Knox M. 5th grader at Visitacion Valley ES
Knox M. made digital art and said "In my Art it shows 1 person and I included different shades of skin color to represent that we’re all the same and I included purple to represent me." Project inspired by @derrickadamsny & his series "Live and In Color"
James C. 4th grader at John Muir ES
Pen & Marker on Paper: Check out the line work, color and imagination on this illustration! James C, 4th grader at John Muir, deserves the spotlight. His art teacher Ms. Allison says, "He shows up for art every week and always impresses!"
Visual Art Education in Schools
Through Visual Arts, students explore and express their identities and ideas with different hands-on art materials like paint, clay, and the things we find around us. Students look at and ask questions about artworks from diverse artists, past and present. We focus on building language and thinking skills by describing art and making connections to the artist and to ourselves.
Visual Art Education in Schools
As we know, visual arts are all around us; in children’s books, in the geometry of our world, sculptures in our parks, posters on our bus stops, advertising at the grocery check-out, and the histories told in movies and TV. In Visual Arts, students practice responding and connecting to all types of art, while creating and presenting their original work to build communication and technical art skills, and to understand that their voice and experiences are important and powerful.
Benefits of a PreK-12 Visual Arts Education
Research shows that there are many benefits to a quality visual arts education
Looking In The Mirror
In the Fall of 2020 Freshman students at Academy SF @McAteer HS worked with Teaching Artist Paul S. Flores from Community Works West and Art Teacher Max Allbee to create artwork and writing. Their projects included photo poems, text portraits, and double exposure photos, combined with self-praise poems, powerful/ powerless poems and other writing.
Fine Arts at Ruth Asawa SOTA
In the Fall of 2020, students at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts expressed themselves and their ideas through drawing, painting, photography, architectural design, and the use of digital tools during distance learning. On right - Texture Cubes by Isabel Lombardi-Coronel, Architecture & Design
Visual Arts In Our Schools Link to this section
Visual arts in SFUSD cultivates the space for students to listen and learn from BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), past and present. Students work with and have access to diverse artworks and artists, and work alongside antiracist educators and leaders of change. In visual arts, students explore and develop their ideas in 2D & 3D arts expressions like sketching, painting, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, crafts, design and architecture. We would like to note that SFUSD also has an expansive media arts department in middle grades and high school with courses like Animation, Broadcasting and Sound Production, as a complement to our Visual Arts offerings. During distance learning, all visual arts experiences also weave in media as a way for our young artists to express emotions, thoughts, ideas and stories.
SFUSD offers visual arts classes and programs at every level, Pre-K to 12th grade. Elementary schools are served by Visual Arts teachers and Visual Arts Artists in Residence, and some visual arts educators work side-by-side with classroom teachers on integrated learning experiences. At the Elementary level, students might have Visual Arts 1-2 times a week and they may rotate through visual art and then to dance or music. In Middle Grades, students may have visual arts for a semester or experience arts on an “exploratory wheel” (rotation) alongside Health, Computer Science and STEAM. In High School, students can refine their study in multi-year arts pathways through classes that build sequential learning,
All Visual Arts learning is facilitated by qualified teachers who are credentialed in either Art Education or Career Technical Education. All SFUSD visual arts educators continue to redesign curriculum that is 1) relevant to our students' interests, experiences, languages, and backgrounds, 2) is centered in equity and antiracist arts practices, 3) is aligned to the 2019 CA Arts standards, and 4) builds a strong arts and creativity foundation for students to thrive in their future career.
Please visit the Offerings section below for more information about what each school offers.
