Signature Program: Expressive Arts
Signature Programs
St. John’s Signature Programs broaden the student experience and cultivate a love of learning both inside and outside of the classroom. These Signature Programs provide a holistic education that extends classroom learning, encourages students to explore different areas of interest, teaches new skills, and helps children deepen their understanding of the world around them.
Expressive Arts
The Expressive Arts include music, art, and theatre. In Primary School through sixth grade, students attend regular art and music classes, and eighth graders work on their second-semester musical production. Each year, several eighth graders seek to continue their preference in the arts by pursuing admission to Booker T. Washington School for the Performing Arts. Throughout the academic year, students enjoy visual arts classes, and regular rotations of their artwork are shown in hallways and common areas across the School.
Dramatic Arts
Our dramatic arts program rests on the fundamentals of performance-based, creative learning. Through theatre, students uncover ideas, emotions, and creativity.
They learn new ways of looking at problems and different ways of expressing themselves. Students learn to speak clearly and confidently while working as part of an ensemble and as individual performers.
Music
Children naturally respond to music as singers, players, dancers, listeners, and creators.
At St. John's, we cultivate this inherent response with a consistent approach to teaching music, which provides students with aural, vocal, and instrumental practice from Preschool through early adolescence.
Visual Arts
Our Visual Arts program allows students to speak through their art, whether drawing, printmaking, painting, weaving or sculpting.
As they develop a strong foundation of basic skills, our curriculum build continues to enable students to take on more complex projects.
Artists in Residence
At St. John's our students have an extraordinary opportunity to learn from Artists in Residence from their classrooms on campus. In our Primary, Lower, and Middle School arts programs, we create a joyful atmosphere that encourages risk-taking and helps students grow in self-confidence as they develop their artistic skills. Students learn to be keen observers, and they hone their ability to describe what they see. They practice keeping the beat, differentiate between sounds, explore vocal registers, and accompany singing with instruments. They work together on integrated arts projects within the classroom, reinforcing a sense of responsibility to one another. Ultimately, they produce and perform a junior musical. We emphasize the process students experience as they create artistic work, rather than solely the end product.
Denise Brown
Artist in Residence
Lower School Art Teacher
Martin Delabano
Artist in Residence,
Middle School Art Teacher
Donna Knox
Artist in Residence
Primary School Art Teacher
Payton Lauerman
Middle School Drama Teacher
Megan Nasser
Lower School Music Teacher
