The Arts

The Art Department provides students the skills, knowledge, and understanding necessary to appreciate the visual and performing arts. Students are evaluated on essential learning outcomes. Creativity, intellectual curiosity, and creative thinking are encouraged.

Students in Studio Art explore the fundamentals of pictorial design and composition, and how art is used as a means of personal expression. Using various media, students learn textures, rendering forms, shading, and one-, two- and three-point perspective. Painting principles are introduced and students develop a color wheel, color scales, and compositions that illustrate atmospheric perspective and the effects of complementary colors and color chords. Students are encouraged, through specific assignments, to develop their own artistic vocabulary to facilitate effective visual communication.

In Digital Art, students apply visual and aural aesthetic-design principles in a hands-on exploration of typography, graphics, digital imaging, animation, full motion video, and digital media interface design. Students analyze the essential topics of interactivity, media development process, and the applications and future directions of the digital arts.

Film Studies students are taught to “read” a film, analyzing its narrative structure, genre conventions, subtext, technical and artistic factors and purpose. The emphasis is on the various techniques used by filmmakers to convey meaning. Along with film analysis the students create short film-related projects.

Jazz Ensemble is a music-performance class that introduces basic jazz techniques including improvisation and a standard Jazz/Big Band repertoire. The ensemble consists of standard Big Band instrumentation: alto, tenor and baritone saxophones, trumpets, trombones, guitar, bass, piano and drums. The ensemble performs home concerts, but also performs at school events, community functions and concert festivals.

Symphonic Band is a music performance class with three aspects: introduce students to the fundamentals of music; improve students’ musical proficiency; and form an ensemble that will be exposed to a variety of band literatures. The band performs two home concerts, as well as performs at school rallies, athletic events, community functions and concert festivals. Each year the band makes a trip to perform outside our immediate region. This ensemble is considered the core of the Palma High School Band program.

Audio Production combines elements of MIDI and digital audio, and recording acoustic instruments. Waveform theory, sample rates, conversion, file formats, digital signal processing and other digital audio theory are studied and applied through the recording of performances, sound design and film scoring. Students study the fundamentals of MIDI sound production using virtual synthesizers and are introduced to digital audio production using Pro Tools.

Mindful of our primary mission to be a witness to the love of Christ for all, Palma School admits students of any race, color, national and/or ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to the students at the school. Palma School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and/or ethnic origin, nor age in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs. While Palma School does not discriminate against students with special needs, a full range of services may not be available. Likewise, Palma School does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of gender, age, disability, race, color, and national and/or ethnic origin. Palma School reserves the right to be a sole judge of merit, competence and qualifications, and can favor Catholic applicants and co-workers in all employment decisions, especially in those positions that have direct bearing upon the pastoral activity of the Church.