In April, a group of our high school students vetured to the coast for the annual Visual Arts Camping Trip. Art teachers Caitlin Miller and Jared Leake share about the experience.

In all art classes, students learn the basic elements and principles of art and design such as line, color, form, pattern, and composition. On our field trip, students applied these ideas to the creation of a large-scale, collaborative, and ephemeral artwork. After looking at several examples, students worked as a group to determine what we would be making and how we would be making it. We decided to make a giant spiral, using a color gradient from dark to light. In addition, students taking Digital Photography continued to explore landscape photography, practicing long exposure techniques while applying new knowledge of filters and slow shutter speeds. We talked about composition and looked for texture and shapes that would help enhance the photographs.