Arts | Upper School | Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill

Visual Arts

At Trinity, we believe that God made each of us in His image, as creators like Him. He gave each of us the capacity to make,  imagine, and use our gifts for the service of others. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10).

Like all areas of the Trinity curriculum and culture, visual arts instruction is guided by a Classical approach to learning and rooted in the pedagogical principles of Charlotte Mason.

Teaching in the Visual Arts is Christ-centered, rich, unhurried, and safe.

Our goal is to spur students to wonder and admire truth, beauty, and goodness through artmaking, investigation, self-expression, and collaboration. All of these creative opportunities are designed to help students see, imagine, and begin to grasp “how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” (Ephesians 3:18) 

Upper School Art students develop skill and versatility in a wide range of artistic techniques and gain exposure to new media, such as ceramics, photography, and digital storytelling. They also begin to use artmaking to express themselves and the way they see or envision the world around them.

Theatre

The mission of the Theatre curriculum at Trinity is to provide an excellent, unhurried, and age-appropriate education in the dramatic arts. Trinity’s curriculum introduces students to the beauty of theatre and its unique and powerful way of telling stories therefore equipping them to become more confident and clear communicators.

The Trinity Theatre program introduces students to theatre arts by improvising dialogue, creating scenes, developing characters, rehearsing, and performing. Our program encourages students to cultivate and apply the habit of attention and the exercise of imagination in their development and expression of characters.

Exposure to a variety of genres, settings, and characters helps the students develop their craft as artists to better understand themselves and delight in the variety of people God has created. In Technical Theatre, students will discover how to analyze a script, craft a specific vision for a play, and bring that vision to life onstage through the technical elements of production. 

Our theatre classes foster an inclusive and constructive environment that cultivates healthy relationships across grade levels and allows for growth through risk-taking without fear of failure or undue criticism.

For those new to theatre, our classes are a place to explore and perhaps discover a new interest or ability. For the gifted and passionate artists among the student body, our classes provide opportunities for them to deepen their skills of creative expression from year to year.

Ultimately, we seek to evoke the worship of our great God, nurture an admiration of God’s glory and beauty, and inspire confidence when telling the greatest story of all.