Fine Arts Department

 Ms. Paula Duddy, Chairperson


Mr.  Dana Belmonte

Mr. Matthew Cavanaugh '96

The Fine Arts curriculum at Xaverian affirms and emphasizes the creative process as the essence of fine arts education. The program supports the integration of knowledge acquired across the curriculum. The mission of the fine arts program is to develop learners who display their own creativity and become responsive to the creativity of others. It describes learning, teaching and assessment in three arts disciplines: visual arts, music, and theater.

The philosophy of the fine arts department is based on the conviction that the arts are a basic mode of learning. The program is designed to involve all of the senses and powers (right- and left-brain) of the student in learning. The arts are the dynamic integrating force that can involve students creatively in their education and help them to see this basic oneness in all knowledge.

Central to the educational philosophy and critical aspect of the fine arts program is the goal of providing students with the skills in critical thinking that support a lifetime of intellectual inquiry. Students are exposed to information to help them understand the historical and cultural life they inherit and to acquire a visual, musical and verbal literacy to actively participate in the arts of the present and to contribute to the arts of the future.