Weeks 33–36
The year ends with full creative ownership. You've worked in graphite, colored pencil, pen and ink, watercolor, acrylic, and clay. You've explored Christian themes, animal subjects, portraiture, landscape, abstraction, and sculpture. The question this unit asks is simple: after all of that, what do you want to say? The capstone belongs entirely to you.
Identify your own artistic interests and emerging voice. Complete a self-directed major project with planning, development, and revision. Articulate in writing what you've learned this year and where you want to go next.
Before making your capstone piece, you need to articulate what you intend to make and why. An artist's statement is a key professional document — galleries, colleges, and competitions require them. More importantly, it's an act of self-discovery: writing about your own work clarifies what you actually think and believe about it.
Open Project Page
Your capstone should be the most ambitious and personally meaningful work of the year — in any medium, on any theme — reflecting genuine artistic intention rather than simply repeating something comfortable. Work from planning sketches, allow time for revision, and expect the piece to change as you make it. This work could reasonably be framed, exhibited, or submitted to a portfolio.
Open Project PageA portfolio is a curated selection of your best work — not everything, but the pieces that together show your range, your growth, and your emerging voice. This portfolio can be used on a high school transcript, submitted to summer art programs, shared with college admissions, or simply kept as a meaningful record of this year.
Open Project Page