Visual Arts

Welcome to the Hopkinton Public Schools Visual Arts Department website. The visual arts program in Hopkinton spreads through our five schools: Hopkinton High School, Hopkinton Middle School, Hopkins School, Elmwood School, and Marathon School. We service students in grades K-12 in an array of media from clay to photography, painting and drawing to digital art. We invite you to check back regularly as we update our announcements, event dates, and student work. 

Click here for a more in-depth description of our high school program. 

The Visual Arts Department at Hopkinton High School is far from ordinary with a faculty of 5 highly qualified professionals and a curriculum of over 20 electives to choose from. The students at Hopkinton High School not only receive a rich academic education when they graduate but are also engrossed in art history, fine art, design, photography, ceramics, computer arts, and sculpture. Our students learn about artists, art history, media & techniques, the elements of art & the principles of design, studio etiquette, critiquing, reflecting, problem-solving, and how art plays a role in our everyday lives.

The art wing at Hopkinton High School is a place where everyone can flourish. Currently, we have 4 classrooms dedicated to the arts: ceramics studio (mixed use), photography lab, studio art room, and a computer lab. We have courses of all different levels and for all different interests. Technology is infused throughout our curriculum. Our faculty is dedicated to continuous learning and staying current within their own areas of expertise.
 
We believe that art is for everyone! Our hope is that every student at Hopkinton High School has an opportunity to experience a course with us. 
 

Click here for a more in-depth description of our middle school program. 

At the Hopkinton Middle School, students are able to experience art from two different perspectives. Students are offered two courses: Media Arts which takes place in a media-rich computer lab and Visual Arts that exists in a more traditional studio art setting. Students are enrolled one trimester a year in each of these subjects throughout their three years here. 

The Media Arts course introduces students to technology as an artistic medium. By exploring multimedia software, digital cameras, scanners, drawing tablets, and other technology, students discover the creative potentials of digital media as a mode of communication and an outlet for personal expression. Students are exposed to the application of this media in real-world contexts and settings. Through creative, hands-on projects, students develop fundamental skills including problem-solving, collaboration, and critical thinking and response. In 6th grade students focus on fine art, in 7th grade, they learn about design and in 8th grade, they study photography. 

Our Visual Arts course is based on the human need to explore, analyze and make choices about the world around us. In 6th grade, our curriculum is center about the student’s exploration of the elements of art. Students explore these through a series of drawing, painting and cut paper projects. In 7th grade, students build on the skills learned in grade six and further their explorations on the elements of art, how they relate to the world around them and how they related to historical and contemporary art worlds. Students begin to explore other mediums and techniques such as collage and sculpture. Concepts studies in 8th grade continue to build on the previous years. Projects involve more of the principles of design and how to apply the elements in self-expressive, creative ways. Projects are centered around the students’ thoughts and their reactions to the world around them. Students in 8th grade are also introduced to new art forms like printmaking and design. 

In Hopkinton, our elementary students have the opportunity to see their art teachers once a week throughout the school year. At the Marathon School, our Kindergarten and 1st-grade students are learning the fundamentals of art such as line, shape, color, and form as well as foundational skills and studio etiquette. As our students progress on to 2nd and 3rd grade, at the Elmwood School, they begin to explore art in a choice-based environment. Students are introduced to a variety of art-making centers such as drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, and clay. Continuing with a choice-based based model at the Hopkins School, our 4th-grade and 5th-grade students build on prior skills by continuing to work in similar centers. An additional technology center is introduced where students learn how to archive projects and reflect on their process as artists.