Visual Arts

 

"If we try to think back to the dim and distant past... what is it that helps us reconstruct those times, and to picture the lives of those who lived in them? It is their art... It is thanks to the hand, the companion of the mind, that civilization has arisen."            

                    —Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind

A key component of The Montessori School of Raleigh interdisciplinary curriculum, visual arts studies provide students with a vehicle for expressing themselves and communicating their feelings. It is through art that children develop fine motor skills while exploring their creativity. Students learn to work with pens, pastels, chalk, paint, yarn, paper, and other media. As they progress, students learn to render their observations of the world using those various media, to interpret cultural or historic symbols, and to gain an understanding of context in which symbols are used.

Art classes are offered to students in kindergarten through grade 12. The depth and breadth of the art experience grows and evolves with each student over time, providing meaningful and age-appropriate creative challenges at every level of development. In keeping with the Montessori Method, art classes focus on the process of creating. While process results in a "product," the focus is on allowing each child, through the act of creating, to uniquely interpret and interact with their world, develop self through expression, and experience satisfaction and joy.