Visual Arts

Discover Your Artistic Potential

At Oak Knoll, we believe that visual arts are a cornerstone of education, unlocking creativity and fostering a deep appreciation for the richness of human expression across history and cultures.

Our visual arts program, from Pre-K through Grade 12, offers students an opportunity to immerse themselves in creativity through hands-on experiences. Explore a world of different mediums, master the key principles of art, and celebrate artistic traditions from around the globe.

Experience the Visual Arts at Oak Knoll

lower school students in the art room painting

Every student is an artist

Unleashing the Artist Within

art club PK-6

female lower school students in art class

Students are enthusiastically invited to join our weekly Art Club during recess, where they can bring their projects to life and explore new artistic adventures. This supportive environment offers personalized guidance from our skilled instructors, ensuring each student's creative potential is nurtured. Whether refining current pieces or experimenting with new materials, the Art Club is perfect for expanding artistic horizons. Best of all, students can drop in at their convenience, making it the ideal setting to express and develop their unique artistic voice.

ART MINISTRY (7-12)

students creating programs and other creations for the school

The Art Ministry program seeks to enhance the liturgical environment at Oak Knoll by providing our community with images and words that express our faith. Gifted artists, calligraphers, and photographers dedicated to this endeavor are encouraged to create sacred images that can be used for Mass and prayer service program covers, inspiration cards for such groups as the Rosary Society, visual inspirations for Holy days of obligation or special commemorations (Cornelia Connelly’s birthday) that can be shared with our community.

PHOTO CLUB (7-12)

Photo Club is a club that students with or without photographic experience are welcome to join. Members will explore both darkroom (using a 35mm camera and black and white film) and digital photography. Darkroom photography gives students the opportunity to learn exposure, creative focusing, and framing techniques, and members learn to develop film and make enlarged prints from negatives. Digital photography applies the same concepts of exposure, creative focusing, and framing for use with the Canon Rebel DSLR. Members photograph, upload the images, edit, enhance, and print images using Mac desktop computers, Adobe Photoshop, and inkjet printers. Cameras are available for use during photo club meetings.

SCRIBES (9-12)

Oak Knoll’s Calligraphy Club, Scribes, is an art service club composed of select, talented calligraphers who do lettering jobs (posters, banners, certificates, program covers) for the school and community at large. In addition, the Scribes are involved in various outreach programs (e.g., the Sacred Heart School Summer Fun Camp), at which they offer workshops for the children.

Learn By Doing: Film & Darkroom Photography

In a world where a perfect photo is just one tap away, Oak Knoll Upper School students are learning what happens when you slow down, look closely, and make an image rather than take one.

Through our Creative Arts Department’s hands-on film photography program, Upper School students step behind the lens of a 35mm camera and into the inspiring, tactile world of the darkroom. Instead of relying on instant filters, they learn how composition, exposure, and perspective shape a meaningful photograph — long before it ever reaches a screen.

Each step requires intention:

Planning every frame
Reading and respecting the light
Developing their own black-and-white film
Creating contact sheets and printing by hand

It’s a process that challenges students to slow down — and rewards them with the magic of watching their images appear, moment by moment, in the glow of the darkroom.

Along the way, they discover that film is not old-fashioned — it’s foundational. The skills they build with chemicals and enlargers translate directly into DSLR shooting and Photoshop editing, deepening their confidence with both traditional and digital mediums.

For many, the darkroom becomes a creative sanctuary — a place where patience, experiment, and curiosity turn into art. Whether they go on to advanced photography classes or join Photo Club, students walk away with something bigger than a portfolio piece:

A new way of seeing the world.

This feature is part of our “Learn by Doing” series, celebrating how Oak Knoll students actively build skills, deepen understanding, and live our mission through real-world learning