Visual Arts & Design
Our Visual Arts & Design Major fosters artists with strong technical skills and critical thinking abilities, helping them to develop their own unique voices and confidence to take creative risks.
Overview
The mission of the Visual Arts department is to create a rigorous and encouraging environment in which students demonstrate a strong work ethic, produce quality work, and are articulate when discussing their art and the art of others. Students learn fundamental concepts of art and graphic design towards national certifications, and are career-ready and able to directly enter the workforce.
The Visual Arts curriculum is structured to develop a deeper understanding of concepts in art while building formal skills that prepare students for a liberal arts, technical, or arts-focused college. It is our goal that all students will respect one another’s artistic and scholarly endeavors and demonstrate a commitment to our shared community values.
Course Offerings
The mission of the Visual Arts department is to create a rigorous and encouraging environment in which students demonstrate a strong work ethic, produce quality work, and are articulate when discussing their art and the art of others. Students learn fundamental concepts of art and graphic design towards national certifications, and are career-ready and able to directly enter the workforce.
The Visual Arts curriculum is structured to develop a deeper understanding of concepts in art while building formal skills that prepare students for a liberal arts, technical, or arts-focused college. It is our goal that all students will respect one another’s artistic and scholarly endeavors and demonstrate a commitment to our shared community values.
Freshmen will begin in an Exploratory Program. After the conclusion of the Exploratory Program, students will select between Studio Arts, Design & Visual Communication (CTE), and Fashion Technology (CTE).
Career and Technical Education (CTE)
Boston Arts Academy is proud to be part of the Perkins Career & Technical Education (CTE) family. Since its inception, BAA has offered CTE programming that provides real-world experiences for students within in-demand industries. We offer Chapter 74 certified programs in Fashion Technology and Design and Visual Communications
Career Technical Education Programs provide students with important life and employment skills and technical experiences which align with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Career/Vocational Technical Education Frameworks. The curriculum is designed to prepare students for post-secondary education or to enter the workforce. CTE faculty members have all been successful in business and industry and are able to incorporate best industry practices in their daily lesson plans. All Fashion Technology students will be following the program of study outlined by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Chapter 74 outcomes.
To help ninth grade students make informed decisions for their 9th-12th grade course of study and beyond, each freshman rotates through Career and Technical Education (CTE) and Studio Art pathways. This allows each 9th grader to be immersed in the first level of hands-on training in each area for two block periods (90 minutes) a day to get an idea of the career competencies and skills that will be required to meet their graduation requirements.
After rotating for approximately 1 term through each of the three areas, the students rank their pathway preferences that they would like to join for 9th-12th. Students are placed based on their ranking and number of spaces available. Once in the final CTE area, each 9th grader will spend term 2 in it before they start 10th grade in that same CTE placement for a two block period (90 minutes) per day.
Please view the student handbook for a detailed description of each course offered in progression from 9th grade to 12th grade. The handbook also offers specific information about each concentration (Studio Art, Design and Visual Communication and Fashion Technology) as well as all assessments, juries, benchmarks and Graduation with Honors in the Arts.
Student Work
Faculty
alumni
Our graduates go on to college and pre-professional programs that benefit from our multi-disciplinary approach as well as careers in dance.
Patricia Rizzo
Since earning her Bachelors and Masters of Architecture from Wentworth Institute of Technology, Patricia has worked for two architecture firms: one designing high-end residential homes and the other revitalizing historical buildings in and around New England for the community.
“All of the above would not have happened without Boston Arts Academy. I was lucky enough that the major that I chose in high school is one that brought me into my college learning and my professional career… I would not have been able to make it through the 6 hour studio in college without first going through similar studio hours in high school. Boston Arts Academy also helped me balance my academic work and art work. Architecture is a vigorous major to go into, you have to understand that it takes all that you have to come up with good ideas and strong presentations. But you have to do all of that while still writing a 10 page paper on Shakespeare’s writing and coming up with equations for your physics exam. I tell everyone I know that I would be nowhere near the person I am now without Boston Arts Academy, and that is always going to be true!”
-Patricia Rizzo
Class of 2011
