Visual Art

Welcome to the MAK Art Department. Please find below general information on the content of the program and the rationale behind that content. The MAK Art program hopes to produce students with a solid art background and has students exit with a respect for art and their selves.

Most people think of art education as not important, sub-class, extra, or not worth it for their son or daughter's future career, especially when there are "tests" to study for. I would like to share with you two quotes from renowned art educator and author Eileen S. Prince (from her book Art Matters)...

"The more fluent we become in the language of art, the more it can tell us about our society, about our world, about history, and most importantly perhaps, about ourselves."

"The language of art is not only helpful when trying to understand what an artist is trying to say, however; art can also teach us about our origins.  It can illuminate our study of science and math, improve our grasp of history, add dimension to the creation and understanding of literature and music, and even grant us insights into economics and politics."

MAK looks to provide an art curriculum that has substance and is intellectually stimulating. That will present significant content and continuously develops students' problem-solving skills.  That will require constant decision making, demand high standards of achievement, and instill in students a deep respect for art as a discipline.  It will promote intellectual honesty and curiosity, and encourage diversity.  It will discourage judgments based on ignorance and prejudice.  It will honor excellence.

The MAK Art program is sequential in nature.  Students will never repeat projects but will always build upon previously learned knowledge.  At the Kindergarten level, students will be introduced to the world of art and work on basic skills through exciting projects. In the early elementary levels (Grades 1, 2, & 3), students will study the elements and principles of art.  In the upper elementary levels (Grades 4 & 5), students will study art history through hands-on projects.  In the middle school level students are free to explore more in-depth the various mediums available to artists.  Some areas/mediums covered include: ceramics, sculpture, painting, printmaking, stained glass, and photography.

The MAK Art program is considered to be cross-curricular integrated as most of the projects involve some level of math, science, history, vocabulary, or language arts.  We are confident that MAK students will be exposed to a wide variety of artists, cultures, theories, methods, styles, and materials.