Art

Poudre School District recognizes that students need a well-rounded education to be successful in a global world. The district is committed to offering comprehensive art education at all levels. With site-based management, each school determines how art will be offered to students. For site specific information, contact your school principal. 

 

PSD Art Shows

The 2023-24 SuperArt! show celebrates the visual arts and honors art students across the district. Each year, PSD art teachers select one student's artwork to represent their school during this year-long exhibition at the JSSC lobby and boardroom 2407 Laporte Avenue in Fort Collins. This year's show will kick off March 20 and 21 with receptions held from 6 to 7:15 p.m. in the board room at the Johannsen Support Services Complex, 2407 Laporte Ave., Fort Collins. 

Schools recognized March 20: 
Bauder Elementary 
Beattie Elementary 
Bennett Elementary 
Blevins Middle School 
Cache La Poudre Elementary 
Cache La Poudre Middle School
Centennial High School
Dunn Elementary 
Eyestone Elementary 
Irish Bilingual Elementary
Johnson Elementary 
Lincoln Middle School  
Livermore Elementary
Lopez Elementary 
McGraw Elementary 
Olander Elementary
Poudre High School
Putnam Elementary 
Red Feather Lakes Elementary 
Rice Elementary
Rocky Mountain High School
Stove Prairie Elementary
Tavelli Elementary 
Webber Middle School
Wellington Middle/High School

Schools recognized March 21:
Bacon Elementary 
Bamford Elementary
Bethke Elementary 
Boltz Middle School
Fort Collins High School
Fossil Ridge High School
Harris Bilingual Elementary 
Kinard Middle School
Kruse Elementary
Laurel Elementary
Lesher Middle School
Linton Elementary 
O’Dea Elementary 
Polaris Expeditionary Learning 
Poudre Community Academy 
Preston Middle School
PSD Global Academy
Riffenburgh Elementary 
Shepardson Elementary
Timnath Elementary
Timnath Middle/High School
Traut Elementary
Werner Elementary
Zach Elementary 

 

Why Art Matters

Students share thoughts about art in these video features:

Niko's Artist Spotlight  |  Johnson Students Artist Spotlight

 

 

"We need less trivia and more in-depth learning about the things that matter the most in our world: order, integrity, thinking skills, a sense of wonder. truth, flexibility, fairness, dignity, contribution, justice, creativity and cooperation . . . the arts can do all that."  Eric Jensen, author of Arts with the Brain in Mind.

 

Visual arts education prepares students for the future!

Visual arts education develops skills of deeper understanding and divergent thinking while also playing a vital role in cultivating collaboration, communication, critical thinking, curiosity, innovation, and problem solving, additional key competencies desired by employers. Visual arts education also develops emotional intelligence, the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.

 

Art education is about thinking!

The Studio Habits of Mind framework was developed through the insightful research of 
Harvard Project Zero

The eight “studio habits of mind” (Develop Craft, Engage & Persist, Envision, Express, Observe, Reflect, Stretch & Explore, Understand Art Worlds) describe the thinking that teachers intend for their students to learn during the process of creating. They are:

  • Stretch and explore: Try out ideas, experiment with new ways of working.
  • Engage and persist: Focus on and persevere in making artwork, even when it is difficult.
  • Envision: Imagine possibilities, picture ideas, design and plan next steps.
  • Develop craft: Improve art skills through practice and experimentation.  Explore new tools and learn to care for them. 
  • Observe: Look closer and more deeply than ordinary looking requires. 
  • Reflect: Think, talk and write about the creative process. 
  • Express: Communicate ideas, beliefs, and feelings through a visual language.
  • Understand the art world: Learn the history of art as well as contemporary trends. Collaborate with other artists.
     

Contact Information

Art Curriculum Facilitator
Kimberly Noel | 970.490.3671 | knoel@psdschools.org