Tiffany Li
Meagan Segal helps an AP Art student
Chadwick has always held a firm belief in giving students opportunities to access the arts. All students in the Upper School take at least one arts class, and many students find a passion and continue to take art classes. Continuing a trend of enabling students, Chadwick has recently split up the Graphic Design classes, discontinuing the class in favor of a separate 2D Art & Design class and an Honors Applied Design class.
Graphic Design emerged when a need for a class focused on digital art grew. The class taught digital tools like Photoshop and Illustrator, and made heavy use of unique projects, such as custom decks of cards and tattoos: projects with some real-world applications.
Starting in the 2024-25 academic year, art teacher and basketball coach Aundrae Williams offered Honors Applied Design as a way to train students’ art skills for application to real-world situations. The class existed concurrently with the current Graphic Design program, and the similarities between the two classes led to low enrollment with a lot of overlap.
This academic year, Head of the Art Department Meagan Segal and the rest of the Arts department stopped teaching Graphic Design in favor of prioritizing different elements in various classes. Many of the digital elements of Graphic Design have been integrated into the Studio Art and 2D Art & Design curriculum, with a focus on adding new mediums for students to experiment with. On the contrary, Honors Applied Design will continue its curriculum and focus on the practical applications of graphic design.
“I was really eager to start teaching that again, so this was the perfect opportunity to sort of rethink what the program would be,” Segal said.
The previous 2D Art & Design teacher, Ms. Kim Kohler, stepped down from teaching the class this year, leaving a gap that needed to be filled. Segal had a chance to merge the two classes and focus on more skills in 2D Art & Design.
“I feel as if this gives us more freedom with choice of medium, and I had been missing the usage of traditional art in my work,” junior Luna Han said. The 2D Art & Design program shares similar priorities with Graphic Design, and combining the courses provides more options for students.
“[Honors Applied Design] really helped give me a good start on the basics of designing things, and it taught me how to use some pretty cool tools to convey my ideas,” senior Jai Ratyanake said. The class adds an emphasis on teaching the same tools as Graphic Design did, such as Photoshop and Illustrator, for real-world applications with streamlined designs.
Graphic Design’s changes won’t have a fundamental impact on Chadwick’s art curriculum. Its changes allow students more freedom to explore digital mediums in 2D Art & Design, while the Honors Applied Design class students focus on practical applications of the arts.