The Sharon Academy

TSA offers a wide variety of opportunities for students to experience the arts. From the middle school chorus, to the high school play, and electives offered in quilting, textiles, 3-D art, jewelry, and photography, students are bound to find a venue for expression. In attempts to incorporate the arts more completely in students’ lives, TSA inaugurated a beautiful and naturally lit art room in 2007 and hired an art coordinator/instructor and middle school choral director that same year. As a result, we have been able to diversify opportunities in the arts for students.

The Visual Arts at TSA	Thursday Night Cafe	Interim 2007: Wizard of Oz

The Sharon Academy Art Program:

TSA high school students find an enthusiastic and challenging art program available to them through a combination of an on-site core curriculum and off-site offerings in the community.

The emphasis of our art program is on practice itself but we also believe in the importance of providing on-going art historical references and viewing opportunities. Our coursework includes two-dimensional and three dimensional design, drawing, photography, oil painting and graphic arts. We are focused on developing students' creativity, imagination and problem solving as well as art skills. Students often choose or are assigned visual projects in their other courses and our art department's goal is to strengthen design and aesthetic sensibilities in order to accomplish high quality work.

Our program is dedicated to attracting area artists: this Fall we have been visited by three guest teachers and have also been lucky to have Claire Bushman, an art student on leave from the California College of Art, as our teaching assistant. The community provides many off campus opportunities such as Oil-painting at the Tip Top Building in White River Junction, Ceramics at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen and Printmaking at the Two Rivers Studio in White River Jct. Our students show their work with an opening reception and month long exhibit at the ArtSpace, one of the region's most inviting exhibit spaces, in Tunbridge , Vt. This winter we are thrilled that our new art room will be finished and available for students.

2007-2008 Art Classes

• Introduction to Visual Art (first-year offering only)
• Introduction to Jewelry Design
• Introduction to Textiles
• Introduction to Photography
• Advanced Photography
• Quilting
• Introduction to Oil Painting
• Introduction to 3-D Art
• Advanced Computer 3-D Design

Specific Examples:

• Textile Art: Clara Compare (’09), Taylor Faccio (’09), Phoebe Landon (’10), Nina Magini (’09), and Morgan Tracy (’10) designed and created intricate, fitted shirts assembled out of painted materials that they stitched, glued, and wove together. Beautiful art!
• Introduction to Art: The High School's Firstyear Class ('11) designed and built two large 3-D scupltures. The first quarter students built a large (over 30' tall) Pheonix (the TSA mascot) sculpture made out of the limbs of trees that was placed next to the entrance of our building. The second quarter students worked with cardboard to make another large (15' long), 3-D flying Pheonix that hangs in our Community Room in the High School.

The Sharon Academy Theater Program:

Each academic year, for two weeks, The Sharon Academy transforms into its own theater production company! Most faculty members play a role, whether it's assisting with directing, costuming, creating a play bill, selling ads, or even performing. All students for the past two years have also voluntarily joined in helping to create a full-blown musical. The normal school schedule is cancelled, and everyone commits their time and energy to learning dance routines, singing, creating posters, sewing costumes, essentially doing whatever it takes to make the show go on! This year, our band was led by one student, our chorus by another, and the choreography was designed by four different students. Set design, lighting design, costume design, sound design. . . all led by students.

Similarlily, every year, the TSA Middle School organizes and performs a circus in the spring. Students design the sets and put together the acts to display their artistic, creative minds, and unique talents like unicycling and acrobatics. Held in the gym of the high school, the circus entails big acts of dancing and tumbling and smaller acts of magicians, unicyclists, and clowns.

Other theater offerings exist as well. TSA offers one quarter electives in introduction to theater, one-act performance, and a "build your own dream" special. For the past two years, TSA's one-acts have taken stage at the Vermont State Drama Festival.

2007-2008 Theater

• Musical: "The Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum - November 2007
• Circus: "Energy Circus" - March 2008
• One-Act: "Who Am I This Time?" by Christopher Sergel - Based on a story from Welcome To The Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut - March 2008

The Sharon Academy Music Program:

While most of our music classes are held as electives, TSA offers some great, creative opportunities for those students whose artistic talents lie with musical performance.

• Thursday Night Café: Rather than host recitals, TSA offers a monthly open house for all students, staff, and family to perform songs, act out skits, and hold comedy shows for our community.
  
• Middle School Chorus: As an elective for 7^th and 8^th graders, choir offers students the opportunity to learn the basics of music theory, learn about the musical styles and expressions of other cultures, and learn to unite to perform beautiful compositions.

2007-2008 Music Class Opportunties

• Band: An Elective taught by Sage Boerke
• A Cappella: An elective taught by student Sarah Wolfe (also exists outside of an elective)
• Band for Wizard of Oz: An elective taught by Mary Newman
• Music Theory: An elective taught by Brian Tonks