C&C machine.  At any point, you can walk into an art studio and see ten students working in different media, with different techniques, on their own original ideas. At HIES, artists find their own voice and learn how to express it.