The Arts
The arts are a vital part of our school community and play an essential role in the learning experience of all students at Bosque School. Classes in performing and visual arts are offered in a wide range of options that appeal to each student’s inner artist.
As part of the core performing arts curriculum, students learn content, technique, and advanced skills to foster a lifelong love of learning in the arts. All performing arts courses at Bosque School involve live performances where students build self-confidence, learn teamwork, and develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments.
Bosque School music students regularly qualify for All-State competitions and have performed in venues ranging from Disneyland to St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. Our drama and theater tech students often bring home awards from state and national competitions, and many remain involved in the performing arts beyond high school.
The visual arts are a vital component of every Bosque School student’s education. Technical skills are taught in a framework that includes creativity, play, and personal growth. Learning to see the world with the eyes of an artist teaches students to think critically, develop empathy, and connect more deeply with their community.
By the time they graduate, all students have learned fundamental concepts of visual design while developing an appreciation for the importance of art as a means of understanding the world. Our most serious student-artists complete a senior portfolio and display it in a public venue. Many of our students continue their artistic studies in college.
Visual Arts
Seeing the world with the eyes of an artist teaches students to think critically, develop empathy, unlock their creativity, and connect more deeply with their community.
The visual arts department at Bosque School teaches technical skills in a framework that includes creativity, artistic exploration, and personal growth. In middle school, all students take three years of visual arts classes. We make this commitment because the crucial creative skills developed through the visual arts will serve our students well as they tackle big questions and challenges in whatever college and career path they choose.
In high school, all students complete two years of either visual or performing arts, with many opting to take additional elective courses. After completing our introductory Foundations course, students pursue topics such as digital arts, ceramics, painting, and drawing. By the time they graduate, all students have learned the fundamental concepts of visual design while developing an appreciation for art as a means of understanding the world. Our most serious student artists complete a senior portfolio and display it in a public venue. Many of our students continue their artistic studies in college.
Our campus has become home to many student art projects over the years, including the signature 7th-grade mosaics and ecological and landscape murals that enhance our buildings. At Bosque School, student artwork is not just displayed for a show but celebrated as part of the fabric of our community.
There are numerous exhibitions throughout the year celebrating student artwork, including the Winter Art Show, the heART Show, which raises money for school supplies in the community, and the end-of-year Arts Crawl, featuring works from students in grades 6-12, including senior art portfolios. Bosque School students also participate in the National Scholastic Art Awards.
Immersive courses, offered each May, provide additional opportunities for students to apply their visual arts passions, skills, and knowledge through interdisciplinary coursework. Some recent visual-arts-related immersives include Design Genius (middle school), Murals and Public Art (middle school), Voices and Images of New Mexico (high school), Art and Social Justice (high school), and Designing a More Sustainable Planet (high school).
Seniors have the opportunity to deepen their commitment, knowledge, and expertise in the visual arts by choosing to ground their yearlong senior capstone research in the visual arts department. Some recent related capstone topics include:
- Body Image and Societal Expectations: An Artistic Counterscript.
- People Cry, Laugh, and Get Angry in the Face of Art: A Deep Dive Into Humor Used in Art.
- Not a Natural Disaster: An Artistic Exploration of Land, Culture, and Growth in Relation to the Effects of Nuclear Weapons Testing and Usage in New Mexico and Japan.
Extracurricular visual arts enrichments may include travel to the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest Arts Festival, participation in the Pottery Club, The Oracle (Bosque School’s creative magazine), and membership in the Distinguished Artists Guild.
Performing Arts
Our band, choir, drama, strings, and technical theater programs develop confident students who find great joy in performance, collaborate effectively, and are willing to take risks to expand their skills.
Bosque School’s performing arts program provides students the opportunity to discover their passion, learn perseverance through practice, and become well-rounded students. All performing arts courses at Bosque School involve live performances — including opportunities to perform out of state and abroad — where students build self-confidence, learn teamwork, and develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments.
All middle school students study a performing art of their choice each year. Students in 6th and 7th grade may choose to study band, choir, drama, or strings. In 8th grade, students may also choose to study technical theater.
High school students are required to take two art credits. Bosque School enjoys very high participation in the high school performing arts, and many students choose to exceed the required number of credits. Upper school students have several options, including technical theater, drama, serenata, intermezzo, wind ensemble, jazz band, cantate, and voice class.
Students in both middle and high school have the opportunity to participate in after-school performance opportunities, including the Mainstage drama production and a fully staged musical. Recent Mainstage productions include Macbeth, The Little Prince, and ¡BOCÓN! Recent musical performances include Les Misérables, Sweeney Todd, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Students may also choose to participate in community blocks in middle school for advanced string players, All-State preparation for choir and strings, drama games, jazz band, pep band, and jam band.
The Bosque School choir has performed at Carnegie Hall, Disneyland, St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Christ Church in Dublin, and Popejoy Hall right here in Albuquerque — all by invitation and audition. Our wind ensemble has consistently competed in the Cavalcade Music Festival and earned superior ratings. Recent jazz combos have performed at the New Mexico Music Educators Association All-State Festival and the Saulkrasti Jazz Festival in Prague and have opened for live touring acts at the African American Performing Arts Center. Our strings program regularly commissions new works by local composers, has performed at Disneyland, and traveled to Los Angeles to see performances led by the renowned conductor Gustavo Dudamel. All of our performing ensembles have participated in the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest arts festivals with great success, and many of our students have gone on to pursue successful careers in the performing arts.
Immersive courses, offered each May, provide additional opportunities for students to apply their performing arts passions, skills, and knowledge through interdisciplinary coursework. Some recent performing arts-related immersive courses include Let’s New Mexi-Go!, Showmakers (middle school), Filmmaking (upper school), and Pura Vida (upper school).
Seniors have the opportunity to deepen their commitment, knowledge, and expertise in the performing arts through their yearlong senior capstone research. Some recent related capstone topics include:
- Strike a Chord: The Impact of Political Music on Public Perception.
- Every Movie, Everywhere, All At Once: Generational Worldviews in Coming of Age Films.
- Beating the Drum for Sound-Based Therapy: Sound Physics.
Many students also participate in extracurricular performing arts events. Bosque School has a vibrant, active Tri-M Music Honor Society composed of students from all three music disciplines. This student-run chapter provides service opportunities for students to perform at the VA hospital, at various medical centers throughout Albuquerque, and at venues for homebound patients. Bosque School’s thespian society includes students from the drama and technical theater departments. Members have participated in the New Mexico State Thespian Festival with great success.
Our students have also traveled to the TVI Actors Studio in Hollywood, California, where they attended acting classes, workshops, and seminars with casting directors, talent agents, renowned actors, and drama educators. Theater tech students regularly attend the United States Institute of Theater Technology. Tech students also put in many hours outside of school supporting our school-wide functions and have been invited to serve as the tech crew for TedxABQ.