Visual Arts

The visual arts are a key part of every Haverford student's experience. Every division includes explorations in the visual arts as they play an integral part in boys' growth.

Students at all levels work with skilled teachers—themselves practicing professional artists—amid outstanding resources and facilities. The visual arts focus on hands-on experiences. The many options available for boys to discover their inner artistic talents include:

• Drawing
• Painting
• Printmaking
• Photography
• Digital arts
• Video and animation
• Ceramics
• Woodworking

Why Visual Arts at Haverford? 

The Haverford Art Department believes that the visual arts play a key part of a strong liberal arts curriculum. We provide learning experiences that develop both creative careers and essential life skills. Visual art teaches students to notice and observe their surroundings carefully, think flexibly, and express ideas in powerful ways. Through making art, students build confidence, develop creative problem-solving skills, and discover that the creative process, bringing new ideas to life, is a skill valued in every field, from engineering to business to science. Creative people of all sorts, artists, writers, designers, scientists, engineers, and business leaders are all well versed in the complex and challenging process of bringing new ideas into being.

Visual Art courses in Lower School have students dive into the joy of creating with their hands! They explore fundamental techniques in drawing, painting, and clay work, building fine motor skills while discovering their own artistic voice and love for self-expression. Every project is an adventure in creativity.

Middle School is where artistic confidence really blossoms. Students learn to communicate visually through drawing, painting, sculpture, and multimedia as they progress from design fundamentals to perspective, research, and metaphor. They get hands-on experience with diverse materials and tools, including woodworking, clay, and our laser cutter, applying creative thinking to increasingly complex artistic challenges that connect to the real world.

Upper School offers an exciting range of specialized courses from drawing and painting to printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, and woodworking, plus cutting-edge digital media including photography, video, animation, and 3D printing. Students develop advanced technical mastery, tackle complex creative challenges, and build their personal artistic voices while working on real-world projects that showcase what teen artists can accomplish. Throughout Upper School, they deepen their understanding of visual arts across cultures and time periods, preparing them to be innovative in any field they pursue.