Arts
Upper School Fine and Performing Arts
To be an artist is not the privilege of the few; it is the necessity of us all.
Robert Shaw
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Bolles offers a comprehensive and coherent program in the arts EK - 12 in five areas (dance, drama, instrumental music, vocal music, and visual arts) involving three campuses and including both academic classes during the day and a range of activities after school. Art education at Bolles is viewed not as something isolated from the rest of education, but rather as a central part of learning, and as such, arts classes receive full academic credit. This strong program in the arts has evolved because Bolles has maintained a clear commitment to achieving its stated mission, and the arts are seen as fundamental in achieving those goals both as they relate to understanding the past and to preparing for the future.
The school mission statement explains, academic preparation at Bolles recognizes that humankind has expressed itself through philosophy, art, music, literature, religion, drama, and science, and that we should revere and preserve the great creative achievements both artistic and scientific of our civilization.” Part of the intent of arts education at Bolles is, therefore, to provide regular instruction about art, to learn what art can teach us about cultures of the past. When we study ancient Greece, for example, we often study the arts to discover what peoples lives were like, what they believed about themselves and their relationship to the world around them, what events and ideals were important to them. The arts offer a different path to the intellect than other academic disciplines, but it is a complementary one, and at Bolles we attempt from the beginning of arts study to establish the value of interdisciplinary learning.
The major emphasis of the arts, however, is in the studio. We offer on a daily basis the opportunity for students not just to express themselves, but to discover themselves, to engage the world outside of their ordinary perceptions in order to redefine themselves and their experience. This too is integral to the Bolles Statement of philosophy which expresses the need to prepare students not only with knowledge, but to use knowledge: the Bolles academic program is designed to prepare each student not only in the various disciplines, but also for his/her future involvement in a societal world of flux. In our time it has become increasingly important for us to sort through complex visual and auditory images on a daily basis. Understanding those images is necessary for survival, but those who can create those images will thrive. Those who develop the ability to take disparate concepts or events and to envisage them as a new coherent construct will be our time’s lasting legacy. It is the goal of arts program at Bolles that students not only learn to understand the arts of the past, not only learn to create their own forms, but also learn to think like artists.
The students and faculty of the Bolles arts department also take seriously their roles as members of a larger community, using their artistic skills for regular community service projects. Performances frequently use donations of canned goods for the local food bank as the admissions ticket. The visual arts students participate annually in the city-wide Empty Bowls Project as well as using their talents for mural paintings and other such projects. The Fine and Performing Arts Department is also a member of the national organization, Society for Arts and Healthcare, and students and faculty from all five areas participate in monthly arts projects or performances for patients at local hospitals, convalescent homes, and rehab facilities.