Visual Arts
Throughout their experience at Santa Catalina, students learn to see themselves as artists and create polished work. In our bright and airy art studio, they explore and experiment with a wide variety of media, such as drawing, painting, ceramics, sculpture, collage, printing, fiber arts, and architecture.
Student artwork from every grade is featured in our rotating Art Salon. The pieces on display explore a common theme—such as the ocean and space—and reflect a full range of artistic expression. In addition, each student contributes to a large collaborative work that serves as the exhibit centerpiece.
The visual arts curriculum is organized around three themes:
From day one, our students create and explore. Art courses are designed in sequence so students can build confidence and mastery of each process.
Students learn to identify art from different movements and to recognize beauty both in nature and in the constructed environment.
Art classes help students understand what role art has played in history, as they study styles ranging from ancient Asian cultures to modern American art.
Performing Arts
At Santa Catalina, performing is a way of life, right from the start. Young students experience music in a play-based setting, which fosters creativity and a love of music at an early age. Lower School students learn rhythm and pitch through folk songs, dances, and body percussion. Middle School students grow as singers, improvisers, and members of an ensemble.
In choral, instrumental, and solo performances, all students showcase their musical abilities in concerts, assemblies, and plays throughout the year.
Performances include:
- Christmas and spring concerts
- PreK and Kindergarten Christmas plays
- Special assemblies for Veterans Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- Private music lesson recitals
- Class presentations during weekly assemblies
Singing traditional music to contemporary hits, our glee clubs perform both on campus and in the community. Students sing at special events such as the Flag Raising Ceremony and our annual benefit celebration.
Our instrumental music program boasts 40 Orff instruments along with handbells, recorders, and ukuleles.
Students in Grades 1 through 8 can take private voice or instrumental music lessons during the school day, leaving after-school time free for sports and clubs. The school has six practice studios equipped with Steinway pianos, and lessons are led by experienced musicians and teachers from the Central Coast area.
Arts Facilities
Our spacious, bright, and open art studio is ideal for young minds to explore color and form. Easy access to a range of tools and materials, flexible learning zones, and a ceramics kiln provide a space for the development of natural curiosity and experimentation and help our students to see themselves as artists.
Arts Facilities|||Lower & Middle SchoolThe music room fosters creativity and a love of music. The room has three distinct spaces: a choral area, an area for Orff instruments, and a patio where small groups work on original compositions.
Arts FacilitiesThe Sister Carlotta Performing Arts Center is a 500-seat theatre that serves as the venue for our Christmas and spring concerts as well as special assemblies. Students also visit the PAC to watch professional-level plays and musicals put on by the Upper School.
Arts FacilitiesThe Mary L. Johnson Music Center features a professional dance studio with a mirrored wall and spring-loaded floor, six private practice rooms, and a 150-seat recital hall with near-perfect acoustics.
Arts Facilities|||Lower & Middle School