The art department will implement a new half-year Digital Art class for this fall, available to students of all grades as a compliment to pre-existing art and photography courses.

Visual Art and Photography teacher Michelle Sheppard will be teaching the class at both College Prep and Honors levels.

“It’s going to be about creating digital art with accessible technology,” Sheppard said. “So, apps that are free or low cost that a lot of people can get their hands on. We’ll also use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, but we’re going to start with those free apps.”

“Technology changed so much,” Sheppard said. “What used to take me two weeks to teach in PhotoShop five years ago, I had kids figure out last semester in 15 minutes on an iPad. It was amazing.”

Sheppard has arranged the class in a way that enables students to work together within a collaborative learning environment.

“It will be an environment where we teach each other,” Sheppard said. “They [the students] know stuff that I don’t know and I may know stuff that they don’t know, so I guess we can patch holes in each other’s knowledge. Because you could have a freshman that’s amazing at art apps, and you can have a senior that knows nothing.”

Regarding the successful implementation of the class, Sheppard is optimistic.

“Like any new course it depends on enrollment,” Sheppard said. “[But] kids who have taken a lot of art before, and kids I know know a lot about digital art have asked me about taking it, which would be fantastic because that will really facilitate the learning from each other component.”

Sheppard hopes the new class will inspire students to incorporate more art into their everyday lives.
“The more visual bliss out there, the more art we take in, the better,” Sheppard said.