Young at art! What is high school art? Finding the best art schools
When did you know you have the “artistic” potential? Is it from the first time you held a pencil and your house walls were your canvas? Is it when your friends began asking you to draw for them? Or is it that moment when your teacher praised you for an art activity?
Young at Art
The “I-knew-it” moment typically sets in when you are too young to care about what others think. The world is your canvas and you will express yourself with all you got. But that soon changes when you reach the phase when you seek for others to validate your “art”. Validation from others could be good when you want to improve your craft. If criticized, you hear them out. You learn. Then, you refine; re-create if you must. What’s not is when you stop right when you are disproved, knocked, ridiculed…
As for me, I began having confidence when I was in elementary. You would often see the timid “me” holding a pencil, scribbling on a piece of paper. While the world around me seems in chaos you would see me at peace with my own world, expressing my unspoken thoughts and appreciation around me. Here is my artwork from the 1980s. The memory is still vivid. I just loved the front cover art of my notebook so much that I “had to” draw it! It must be something precious because I kept it through these years.
(Have you loved the front covers of your notebooks so much that you reserve the best art for your favorite subject? I did!)
Youngsters who knew soon enough that art is a part of them could well benefit from it. By starting early, you will get to know the basic techniques and so you will be able to hone them and then collect more — like pieces of stone gems — as you walk your journey.
And so it’s nice to get the chance early on and get the support you deserve from the right art haven. Here, in the Philippines, we are an artistic bunch and yet we are discouraged early on. Perhaps, you’ve heard from some people how art is something that is the least prioritized among the subjects you have in school. We even have the art subject integrated with the other subjects such as music and physical education (calling them all together as MAPE).
When I was in high school, although MAPE catered to as an “all-in-one” subject, it became my fave. In barely 15 minutes each school day, I took every minute of it in expressing my flair for art in various high-school art activities and projects. But most of the time, my high school art classes were never enough. I would then spend a few more hours at home, at night, drawing, sketching, expressing.
Here are some of the art pieces I was able to create and keep. I remember sketching when I eventually got tired from reading my history textbooks back in high school and college. Perfect escape!
Q&A on High school art
These common questions and answers on high school art might help you:
What is art class in high school?
Essentially, an art class is a class where you get to learn how to draw and paint through a series of lessons based on the high school curriculum. But it depends whether you’re in Junior or in Senior high school. In the Philippines, the junior high school art class is a class that is integrated with music and physical education in a single subject (unit) MAPE. It is mainly about art and craft techniques, history, tradition, and culture.
In senior high school, the high school art courses are electives. Students may opt to take them to help them prepare, for instance, for an art-related college course. Arts and Design is one of the four Applied Track Subjects; the others are Academic, Technical-Vocational-Livelihood, and Sports. Students may select a track based on their future academic and career plans. (Source)
“What art classes should I take in high school?”
It will really depend on what you intend to pursue after graduating high school. Examples of senior high school art electives are the following:
- Art History
- Graphic Design
- Photography
- Web Page Design
- Drawing and Painting
- Commercial Art
- Social Media & Mass Media
High school art lessons from these electives will help shape your college preparatory curriculum. They are there to prepare you, may it be for college or for work.
What do you do in high school art?
You will be taught techniques and processes that you could apply to your high school art projects, your masterpiece. It is also a great opportunity to learn about the historical perspectives of art and its role in culture and tradition.
Why learn in an art class?
Art classes are a great hub for enhancing various skills, such as fine motor skills, creativity, problem-solving, cognition, and communication. Through art lessons and projects, you will be able to improve on these aspects. Your gain from an art class often entails your improved ability to focus, seeing more details, coordinating your hand and eyes well, and expressing yourself not only through spoken words, especially conveying abstract ideas.
What are the best art schools in the Philippines?
We definitely want a school that will help us explore and make the best out of our skills. The only school I have in mind worthy of my recommendation is the Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA).
Website: phsa.edu.ph
Location: Mt. Makiling in Los Banos, Laguna
Features: Nestled away from the busy cities, the school is a wonderful place to explore and get creative. PHSA is a public, non-profit institution for the highly-talented creatives. It provides intensive artistic training in creative writing, dance, music, theater, and visual arts. It also offers elective courses, such as the following:
- Computer Graphics
- Photography
- Ethnic Ensemble
- Rondalla
- Music for Non-Music Major
- Music for Dancers
- Basic Journalism
- Ballroom Dance
- Basic Acting for Non-Theater Arts Major
- Philippine Folk Dance for Ballet Major
- Ballet for Philippine Folk Dance Major
- Research in the Arts
- Community Service
There are many other art schools in the Philippines, such as the University of the Philippines Diliman (College of Fine Arts – offers bachelors and certificates in art history, art education, painting, sculpture, etc.), De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (School of Design and Arts – offers bachelors in theater arts, architecture, fashion design, industrial design, interior design, multimedia arts, photography, etc.), the University of Santo Tomas (College of Fine Arts and Design – offers bachelors in interior design, painting, advertising arts, and industrial design), and Ateneo de Manila University (Dept of Fine Arts).
What are the best art schools in the world?
Wouldn’t it be interesting to know what’s currently the best art schools in the World? Let’s get to know them! Based on the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021, the top 10 Universities for Art and Design worldwide are the following:
- Royal College of Art (United Kingdom)
- University of the Arts London (United Kingdom)
- Rhode Island School of Design (United States)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (United States)
- Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
- Aalto University (Finland)
- School of the Art Institute of Chicago (United States)
- Glasgow School of Art (United Kingdom)
- Pratt Institute (United States)
- Art Center College of Design (United States)
Interesting: High school art competitions
