The visual and per-forming arts at Suffield encourage students to examine ment of a concept and with its expression in graphic form. However, allowance is made for experimentation in other media, with appropriate emphasis placed on technical concerns. Experience gained in the important areas of creativity, imagination, and invention is soon put to work on independent art projects. However, along with the traditional materials, students may also choose to work with a variety of new substances including plastics, metals, and fiberglass. Individual approaches toward subject matter and personal expression are stressed.
Students can also qualify for honors study in any medium.
At the outset, students are schooled in sharpening and in the safe use of tools and machinery. They learn basic hand skills through a series of exercises designed to foster an understanding of wood movement, and then they explore joinery techniques. The first project is to build a wooden hand plane, a task that illustrates the patience and precision necessary to take rough lumber through to a finished creation. Under close supervision, students are then free to design their own project in wood or mixed media. Techniques explored include all aspects of solid wood construction, veneering, bent lamination, finishing and decorative inlay, marquetry, and carving.