A program in the arts that gives students an understanding of the visual and performing arts and develops their aesthetic awareness.
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The arts are not extras at St. Mark’s—they’re part of the core curriculum, woven into the fabric of the school. Here, the visual and performing arts are pursued with the same intensity as math, science, and the humanities, and it shows.
Piano music emanates from the Hinkle Room as a student practices for a solo performance. The strains of Bach drift from the Class of 1945 Hall in the Center for the Arts as the string quartet rehearses. Student art adorns the corridor walls in an ever-changing exhibit of watercolor, charcoal, ink, pencil, and photography.
St. Mark’s requires one year of fine arts’ study and encourages students to experiment with the full spectrum of the visual and performing arts to develop and outlet for creative expression. Through this exploration, many students discover a passion for the arts and choose to go beyond that year to further refine their talent. The result is that St. Markers execute artistic work in high school that most aspiring artists don't attempt until college.
In emphasizing the arts, St. Mark’s recognizes that the visual and performing arts teach problem-solving on another level—whether it’s grappling with an issue of perspective in sculpting, mastering an intricate passage from Handel, or blocking a complex scene from Ibsen. The fine arts faculty are all practicing artists and derive great satisfaction from working with students to help them realize their potential as creators.