Programs
Arts

Visual Arts

Art compliments child development.

We see this every day as children at Valley School become excited and confident about artistic exploration. In our art studio and outdoor art spaces, students learn how to express ideas, communicate emotion, and interpret life experiences as they stretch their imaginations and follow a path of discovery and growth. Through art appreciation, hands-on production, and studio work, Valley School’s Visual Arts program encourages lifelong participation in the arts. Field trips, museum visits, virtual architecture tours, and meeting artists through our Visiting Artist Program demonstrate to our students how they can contribute as creative members of a society that values the fine arts. 

Valley School’s Lower School Visual Arts curriculum fosters cognitive development, critical thinking, and fine motor skills. Studio sessions are active, tactile explorations in which students are fully engaged with the creative process. In addition to nurturing artistic skills, we guide children to become comfortable with creative expression and encourage them to use it in service of their overall health and wellbeing. 

Relationships between nature and art are woven throughout the whole of Valley School’s Visual Arts curriculum. Children explore how the colors, textures, and forms of nature inspire art. While working in outdoor spaces, students learn to use their senses to become keen observers of our natural world and build connections between creativity and nature.

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  • Lower School

    Starting in kindergarten and continuing throughout Lower School, children develop two and three-dimensional skills by working with a variety of materials. At this early stage, themes range from traditional genres such as portraiture and landscape to experimental abstraction. While working with the elements and principles of design, students practice foundational art techniques and build the confidence to express themselves with an honest and authentic artistic voice.

  • Upper School

    Our Upper School artists explore the artistic process through hands-on studio art experience and team-building activities that require creative thinking, innovation, and project-based or interdisciplinary learning activities. The curriculum engages with aspects of the National Core Art Standards, which include creating, presenting, responding, and connecting. Anchor standards run parallel across arts disciplines and measure general knowledge and art literacy.

    Our 7th and 8th grade Art Electives present opportunities for students to explore and engage in art genres that especially speak to them. Within the electives program framework, young artists achieve artistic growth through practice, perseverance, and mindfulness in a supportive environment. These classes are structured with specific themes such as Mosaics, Printmaking, Painting, Architecture, Foundations of Design, Ceramics, and Sculpture. A favorite art elective is Fort Ligonier Days Parade Float, an interdisciplinary experience through which students study regional and U.S. historical events and contexts according to a contest theme. Students then design a parade float for our community Fort Ligonier Days parade. They are involved in every aspect of the float—from conceptualization and creation to costuming and performance. While honing their individual art skills and finding their voice, they learn how to collaborate and work in creative teams as they become design thinkers and creative problem solvers.

Learn More

Learn about Performing Arts at Valley School or explore our other programs:

Valley School of Ligonier

Address: 153 Lupine Lane, Rector PA 15677
Mail: PO Box 616 Ligonier, PA 15658
Phone: (724) 238-6652  Fax: (724) 238-6838
In an environment that is safe, challenging, nurturing, and disciplined, Valley School provides a balanced and strong program of study for a diverse group of children. Our goal is to stimulate in each young person lifelong habits of moral behavior, seeking wisdom, and doing good works for others.
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