Coming Spring 2027

Spring Semester: February 1 – May 7 | Mondays, 3:30 – 5:00 PM | 12 weekly sessions

Registration opens in November. Join the interest list below and you'll get first notice — spots are capped at ten per class.

Where technique becomes a voice.

The second half of the Studio Practice year — where everything built in Studio Practice I gets put to work on something bigger. The emphasis shifts from learning to draw and paint to deciding what to draw and paint, and why. Over the semester, each student develops a personal artistic direction and builds a cohesive body of work designed to travel: to AP Studio Art submissions, to college applications, to wherever they're headed next. Typically taken during the 11th grade year.

What they'll learn

• How to identify their artistic interests and develop a personal voice
• Series thinking — planning and producing a cohesive body of work, not just individual pieces
• How the AP Studio Art portfolio and art-school applications actually work
• Writing and speaking about their work, including a real artist statement
• Advanced critique skills, applied to their own and others' work

What they'll make: A sustained body of work — typically 4–7 finished pieces exploring one investigation — plus a working sketchbook, a draft artist statement, and a curated set of framed pieces for the gallery show.

Where it leads: Completes the AP-year studio sequence in our high-school arc. AP-bound students adapt their body of work for AP submission; 12th-grade students continue into the Junior Mentor Program.

A semester that works like a real studio

This isn't a class where every week is a new project. Students commit to a direction early, then spend the semester producing, critiquing, and refining — the way working artists actually build a body of work. Along the way: a formal mid-semester group critique, a visiting artist conversation, a dedicated session on college and AP portfolio expectations, and a portfolio review with the teacher before the show.

The semester ends in a real gallery show

At the end of the semester, each student selects 2–3 pieces from their body of work — a curatorial decision in itself — to be matted, framed in our shop, and hung in our gallery for a Friday-evening exhibition with refreshments. Families are invited, and the work is shown the way real art is shown. For many students, it's their first experience presenting a body of work as a body of work — the same skill they'll use in every portfolio review that follows.

What's included & good to know

• 12 weekly sessions, 1.5 hours each (Spring semester, February 1-May 7) (no class during Spring Break, April 5-9)
• Small class (capped at 10), so every student gets real individual attention
• Structured studio time with intensive teacher critique, built around a mid-semester group critique — every student works from a written project plan
• Visiting artist sessions and a dedicated college & AP portfolio conversation
• Each student's exhibition piece is matted and framed in our shop, included in the tuition price 
  
• Assumes completion of Studio Practice I or comparable prior coursework
• One step in a multi-year path that grows with your child

*Product photo is an example from Sophie Miller