Art Programs for grades 7 to 12
Click on each class name to view more details.
Want to learn how to sew but don’t know where to start? In this class you’ll learn the basics including how to thread a sewing machine, understand a sewing pattern, choose the right fabric for your project (during a class field trip), cut your pieces correctly, and stitch accurately. By the end of the week you’ll have a one-of-a-kind tote bag and will leave class feeling accomplished, inspired, and ready to take on other sewing projects.
The week-long summer dance intensive is designed for students interested in strong dance technique, injury prevention, choreography, and performance. While engaging with professionals experienced in Broadway, television, and concert dance, students will be exposed to a variety of dance genres such as hip-hop, contemporary, jazz, ballet, and more, with an emphasis on dance theater and commercial dance. Students should wear dance or fitness attire and bring lunch and water each day. By the end of the program, dancers will walk away empowered and prepared to join the Harvard-Westlake Dance Program or the Harvard-Westlake Dance Ensemble. The course culminates in a performance for friends and family.
Program lead and Harvard-Westlake's Director of Dance, Queala Clancy, has performed and taught dance for over 20 years with international travels and performance credits from B.E.T. to Cirque du Soleil.
Additional instructors include Andrea Burr who serves as a dancer, choreographer, and educator who lives in Los Angeles and is represented by Go 2 Talent Agency. She has performed with artists such as Rihanna, Skrillex, Diplo, Julia Michaels, Meghan Trainor, Ellaeyre, Lawrence Rothman, and Sheryl Crow. She has appeared on popular TV and awards shows including The X-Factor, The Voice, Radio Disney Music Awards, and Dancing With The Stars – Bulgaria
Excited to learn more about sewing? In this class you’ll make a pair of pajama pants in the size and fabric of your choice (purchased during a class field trip). You’ll practice and improve existing sewing skills as well as learn new ones including how to take accurate measurements, choose the right pattern size, and do simple pattern alterations to achieve a custom fit!
Prerequisite: You must have taken SEWING FOR BEGINNERS I, or equivalent, to enroll in this course.
This two-week exploration will teach you how to translate the human figure into drawing and painting using a variety of materials. While working from life, you will advance from gestural work to developed compositions, emphasizing line, space, light, proportion, and figure/ground relationships. You will gain a deeper understanding of classical, modern, and contemporary usage of the human figure. This context and technique will be a point of departure for the cultivation of individual style and voice. The class is recommended if you are already working in the arts and are interested in developing your college portfolio. Please note that nude human models will be used for this class.
This is a two-week intensive to learn the fundamentals of screenwriting. This course is an opportunity to hone your craft by creating and completing a short screenplay. How do you construct a short film screenplay that is succinct yet complex, simple but powerful? Students often struggle with how to make a good story and yet story is the key to making a successful film. We will watch short films and do lots of writing -- exploring character, dialogue, plot, and different genres and styles. This two-week intensive is an opportunity to hone your craft and make your films better. You will have a lot of fun in this class, and your writing will improve. A selection of screenplays from this class will be produced during Making a Short Film. Past screenplays produced during the Summer Film Program have been selected for film festivals.***For new and experienced writers.
The Harvard-Westlake Summer Jazz Workshop is designed to decode jazz improvisation. Like any new language, jazz requires a complex vocabulary and learning this vocabulary takes time, patience, and lots of practice. Do you love to play your instrument but aren't totally sure what to do when asked to 'solo'? Julien Knowles, Harvard-Westlake Jazz Coach, leads this well-structured and FUN camp, which will equip you with a skillset to succeed in playing improvised music. Through small group master classes, semi-private lessons, small ensemble playing, and detailed ear training and music theory instruction, you will gain a deeper and more meaningful relationship with melodies, chords, scales, and rhythm, the essential building blocks of becoming an excellent jazz musician. Professional artists will join the camp each week. Open to all instrumentalists who have had at least 12 months of instruction. No jazz experience required. (8th grade students may audition for placement consideration.) You should bring your own instrument.
