SLSS Arts
Exploring Artistic Opportunities Across the SLSS Community
Follow us on Twitter! @SLSSArts
The Arts at Stephen Lewis Secondary School
Why Study the Arts?
1. Strengthens student problem solving and critical thinking skills, adding to overall academic achievement and school success.
2. Helps students develop a sense of craftsmanship, quality task performance and goal setting – skills needed to succeed in the classroom and beyond.
3. Can help troubled youth, providing an alternative to destructive behaviour another way for students to approach learning.
4. Provides another opportunity for parental, community, and business involvement with schools, including arts and humanities organizations.
5. Helps all students develop more appreciation and understanding of the world around them.
6. Makes a tremendous impact on the developmental growth of every student and has proven to help level the “learning field” across socio-economic boundaries.
7. Helps develop the mind and body by encouraging reflection and higher level thinking, as well as active learning, and develops a positive work ethic and pride in a job well done.
8. Helps stimulate and develop the imagination and refine cognitive and creative skills as well as critical thinking.
9. Teaches children the skills necessary to succeed in life, including developing an informed perception; articulating a vision; learning to solve problems and make decisions building self-confidence and self-discipline; developing the ability to imagine what might be; and accepting responsibility to complete tasks from start to finish.
10. Nurtures important values, including team-building skills; respecting alternative points of view; and appreciating and being aware of different cultures and traditions.
IAC - The Integrated Arts Council
Programming Options
Visual Arts
Visual Arts
Senior: The grade 11 and 12 courses are a jumping off point for an intensive investigation of artistic practice and the acquiring of the skill to self-direct one's learning. In these courses we explore art historical trends, cultural theory, modernism, post-modernism and semiotics. By grade 12 each student should have a substantial portfolio of work and an exemplary sketchbook. This course is designed to give students the tools to apply to any college or university and feel they are equipped to ace any portfolio interview. For those students wanting an art experience, the course has been scaffolded to allow students to explore their creativity in a comfortable environment. The goal for these students is to push their artistic abilities, producing mature artworks that are rich in theory, concept and skill. All students should leave the course with an in depth appreciation of artistic practice, the creative process and art history. As young artists, it is also essential that there is a strong understanding of how art is global in nature, and that artists create work with multiple cultural perspectives.
Grade 9 Visual Arts Student Work
Grade 10 Visual Arts Student Work
Grade 11 Visual Arts Student Work
Grade 12 Visual Arts Student Work
Process is key
Architectural studies
Skin tone studies
Sculpture planning and recording
Media Arts
Media Arts courses offer a gamut of options for you to explore your creativity. If you’re not sure what type of art you might be interested in, we explore a variety of art making techniques using both new media and traditional methods. Technology is used to explore visual arts through digital photography, specifically with Photoshop and Illustrator applications. Similarly, you will also have an opportunity to discover and practice animation techniques through various platforms. Multimedia techniques are further investigated through combining more than one art making method to create artworks.
Senior courses enhance these foundation skills, with an emphasis on portfolio preparation for post secondary education, and concept development through personal investigation with connections to art history.
Media Arts Works From the SLSS Community!
Photography
Have you always wanted to know how to use a camera and improve your photography skills? Then this course is for you! The Grade Eleven Senior photography course offers a foundation for how to use the DSLR camera and to use creative techniques to compose dynamic photographs. An introduction to studio and environmental lighting is explored, in addition to Photoshop techniques. Senior courses further develop these foundational skills, with an emphasis on portfolio preparation for post secondary education, and concept development through personal investigation with connections to Art History.
Arts courses offer you the freedom to explore different media, including both digital and traditional methods of art making. You will have an opportunity to showcase your work during Arts Night Galas, and develop your skills for a career in a creative industry. Employers often look for creative individuals who can think outside the box! Come and develop your creative talents in Photography at SLSS!!
Photography Pieces From Past and Current SLSS Students
Interior Design
The Interior Design program offers Grade 11 students the opportunity to refine their artistic skills with the lens of a practical career path in interior design and architecture.
Students will continue skill sets gained from either Grade 10 or Grade 9 Visual Arts, and work towards the understanding of space as a functional and artistic environment. The class will explore historic spaces, modern design elements, theatrical stage design and their own conceptual ideas. This course could lead to a university program in interior design, architecture or any other art program.
Dramatic Arts
Objectives and Benefits of Drama
And all the men and women merely players"
- William Shakespeare, As You Like It
At SLSS, the mandate of the Drama program is to ensure that all students develop the knowledge, skills and character to pursue the "roles" in life that allow them to be most successful. Rather than taking on the roles of "mere players," the Dramatic Arts at Stephen Lewis provide students with experiential learning opportunities to enhance their abilities in all subject areas, whether inside or out of Arts based environments. Whether pursuing one of the many captivating career and post-secondary opportunities that Drama offers to students after high school, or embracing the essential cross-curricular skills of literacy, communication, planning, and metacognition that Theatre provides for students with interests in any field, SLSS Drama instills students with the confidence to tackle any challenge.
