Students get their first glimpse of the span and scope of all the visual arts when taking Introduction to the Arts as 9th graders. Projects in other disciplines maintain the connection (including, for example, an art research project in English III during the junior year) until students elect, in 11th or 12th grade, to take AP Art History.

Rigorous and eye-opening, this year-long class, which surveys the history of world art, is the equivalent of Art History courses at the college level. Its central objective is to develop visual literacy in students. Gradually, they learn how to look at a work of art and describe in appropriate and specific vocabulary its formal elements, including subject matter, media, style, and composition. They also learn how to place the artwork in its cultural context and discuss its symbolic meanings. These discussions on the meaning of art and its function in culture have the potential for profound impact on the way in which students view the world around them, both as Thacher students and long into their lives beyond.

Cultural trips throughout the year offered by faculty members also get students out to museums and galleries in Ojai (a long-standing artists’ mecca), Santa Barbara and Los Angeles (The Getty being a favorite destination), where they can see a whole range of art and artists.