Lower School Performing and Visual Arts
Research shows that children who are exposed to the arts acquire special abilities to think creatively, discover, and innovate. We recognize the many benefits of the arts, including motor and neural development and the ability for students to express themselves and to create together. The arts are a part of our Loretto legacy that we embrace with our whole heart.
Visual Arts
Lower School students engage in the visual arts regularly during their school day. All students, from Early Learning through Grade 5, participate in self-discovery and creative problem-solving inside and outside the art studio. Students develop persistence and skill-building with various mediums, including ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, video, filmmaking, and architecture. Students leave our Lower School inspired by the world around them and confident to think creatively.
Students in Grades 4 and 5 learn about identity and portraiture in art. As students create their own identity portrait of either self, a hero, or a friend, they learn about artists such as Frida Kahlo, Kehinde Wiley, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, and Chuck Close, who incorporate identity in their work. And they receive portraiture lessons from local professional artists.
Private lessons in most instruments, including voice, are offered on campus in all three schools.
Performing Arts
At our Lower School, performing arts take center stage in nurturing creativity and confidence among our students. Starting in Early Learning, students take engaging music classes, learning basic musical skills and instruments. Assemblies become platforms for them to showcase their growing talents by performing in front of their peers. As early as Grade 3, students can join the orchestra, and all Lower School students can join the after-school Drama Club for a taste of musical theater. Every other year, students audition for the All-Academy Musical, where performers from kindergarten through Grade 12 put on a mesmerizing full-length production. This comprehensive performing arts program ignites a passion for the arts and equips students with invaluable skills that extend far beyond the stage.
