Visual Arts

Covering the school with the
fruits of creativity

The visual arts are a flourishing part of the Saint George’s environment. Just look on the Lower School hallway walls, where students’ colorful drawings, paintings, collages, and weavings grab your attention. The same is true for the Middle School’s walls, where thoughtful haiku poems accompany painted mosaics and student-cut paper masks smile down from a display on African culture. Walk just a little further to the Upper School Art Gallery to view a student exhibit of black and white photos of everyday objects from unusual angles.

Saint George's School

All of this creativity begins with our teachers – each a professional painter, photographer, or ceramic artist – and our outstanding art facilities. The Lower School’s Art Room is a separate building packed with paper, paint, posters and busy students exploring subjects as diverse as Aboriginal-style patterns and cut-paper self-portraits. The fifth graders paint copies of French Impressionist masterpieces, then dress up like their artists – in top hats, overcoats and beards – to re-enact the Paris Salon of 1874 in the Davenport House’s refined atmosphere.

Saint George's School

Middle and Upper School students expand their intuition, imagination and dexterity in the expansive art, photography, and pottery studios of the Fred and Claire Gilbert Art Complex. Renowned local artists demonstrate their techniques, while a Montana printmaker visits each year for a week of sharing with students the finer points of intaglio and drypoint etching. The results of all this activity brighten Saint George’s walls and are mirrored in the growing confidence and ability of our students.

There is not another high school in the area – in fact, very few anywhere – that offer instruction in traditional etching techniques.”

Judi Morgan Middle/Upper School Art Teacher, Artist

Visual Arts News

  • Students Create "Haiti House" Magnets

    Our 7th- and 8th- grade art students have created dozens of colorful "Haiti House" magnets. You can buy one (or more!) for a $5 donation at the Jan. 26 performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Funds raised will go to Mercy Corps. Check out the Haiti House website to learn how student craft projects are helping rebuild that shattered land.

  • Student Artists in Top NW Show

    Two student artists' work will appear in the top juried show for high school artists from throughout the NW. Tammany Ogden's acrylic painting "Melville" is part of her AP Portfolio Concentration. Lena Leverett-Standal’s scratchboard print of "Friends" also will be in the show at George Fox University from Jan. 26 through Feb. 16.

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  • Student Prints Are Textbook Examples

    Upper School art students Lauren Grezlak and Tammany Ogden have artwork included in a new textbook titled Experience Printmaking. Lauren's piece Building of Shades illustrates intaglio technique, sharing a page with a print by the young Pablo Picasso. Tammany's piece Red is the sole example of chine collé presented in the textbook. US Art teacher Judi Morgan was one of two dozen contributing editors and consultants to the book. Click Read More to see the pages where the student prints appear.

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  • Baek's "Vacancy" in State Art Show

    Michelle Baek's intaglio print "Vacancy" of old hotels in downtown Spokane is one of the First Place winners on display at the Superintendent of Public Instruction's 36th Annual High School Art Show in Olympia. You can view Michelle's print and learn more about the statewide show at the OSPI Website.

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  • Student-Produced Film Honors Deena

    Upper School students in the Spring Term "Cinema 001" class have written, acted, filmed and edited a brief film about Deena Barber and the scholarship fund that was created in her memory. You can view the film on the Scholarship Fund's Website.

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  • View 5th Grade "Living Artists" Video

    Each year the 5th graders research an Impressionist artist, re-create one of their paintings, and dress up as that artist for their own art exhibit in the elegant Davenport House. You can view a four-minute video of their exhibit on the website's Video Page (just go to the Home page and click "Discover SGS Videos"). A photo gallery of Living Artist images is also on the News and Photos / Photo Galleries page.

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  • Student Posters Kick Off Child Abuse Prevention Month

    Saint George's students from all divisions created posters for Child Abuse Prevention Month (April) and will take center stage at the kick off event on Wednesday, April 8 at 9 a.m. in the Spokane Community College Lair-Littlefoot Room. Parents are invited to this event, that is part of the "Our Kids Our Business" campaign, to see the posters and pinwheels that our students created, including the "People's Choice" winning posters by Lauren Grzelak (11th grade) and Natalie Sackville-West (2nd grade). Our students' posters will be on display at social service agencies and businesses throughout Spokane, and Middle School students will visit seven Head Start centers around town to spend time with preschoolers and take part in classroom activities. For more details...

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  • Smith Will Be "Visualizing Japan" in Colorado

    Lower School art teacher Linda Smith has received a grant to attend the National Endowment for the Humanities summer workshop, "Visualizing Japan in Modern World History." The July 19-24, 2009 workshop at the University of Colorado-Boulder focuses on using the wealth of online resources for teaching about Japan. Linda will expand her knowledge of Japan through resources from professors who created a Visualizing Cultures program for MIT and curators from The Boston Museum of Fine Art. "It will be a lot of work, but I’m looking forward to rounding out my background in Japanese culture!" she says.

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  • The Mystery of the Picasso Print

    Seven etchings, engravings and lithographs on display in the upper School Art Gallery are the original creations of some of the greatest names in 20th century art and renowned masters of printmaking. Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, and Joan Miro to name just a few. So what are they doing at Saint George's? Well, we have some clues...

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  • 6th Grade Shoe Designs on Display

    Using cardboard, twine and glue, the 6th graders created a variety of shoes that will go on display at the Ruby Slipper Shoe Store on Garland Avenue starting Friday, March 7.

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