A coeducational day school serving students JK-12

Upper

Arts programs at Latin inspire creativity, encourage students to pursue their passions and provide avenues to develop new skills.

Visual Arts

Latin’s arts program promotes success in a nurturing environment that helps students develop self-esteem, gives them freedom to learn from taking artistic risks and encourages them to take pride in their accomplishments. Students have many opportunities to share their art with others through public concerts, plays, exhibits, publications and presentations.

Courses include:
  • AP Studio Art
  • CAD: Architectural Drafting & Design 
  • Computer Graphic Design
  • Digital Visual Arts
  • Digital Imaging
  • Drawing 1 & 2
  • Fashion Design
  • Filmmaking
  • Global Studies Visual Art
  • Independent Study 
  • Modern Art History
  • Photography 1 & 2
  • Observational Painting
  • Sculpture 1 & 2 
  • Studio Painting

ELEVATING CREATIVITY IN AP STUDIO ART

The upper school AP Studio Art class provides students with the opportunity to synthesize the knowledge that they’ve gained from other art courses and focus on the skill of idea development. The class is centered around a review-critique-revise process in order to produce a more compelling piece of work. Learn more about this community of artists in Art Teacher Christine Holloway’s class.

 

 

I decided that doing this ISP would be beneficial in making me a more well-rounded videographer.

- upper school student

Latin's Independent Study Program (ISP) offers students the opportunity to discover their passions and learn about a topic tailored to their interests. The ISP Filmmaking class final project was to create a film featuring in-depth interviews with multiple sources, including a Latin alum who works in the cybersecurity field. News coverage surrounding popular social media platform TikTok and its concern with cybersecurity inspired the concept of this upper school student's film.


Performing Arts

Through performing arts classes, public concerts, plays and presentations, students cultivate skills that include learning technique, nomenclature, the ability to listen to each other, share ideas, work together, and be able to take creative risks in a safe and nurturing environment. Students have many opportunities to share their art with others through public concerts, plays and presentations.

Acting classes use improvisation, scene study, and games to work toward the goal of creating a real, honest world on stage. In doing so, students learn about themselves and the world around them. They are encouraged to look at life in a new way, and explore the world from the viewpoint of someone else. The acting curriculum has three levels: Acting Company, Intermediate Acting, and Advanced Acting.

Courses include:
  • Acting Company
  • Improv Company
  • Speech
  • Stagecraft
  • Band
  • Chicago Dance
  • Chorus/Choir
  • Dance Technique
  • Dance Company
  • Dance Mentorship
  • Playwriting/Directing
  • Intro to Music Technology
  • Music Theory
upper school performing arts

Participating in middle school and high school productions taught me so much about empathy and creative expression, and as I got older, I realized how much those skills in particular prepared me for leadership in the Latin community and beyond.

-alum

 

When students are conscious and proactive about learning, it provokes a more personal response to engaging with the material.

SEEING STARS

The upper school Advanced Acting Company class performed the play “Silent Sky” by Lauren Gunderson during the 2018-19 school year. This true story of 19th-century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt, whose quest to measure the distance of stars begins at Harvard Observatory and ends up changing our understanding of the universe.

Advanced Acting Company is made up of juniors and seniors who have taken classes in the upper school acting curriculum. The course culminates in a production fully produced and managed by students. With the rehearsal process embedded into class time throughout the semester, it allows the cast and crew to delve deeper into the play, spending more time on script and character analysis, ensemble building and dramaturgy, while also providing students opportunities to oversee behind-the-scenes work like costume and makeup design.




 

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Exhibits hosted annually in Latin's Gallery 2

We showcase the art of students, faculty & staff, alumni, and professional artists.

One of the reasons why theater is so important is that it teaches empathy and presentation skills, and I found myself applying both to my schoolwork outside of the shows.

-upper school student

Because of the amazing art teachers I had at Latin, I was able to become confident in the fact that art is what I enjoy doing more than anything else.

- alum

Outside the classroom
  • musical and non-musical theater productions
  • student art exhibits
  • VIDI photography magazine
  • ECCO art and literary magazine
  • yearbook club
  • Latones & Romanettes (male and female a capella groups), Gospel Choir, Student/Faculty Chorale
  • opportunities to participate in talent shows and improv performances
  • private voice/instrumental instruction