Department Chair: Tim Mullane, (505) 828-3376
The visual arts program at Albuquerque Academy is grounded in the belief that art is an intellectual as well as a creative process and that the skills of art making are teachable to anyone. Every student can be successful when taught the language and skills of art making in a logical, sequential manner.
Our curriculum stresses perception and drawing, design concepts, problem solving, persistence, and craft. We actively encourage inventiveness and informed risk-taking. The critique process is central to our teaching; within a climate of mutual trust and respect, it provides a forum in which concepts are reinforced, ideas are tested, and originality is celebrated. Our work in the studio draws inspiration both from global cultures and from the nature and traditions of the Southwest. While we cultivate the vision of the individual, we also honor the commonality of human expression.
A visual arts education encourages students to see complex problems from multiple perspectives. It also trains them to seek and expect multiple solutions. We prepare students to graduate with strong critical skills and developed aesthetic judgment. They emerge from the program with the ability to produce conceptually sophisticated work and the capacity to articulate their ideas with clarity. We expect that our students will go forth with the ability to use images and objects to communicate both the practical and the poetic.