Visual Arts Standards Link to this section
SFUSD Visual Arts Offerings
Link to this section
This section includes visual arts classes and programs offered in 2020-21
PreK Visual Arts
list of offerings coming soon
Elementary Visual Arts
Visual Arts Teachers provided by the Arts Department serve in the following schools:
Chinese Immersion School at DeAvila ES
Clarendon ES
Cleveland ES
Cobb (Dr William L) ES
Drew (Dr Charles) College Preparatory Academy ES
Flynn (Leonard R) ES
Garfield ES
Harte (Bret) ES
Hillcrest ES
Huerta (Dolores) ES
Jefferson ES
Key (Francis Scott) ES
King (Thomas Starr) ES
Lafayette ES
Lee (Edwin and Anita) Newcomer ES
Longfellow ES
Malcolm X Academy ES
Marshall ES
McCoppin (Frank) ES
McKinley ES
Miraloma ES
Mission Education Center ES
Moscone (George R) ES
Muir (John) ES
New Traditions ES
Parker (Jean) ES
Parks (Rosa) ES
Redding ES
Sanchez ES
Serra (Junipero) ES
SF Public Montessori ES
Sheridan ES
Sherman ES
Stevenson (Robert Louis) ES
Sunnyside ES
Sunset ES
Sutro ES
Taylor (Edward R) ES
Tenderloin Community ES
Visitacion Valley ES
Webster (Daniel) ES
Middle School Visual Arts
Aptos MS Art 6
- Art 7
- Art 8
Brown Jr. (Willie) MS Art 6
- Art 7
- Art 8
Denman (James) MS Art 6
- Art 7
- Art 8
- Multimedia 6
- Multimedia 7
- Multimedia 8
Everett MS Art 6
- Art 7
- Art 8
Francisco MS Art 6
- Art 7
- Art 8
Giannini (A.P.) MS Art
- Art 6
- Art 7
- Art 8
- Multimedia 7
- Multimedia 8
Hoover (Herbert) MS Art
- Art - Advanced 678
- Art - Middle School
King Jr (Dr Martin L) MS
- Art - Middle School
Lick (James) MS
- Art 7
- Dance - MS
Marina MS
- Art - Advanced 678
- Art 6
- Art 7
- Art 8
Presidio MS Art 7
- Art 8
Roosevelt MS Art 6
- Art 7
- Art 8
- Multimedia - MS
SF Civic Center Secondary
- MS Art 8
Visitacion Valley MS
- Art 7
- Art 8
High School Visual Arts
Asawa (Ruth) SOTA HS
- AP Art Draw
- Art History
- Art Intro
- Computer Art 1
- Draw/Paint 1
- Draw/Paint 2
- Draw/Paint 3
- Drawing Adv
- Photography
Balboa HS
- AP Art Draw
- Art
- World Arts
Burton (Phillip and Sala) HS
- AP Art Hist
- Ceramics
Downtown HS
- Art
- Drawing
Early Morning Study Program HS
- World Arts
Galileo HS
- Animation 1
- AP Art 2D
- Art
- Computer Art 1
- Photography
Independence HS
- Art
Jordan (June) HS
- Art
- Art 3
- Art Intro
Lincoln (Abraham) HS
- AP Art 2D
- AP Art 3D
- AP Art Hist
- Art in Archit 1
- Ceramics
- Creative Computing 1
- Draw/Paint 1
- Photography 1
Lowell HS
- AP Art Draw
- AP Art Hist
- Architecture 1A
- Architecture 2A
- Art 1
- Art 3
- Ceramics 1
- Ceramics 1A
- Ceramics 2
- Ceramics 2A
- Ceramics 3A
- Photography
- Photography A
Marshall (Thurgood) HS
- Art
- Creative Computing 1
- Draw/Paint 1
- Photography
Mission HS
- AP Art Draw
- Art
- Art 1
- Art 3
- Mariachi 1
- Photography 1
- Photography 3
SF Civic Center Secondary HS
- Art
- Art 3
SF International HS
- Art 1
The Academy - SF @ McAteer HS
- Art
- Art 1
- Art 3
- Creative Computing 1
Wallenberg (Raoul) HS
- Ceramics 1
- Ceramics 2
- Computer Art 1
Washington (George) HS
AP Art Draw
- Art 1
- Ceramics
- Ceramics 3
- Computer Art 1
- Computer Art 2
- Draw/Paint 2
- Draw/Paint 3
- Video Prod
Wells (Ida B) HS
- Art
- Art 3
Links to PK-12 Arts Discipline Pages Link to this section
This page was last updated on March 16, 2021