WKHS ART
OUR MISSION
An education in the Visual Arts can help develop the personal, intellectual and vocational development of any student, including those who don't see themselves as artistically ‘talented.’ Our mission is to provide an in-depth Visual Arts curriculum designed to help facilitate every student's personal artistic growth, visual literacy, critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and project management skills. Some of the benefits resulting from an education in the Visual Arts include:
PERSONAL ENRICHMENT
Art is uniquely able to make connections with students’ own lives and facilitate the development of personal goals. It enriches students' lives by providing a means to explore, reflect on and express one’s self and one’s culture, while also providing a means through which students can have a voice in our contemporary, democratic society.
VISUAL LITERACY
Our world is dominated by imagery in the form of photographs, television, the Internet, video games, logos, movies, advertisements, and more. It is important for students to develop visual literacy to help them interpret and make critical judgments about this bombardment of ideas, while also learning to create images that effectively communicate their own ideas and intent.
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
We live in a time when visual and design aesthetics are a crucial component of our marketplace. About 1/3 of the American economy is now based on some form of creative enterprise. These creative enterprises (i.e. fine art making, architecture, marketing/advertising, television, movie and video game production, web design, fashion design and more) all require a solid understanding of the Visual Arts.
In addition, businesses no longer seek people who merely follow instructions and perform repetitive tasks; rather, they need people who are adaptable and have strong creative problem-solving abilities. The visual arts provide the opportunity to exercise these creative problem-solving skills, while also reinforcing important life skills such as attention to detail, planning and organization.
Making art is an intellectual process that requires more skill, knowledge and discipline than many realize, while also necessitating the use of inspiration, inventiveness, and imagination. Whether a student ultimately pursues art, a vocational trade, business or a career in science or technology, all students can receive tangible benefits from from the skills developed through Visual Arts education.
"The challenges we currently face are without precedent. More people live on this planet now than at any other time... We’re facing an increasing strain on the world’s natural resources. Technology is... transforming how people work, think and connect. If you look at the resulting strains on our political and financial institutions, on health care, on education, there really isn’t a (comparable) time in history... We’re going to need every ounce of ingenuity, imagination, and creativity to confront these problems.”
-Sir Ken Robinson