Grade 9 and 10 Drama
In addition to establishing the foundation for future learning in Drama, the intermediate Theatre programs at SLSS consistently provide students with an invaluable bridge from Middle School to Secondary School, through which they can develop the confidence, friendships and academic literacy that are vital to their future successes.
Furthermore, English Language Learners can enhance their learning of English through direct participation and constant conversations in Stephen Lewis's Grade 9 or Grade 10 ESL Drama Courses.
Grade 11 and 12 Drama
Production Opportunities
School Production 2017/18
National Theatre School Drama Festival
Musical Theatre Club
Drama Club
Dance
Programming Options
The Dance program at SLSS invites all students to learn about movement and classical dance techniques through abstract and creative principles.
The Grade 9 and 10 Dance program introduces the elements of dance to students, as well as technique basics in Jazz, Modern, Broadway, and Hip Hop. Students not only learn choreography, but each final evaluation allows them the chance to create their own interpretation of movement and dance through unit concepts. Studies in world dance, anatomy, and dance crazes are also examined in the Grade 10 program. Each student is required to keep a scrapbook detailing their journey through dance.
The Grade 11 Dance program focuses on dance as a medium to explore social justice issues that impact our world today. Students will not only address these issues through original dance pieces, but also through the creation of their own outreach dance company, dance film, involvement in showcase pieces and a final exam, which includes a performance and personal essay. This class runs in combination with the Grade 12 program and offers Grade 11 students the opportunity to develop their critique vocabulary, while working with senior students to further explore choreographic inspirations.
The Grade 12 Dance program explores dance as a community. Students will take on different leadership projects within the course, including a student directed and produced dance showcase, a Flash Mob, the organization of the Dance Club at SLSS, and an Arts Night performance. In combination with the Grade 11 program, the Grade 12 program will also provide students with the opportunity to develop their critique vocabulary and mentor younger students. Furthermore, a final exam exploring the SLSS values of community, excellence, and respect is carried out through an original solo choreography and personal essay.
Dance Club
The Dance Club at SLSS offers students the chance to teach and showcase original choreography. Offering both a junior and senior dance group, the SLSS Dance Club meets twice a week (Monday and Wednesday at lunch in Room 113), where club members learn the latest choreography to be performed at our Winter and Spring Arts Nights. No experience is needed, as the club is open to every SLSS student who wishes to join. In the past, the club has crafted choreography in many different genres such as Jazz, Contemporary, Modern, Hip Hop, Afro Fusion, World Dance, and Breaking. Student choreographers are chosen twice a year, offering many students the chance to get dancing!
Music
The SLSS music program places a strong emphasis on improvisation, arranging and composing during class time. In an attempt to achieve improvement at each learning stage, students are encouraged to improve their musicianship skills (individual performance, ensemble performance, melodic ear training, rhythmic ear training) through activities during class time, individual practice at home, and a variety of creative assignments.
This year (2015-16), SLSS music students have uploaded all of their creative assignments to the internet, and have reflected about the processes and products of their work. SoundCloud, D2L, Wordpress, and Blogger are all platforms which students have selected to share their work. As part of this routine, peer feedback is encouraged, and class time is used to listen to student work and discuss successes and suggested areas of improvement.
Almost every student in an SLSS instrumental music class is also a part of the extra-curricular SLSS Band. Enrollment in a music class is a pre-requisite for membership in the Band. This year's ensemble rehearses every Tuesday (3:20-4:00pm) and every Thursday (12:25-12:55pm). The direction this year has focused on top 40 music and student arrangements. The SLSS Band repertoire currently includes tunes by The Weeknd, Drake, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Of Monsters and Men, Skrillex ft. Justin Bieber, Calvin Harris and Disciples, Icona Pop, Neon Trees, The Gorillaz, The Who, Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris, The Verve, Capital Cities, Nirvana, Foster the People, Stevie Wonder, Bruno Mars, Selena Gomez, Martin Solveig and Dragonette, Walk The Moon, and others. The ensemble receives at least one new tune every rehearsal, so the setlist is constantly growing.
We look forward each year to sharing our music at Commencement, Holiday Assemblies, Winter Arts Night, and Spring Arts Night. This year, we will also be organizing a concert in May to celebrate Music Monday. This will be a great opportunity for instrumentalists, guitarists, and singers to come together and perform for an audience.