Visual Arts
It is our belief that God is the ultimate Creator and that since we are created in His image, each student is hardwired to be creative. Through the avenue of art, it is our hope that students will grasp how awesome our Creator is and gain insight into strengths and talents they possess! Jackson Christian art students are exposed to various media in order to broaden their view of art and develop their artistic skills. In Art 1, students are introduced to drawing, painting, ceramics, mixed media, and sculpture! Art 2 builds on those skills and Art 3 is solely studio time in which students develop their own artistic style and create a portfolio.
Art students compete for the opportunity to have their art displayed in the Annual West Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition at the West Tennessee Regional Art Center in Humboldt, TN. Each year we have participated, we have had student art chosen from over 400 entries, with only 150 total works being selected to be on display!
Jackson Christian offers two semesters of photography. In Photography I, students learn techniques of photography such as cropping, lines, natural framing, portrait lighting, and general lighting for all types of photography. There is also a unit for studying different photographers and their work. In Photography II, students learn all about their cameras and how to take photographs with manual mode. Topics include shutter speed, ISO rating, aperture, white balance and how to adjust exposure using manual mode.
At Jackson Christian, students can learn how to design and build beautiful websites by learning the basic principles of design like branding, color theory, and typography which are all instrumental in the design process of a website. They can also learn HTML and CSS, which are the common code languages that all modern websites are built on. These useful skills are needed by nearly every single business in the world to communicate to customers. Students will learn all the skills required to design and build their own websites.
In 2016, our first year of participating in the DevCatalyst Coding program sponsored by theCo in Jackson, two Jackson Christian students won top awards and a trip to San Francisco as a result. Winning students were selected from more than 500 students representing 16 West Tennessee schools participating in the program. Competitors were required to design a five-page website and code it. They also participated in an online interview. Junior Maria McConkey finished in the top 10 and was named a Code Champion; senior Colton Graves was among the top 24 and was designated a Code Leader. The all-expense-paid trip to San Francisco included visits to Google, LinkedIn, Apple and Pivotal Labs.
In 2017, with over 700 participants in the DevCatalyst program, our students again took top awards. Seniors Shane Elder and Sara Maners both placed in the top 10 of the competition and won a trip to San Francisco. Senior Maria McConkey won the Advanced Web Development competition for second-year students. Again in 2018 and 2019, Jackson Christian students had two Web Design students each year who were chosen for the San Francisco trip: 2018 – Junior Zach Shelton and Senior Saylor Greer, Thad Springfield was a finalist; 2019 – Seniors Connor Richardson and Zach Simpson.
