At Swampscott High School, Emma Carleton and Devon Brown offer a variety of 2D and 3D art options. Students are required to take an art class, though the requirement can also be fulfilled with a band or chorus course. Carleton added that, in some cases, a business class can replace the art requirement.

“They have more room for credits than they do have requirements, so most kids end up taking arts classes,” Carleton said. “All of my classes are full.”

Carleton said there is strong demand for certain classes. Some students try to enroll in courses like ceramics but are not able to take them until their senior year.

“I could tell for some kids that it’s just like a way to distress and they’re happy doing it, and they don’t necessarily want to do it in college,” Brown said. “But then you have those kids who are just so naturally talented.”

Some students come into high school knowing from “day one” that they want to go into the arts. Others, Carleton said, take a specific class and are like, “‘Wait, this is kind of cool.’”

“I think often with us, we help kids find that confidence because a lot of kids haven’t taken an arts class in many years,” Carleton said. 

Both Carleton and Brown said they were students who always knew they wanted to pursue art. Carleton pointed to her own experience, attending Clark University and earning a bachelor’s degree in fine and studio arts as well as art history. She said she entered college knowing she wanted to study art and later found her passion and the path she wanted to take.

“With art, I think some kids think there’s limited opportunities, but there’s so many different things that you can do,” Carleton said, adding that the Swampscott High School offers college visits and some talks to help students “figure out what their opportunities and interests are.” 

One project Brown uses to encourage students to find their own answers is a miniature room assignment in her 3D class. She leans into the storytelling aspect of art, asking students not just to create a room but to consider who lives there and “what we can tell about this person.”

“Someone did a broken down shed situation, and it was giving horror movie,” Brown said. “I like to give them kind of boundaries but let them work freely within those boundaries. They always surprise me with what they come up with.”

Brown also said she has a student, Nora, who is taking an independent study “just because she wants to continue after ceramics 2 and ceramics 3.” Carleton said she taught the same student and recognized her “creative energy,” but Brown was able to see Nora “harness that creative energy in 3D.”

For independent studies, Brown works with students to create a curriculum, which she encourages them to design themselves.

“They show me sketches or a general jumping off point from where they’re going to lead,” Brown said, adding that she talks about the process the student plans to take and then sends them off to do it. “All of the students I’ve had for that so far are super self-motivated.” 

Carleton has also worked with independent study students and teaches AP 2D Art, where students “create their own portfolio and develop their own ideas.”

Sometimes, Carleton said, when students first take art, they “don’t really see the importance.” Over time, however, they develop creative problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and the ability to respond to work that does not have a black-and-white answer.

The Princeton Review recently noted that arts education, while encompassing a wide range of learning, boosts creativity, problem-solving skills, and resilience in coping with failure and disappointment. Art lessons can also provide context for other subjects. For example, a student struggling in math may better understand concepts through visual representation. Skills learned in the arts, from confidence to critical thinking, can translate to science or business.

Art, Carleton emphasized, can be learned. In her drawing classes, students build foundational skills through contour and value drawing, as well as work based on photographs and observation. The course begins with a baseline self-portrait and culminates in a photo-realistic portrait.

“The results honestly shock the students because they’re like ‘Wait, I can do that?’” Carleton said. “We look at their first portrait that they did, and we compare it to the one that they made. It shows that you can actually learn – art’s not necessarily something that you’re born with that talent. It’s something you can work toward and get better at.”