Fine Arts

Weekly classes
The Fine Arts curriculum includes art history and music appreciation, courses that give the students a basic knowledge of some major art forms and their importance in history and civilization. It also includes studio courses, which allow students to explore their own artistic interests such as painting, sculpture, mold-making, drama, water color, dance, vocal music, and musical theatre. Visits to galleries, museums, studios, or performances are incorporated into each course. 

Arts classes take place for 90 minutes on Wednesday afternoons.  The 7th and 8th grades study music and drama one year, followed by dance and art the next.  Students in grades 9-12 may choose to take the arts classes in which they have the greatest interest, satisfying certain requirements along the way.  Each year, a few students take advantage of the opportunity to pursue music or art lessons off campus in place of a TJ arts class.

Arts in the Community
As part of the Fine Arts program, each student enjoys a season ticket to the St. Louis Repertory Theatre. The entire student body attends all six productions, along with faculty, staff, and interested parents. The following week, the students then have the opportunity to discuss the performance with actors, directors, or technical staff who visit the school. In addition, the Student Activities Committee selects a wide range of optional musical, theater, and dance events off campus throughout the year, including an all-school trip to the St. Louis Art Museum — or to one of St. Louis's many other art institutions — for special exhibits.  All of the arts instructors share a commitment to exposing their students to as many aspects of the fine arts as possible.

The Visual Arts Gallery and TJ's Artist-in-Residence
The Visual Arts Gallery and Sculpture Garden opened in the fall of 2001, displaying the work of our first artist-in-residence.  Since then, TJ has hosted several more indoor shows, while a major outdoor show featured the work of nine regional artists, each of whom created a work for the TJ campus.  The show was widely and favorably reviewed in local publications and named one of the top ten St. Louis art events of the year.  A committee of students, parents, faculty, staff, artists, and an art-organization representative meets to consider what should go in the gallery, and with each show the TJ community enjoys a great deal of interaction with the artists themselves.

On Friday afternoons, TJ's Artist-in-Residence holds an open studio for 90 minutes, available to all students who wish to work on their own or with the help of the artist.  We also encourage interested students to submit their work to various local and state competitions. The Artist-in-Residence assists these students with their submissions, as well as helping with portfolio review during the college- application process.

The Art Club
Each year, the Art Club publishes a collection of visual art and literature by students in its magazine, Pandora. In recent years, the club has also produced an art fair and a fashion show.

The All School Play
While the eighth grade performs a play each spring as part of its English class, older students produce, direct, and perform a play in the late fall. There is a faculty liaison for these productions, but the shows are almost entirely the work of the students. This year's selection was Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

 
A scene from Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Fall 2004