In this two-week photography course, you will engage in a range of analog and digital photographic techniques and explore the intersections between the two. You will learn black & white 35mm film photography, cyanotypes (sun prints), and more, in addition to viewing and discussing artworks by professional photographers. One question this course seeks to pose is, in what ways do older modes of image-making continue to inform the way we look at and make photographs today? This course is designed to be an introduction to 35mm / analog photography for those who are new to photography, as well as an opportunity for intermediate photographers to dig deeper into analog processes and spend some more time in the darkroom.
This three-week workshop is open to students and alumni that have previously taken at least one full semester of Upper School Ceramics, Sculpture, or Glass. It is a chance to build on skills and begin to develop a college arts portfolio. For three hours each day, there will be an open studio policy where you can make anything that you wish within the given time frame and potential of the Harvard-Westlake 3D Art studio facilities. Ceramics and glass artists may arrive with creative ideas or just an interest in improving their throwing or glass blowing/working skills. For ceramics, weeks one and two will be dedicated to wet work, including throwing, hand-building, and trimming. Week three will focus on glazing, loading the kilns, and firing the ware. You will have the option to create works utilizing both cone 10 and cone 5 clays and glazes. Materials and tools will be provided. Special requests should be directed to the instructors at least two weeks before start of course. PREREQUISITE: HW Students only or permission of the instructor. You must have taken at least a one-semester course in the medium you would like to work in. For example, you must have taken Potter's Wheel to work in ceramics. This is a largely self-directed program, overseen by HW Visual Arts faculty.
Harvard-Westlake Jazz Vocal Lab focuses on jazz vocal techniques in both solo and group settings. Whether you are a novice or a seasoned singer, you will be challenged to expand your toolbox of musical skills. The basis of the week is a set of 3-4 jazz tunes which will culminate in a showcase on the last day. You will learn to sing in a jazz vocal ensemble, sing solos, scat, and analyze the music. You will learn mic technique, stage etiquette, and more. Most importantly, though, you will learn to take a piece of paper and transform it into meaningful and purposeful music. To support this, professional guest coaches currently working in the industry will be brought in to act as clinicians. You will have a chance to participate in the ensemble and in solo work. Jazz vocals are our medium, and our mindset is exploration. Open to all singers with at least 12 prior months of singing instruction. Jazz experience is not required.
This is a one-week intensive to learn the fundamentals of camera work, editing and storytelling. Have you ever wanted to make your own films? This film camp, designed especially for 7th-11th graders, offers a comprehensive approach to filmmaking with a focus on narrative. We'll watch films to identify what makes a good story and learn all of the necessary tools from cinematography to editing. The HW campus will be our back lot as we shoot scenes in various genres, which we'll edit into short films complete with music and credits. You will work in small groups and get a chance to explore story development, production design, acting, directing, cinematography, and editing.
This is a two-week intensive to shoot and edit a short film. Do you already have experience and want to be part of a filmmaking crew? This session is right for you. There are opportunities for actors, directors, cinematographers, production designers, sound designers, composers, and production assistants. Scripts will be selected by the teachers from those generated during our Writing the Short Film intensive. You will work in small production teams based on interest, each crew working with a mentor. Each film team will start with casting while determining the visual style of their film. The campus serves as the back lot and sound stage as we scout locations and develop each film's production design. Then we'll plan our camera work and shooting schedule. At the end of the first week, we will have finished pre-production and started production. In the second week, you will finish filming and begin post-production, creating a first rough cut to be screened for friends and family. In past years, films produced in our program have been screened in film festivals and won national awards.***This class will not cover basic instruction and, therefore Summer Film: The Basics or equivalent is a prerequisite. If you have not met the prerequisites but feel you are ready for an advanced level course, you may apply by submitting a link to your previous work.***
If you're someone who loves to create visual stories and would like to learn an editing software that professional editors use, as well as learn to complete a student-produced short film for social media and film festivals, this session is for you. Not only will you learn to use Adobe Premiere Pro, you will also explore different editing styles, learn audio editing and dubbing, create a soundscape with sound effects, select music, add special effects, make interesting title sequences and credits, do color corrections, and learn how to export a video, both for festivals and for social media. A film can be shot and simply edited, but to make a film competitive in the festival world, one needs to refine the editing in many ways. This post-production session will demonstrate how a short film is assembled, completed and made ready for the big screen. You will have the opportunity to capture your own footage or use the footage shot during the Shooting and Production class.