Applicant assessments are going to be conducted as scheduled. Any families facing unsafe road conditions Saturday may contact their division coordinator to reschedule.
Maggie L. Walker Governor's School

Visual and Performing Arts

Senior Art Show 2022..enjoy!

Attention Incoming Freshmen, Class of 2026
Placement Test for Students

Incoming Orchestra and Band Students

We do not hold auditions for incoming freshmen.  

For orchestra students, all of our incoming freshman join our Intermediate Orchestra class.  After their freshman year, students will either move on to our Advanced Orchestra class or have the opportunity to audition for our Artist Orchestra class.   

For band students, incoming freshmen who play percussion, guitar, or piano should sign up for the Percussion Ensemble class.   All other incoming freshmen should sign up for our Intermediate Band class.  

Art 2 Portfolio

Art 1 is the prerequisite for Art 2. The Art 1 curriculum covers specific art history, media skills, vocabulary, and other artistic concepts that a student must be capable of understanding and utilizing in their work. Without this prior training and confidence-building, success in Art 2 and subsequent art classes could be compromised.

Students sometimes have sufficient Art 1 knowledge and abilities, even without having taken a formal Art 1 class (independent study, advanced 8th-grade art class, private lessons, and/or alternate coursework). For this reason, an evaluation has been prepared to determine if skipping Art 1 is truly in the best interest of the student.

In order for non-sequential entry to Art 2 to be considered, the entry application (below) must be completed in full and submitted via email no later than June 1st. The application materials can be photographed and emailed to [email protected] in a digital format with the subject line “Art 2 portfolio. Based on the results of this assessment, the most appropriate placement for the applicant will be determined. Until a final determination is made, students are asked to enroll in Art 1. Once the application has been reviewed, I will communicate to the Counseling Dept. and request a transfer from Art 1 to Art 2.  

ART 2 APPLICATION

Please email ALL the following information and portfolio submissions to [email protected] by June 1st.   

  1. STUDENT INFORMATION:
  • Student name _________________________________________________ 
  • Home Phone _________________________________________________  
  • Student email _________________________________________________  
  • Parent name and email ________________________________________ 
  • Home county _________________________________________________ 
  • Last art class taken & when ___________________________________  
  • Most recent Art teacher ________________________________________                                                    
  1. PORTFOLIO ENTRIES: Complete these activities, one per page,  on 8.5” x 11” printer paper.
  • Position your non-dominant hand palm up, fingers loosely bent; Draw your hand as accurately as possible using only contour lines with line quality.
  • Arrange 3 – 5 small objects of different sizes/shapes/textures to create a dynamic composition; Draw the still life as realistically as possible using a full value scale.
  • Ask someone to pose for you (standing); draw the model as proportionately as possible.
  • Sit at the far end of a hallway; draw exactly what you see with careful attention to linear perspective.
  • Using a color medium, paint or draw a subject of your choice using one of the following color schemes: analogous, split- complementary, or triadic.

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The MLWGS Visual and Performing Arts program includes courses in visual art, drama, and music. The emphasis throughout the fine arts curriculum is placed on independent thinking and experiential activities. The department establishes clear links with national and state standards while meeting the particular needs of gifted students. Instruction in the Visual and Performing Arts program emphasizes the development of literacy in each content area. For example, in studio art classes, students develop “visual literacy” by learning the particular “language” of the visual arts and producing works of art in a wide variety of art media. In addition, students have the opportunity to explore issues of aesthetics, to become intelligent critics of works of art, and to be exposed to practitioners of the arts so that they come to develop a real-life knowledge drawn from the experiences of these individuals.

The department focuses on the interconnectedness of the disciplines within the context of interdisciplinary global concepts. It is of utmost importance that instructional strategies provide conditions in which students develop their own particular talents, recognize multiple learning styles, and respect the integrity of each student’s personal creative expressions. The Visual and Performing Arts program provides a large number of students with outstanding elective courses in the arts. The department works with students who come with varying degrees of prior experience in these areas and encourages growth according to individual abilities and needs.

Courses offered may include:

Art I-V
Topics in Digital Art: Graphic Design
Topics in Digital Art: Computer Art
Topics in Photography: Photography in the Fine Arts
Topics in Art History
Darkroom Photography
Commercial Photography
Intermediate Orchestra
Advanced Orchestra
Chamber Artist Level Orchestra
Intermediate Band
Advanced Band
Chorus
Percussion Ensemble
AP Integrated Music Theory
Drama and Advanced Drama
Film Studies
Photojournalism Senior Seminar
Digital Video Senior Seminar
Music Composition and Recording Senior Seminar
Fashion Senior Seminar