The Middle School Art curriculum encourages personal expression and inventive thinking through the imaginative exploration of art materials and methods. The program emphasizes a genuine art studio experience that stresses visual imagery and the elements of art: line, shape, color, pattern, texture, and space. Assignments encourage students to expand their artistic skills, broaden their visual perception, and develop facilities with a range of media. The assignments are structured and sequential, but they encourage a variety of creative responses. The studio environment fosters a sense of community, compassion, and respect for every student’s work process and creations. By introducing artists whose work is intriguing, we teach art history in a dynamic, hands-on manner. The artwork is visually compelling in its aesthetic and sense of design and diverse in culture, ethnicity, gender, style, time period, and media. We also teach assignments inspired by self-taught artists who are intent on making art despite psychological challenges. Our artistic practice inherently values different voices and is sensitive to others’ perspectives. In the art studio, students “have opportunities to consider other viewpoints” (Kohlberg). As our students become receptive to the vision of other artists, they find their own voice and take risks to articulate their personal aesthetic. In light-filled art studios, teachers who are also artists share their love of making art. They offer every child the opportunity to feel a sense of accomplishment. The rich studio experience exemplifies The Dalton Plan because students build knowledge actively as they work on assignments in class and lab. The Art Department considers every child an artist and honors their artwork by displaying it throughout the school professionally. Our aesthetic celebrates the subtle and beautiful irregularities of art made by the human hand. Students learn to work with focus and discipline, making thoughtful artistic choices about their creations.