We believe that being able to think flexibly, critically and creatively is one of the most important skills for 21st century--allowing you to look beyond traditional solutions to discover new and innovative ways to solve complex problems.
We also acknowledge that thinking this way requires practice and that there are a multitude of ways to develop these skills. For this reason, you are required to earn 3 credits in Creative Thinking Arts and Design. This domain encompasses Visual and Performing Arts and Engineering. Below are examples of courses that have been offered over the past four years.
The Sparhawk Arts Department has several beautiful and spacious classrooms consisting of an innovation lab, a ceramics studio and a fine arts studio and theater. In addition to the classes listed below we have several community arts events each year such as Steamroller Printmaking, Soup+Cider & Open Studios.
Visual Arts
Sparhawk's Arts Department offers an immersive experience into the arts. Our art teachers design classes based both on student interest and thematic learning. In addition to the two fall and spring semesters of extensive curricular art offerings, students also have the choice to delve even deeper into art through our Winterim Master Class offered in January. Previous Winterim offerings include Italian History & Renaissance Art, Street Art and Mosaic Mural Arts. Sparhawk also hosts three large scale community arts events throughout the year, Soup+Cider, Open Studios and Steamroller Printmaking.
Class examples: Studio Art, Drawing, Printmaking, Painting, Sculpture, Ceramics, Silkscreening, Upcycling: Creative Re-use, Project Pathway: Fashion Design using Recycled Materials, Digital Media, Digital Art Studio, Digital Photography, Introduction to Digital Video.
Performing Arts + Music
Sparhawk's performing arts and music teachers are seasoned and enthusiastic professionals that have found great success in the arts themselves. Their experience, coupled with an incredible talent for honing and inspiring each student's innate ability are what make Sparhawk's program so successful.
Students have the opportunity to participate in performing arts & music in a variety of ways at Sparhawk. Our students have the opportunity to take a vast array of electives during their regular semester such as playwriting, band and music theory. We offer an after school theater club, that creates three theatrical productions each year that are performed at the Sparhawk Theater at our Upper School. Students also have the ability to choose a performing arts or music based Winterim or PBL elective. Previous Winterims have included trips to LA to study movie & film production and New Orleans to study the history and music of the region.
As part of our theater program, Sparhawk students have entered plays in the Massachusetts Young Playwrights' Project Festival at Boston University. The festival consists of 10-minute plays written by Massachusetts high school students. Plays that are chosen, are directed and performed script-in-hand by professional actors and directors in collaboration with the playwrights. Since 2017, each year, several Sparhawk student plays have been chosen to be performed and read at the Festival!
Each year, we invite a variety of community experts to host workshops for our students that enrich their experience in the arts. Recently, Sarah Mass, a professional actor and teaching artist from the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, visited Sparhawk to work with students from Pre-K-12. Sarah and Sparhawk teacher Eric Schildge facilitated workshops in the high school on acting out gender and status and using improvisation to spark plot and conflict in play writing. Experiences like this exemplify the power of theater to build community, enhance self-confidence, and promote critical and creative thinking.
Sparhawk works with Seacoast Academy of Music to offer after school music lessons in voice, brass, string, percussion and piano.
Examples of classes: History of Jazz, Patriotism or Propaganda (Choral Music), Music Theory, History of Rock and Roll, Scene Study, Playwriting, Advanced Drama, Music of the Renaissance, Music of Glee
SEACOAST ACADEMY OF MUSIC LESSONS