AP Art is a course that allows creative students to delve deeper into their art interests. It provides the opportunity to participate in a “sustained investigation” where the students maintain a personal theme in their artwork throughout the entire program. For a while, this had been a class not yet available at the school. However, this is scheduled to change for the 2024 school year.

Art teachers Jason Meyer, Jesse VanderBand, and Kris Payton are thrilled to announce that the art department has been working hard at getting this class into the schools offered courses. With the size of the student population and the continued growth in interest in art programs, questions have been raised. The current advanced art classes consist of Art 3 and Ceramics, both having prerequisites to sign up for the class. 

VanderBand will be the instructor of the three-trimester AP class and has a background in dealing with the AP curriculum. VanderBand taught AP Art at a high school in Wisconsin for 10 years and is eager to pick up this course once again. Meyer and Payton will continue teaching the prerequisites. The classes required before a student can take the course are Art 2 Drawing and Art 2 Painting, OR Ceramics–it depends on what mediums the student is planning to explore. 

The course branches off into three different portfolios that students can choose from at the beginning of the year: A drawing portfolio (drawing, painting, and mark making), a 2-D portfolio (photography, digital work, graphic design), and a 3-D portfolio (ceramics and sculptures). “It’s kind of like choosing your own adventure, the class is very open as far as what everyone is doing and very independently driven,” said VanderBand. 

The proposal of AP Art is in stage two of the three-step process. In October, the class was approved by the school administration. The second step is having the course approved by the school board, and then they will need enough people to sign up for the class during registration to be able to officially run it in the 2024 school year. VanderBand said, “We will need 15 to 20 students to sign up in order for the course to take action.” 

The biggest challenge the art department has faced with getting this course developed has been getting the word out, and students being intimidated by the class being college-level. VanderBand assured that the purpose of AP Art is to focus on growth, portfolio development, and improving skills, it’s not meant to discourage artists.