Visual Arts Program

The goal of the Visual Arts Program is to provide students with professional-level training that will allow them to express themselves, grow as individuals, and contribute to the world around them through the highest possible achievement in their field.

Many of Xian Yun’s visual arts students choose to pursue an art career after high school. All of these students were accepted into one or more of their top choice colleges, many of which dominate global fine-arts university rankings.

Our program is unique in that it inculcates in students the hard skills essential for professional accomplishment in any visual arts-related field, including digital composition, concept art, film-making, product design, and architecture.   

The Visual Arts Program curriculum allows you to explore:

Drawing

Students will learn fundamental concepts of drawing, including line, value, light, proportion, and composition. They will create multiple works using graphite pencils, charcoal, and pen and ink, while developing the ability to express their observations accurately in their work.

Color Theory

Students will study the characteristics and compositional effects of color in fine arts, as well as the principles and techniques of mixing color. They will develop a mature understanding of color theory and traditional aesthetics as well as the professional skills to apply these concepts to their work.

Sketching

A fundamental of visual arts and a required component of professional curricula, sketching involves executing a simplistic freehand drawing in a short amount of time in order to capture the general likeness of still life or moving objects.

Chinese Painting

The signature genre of traditional China, Chinese painting is one of the oldest traditions among the world’s visual art disciplines. Aided by knowledge of East Asian aesthetics and expressive styles, students will undergo practicum in the gong-bi (precise brushstroke painting) style of Chinese art.

Painting

Students will create works using watercolor, oil, and acrylic paint, applying prior knowledge of color, perspective, and composition.

Ceramic Art

A visual art form of utmost significance to understanding the material culture of both ancient civilizations and the societies of today, the art of ceramics is closely tied to drawing, sculpting, and design in its history and practical nature. Learning to work with ceramic materials broadens students’ scope of artistic skill and expression.

Studio Craft

The practice of creating decorative devices via a plethora of raw materials and semi-manufactured products. Students apply concepts of color and form, their manual skills, and their creativity to construct self-designed projects.

Graphic Design

A practicum in Adobe suite software in which students create digital images and master image processing techniques essential to the design and media industries.

Stage Design

Students will learn to design stage sets with consideration to performance context, purpose, and stage type. They will design props, scenery, and lighting; produce scaled drawings/models; and construct these pieces for annual showcases.

Media Arts

A practicum in video production/editing, animation, videography, and screenwriting.

Costume Design

Students will be introduced to the history and characteristics of traditional Western and Eastern apparel from various eras. They will learn basic costume drafting, textile and color selection, rendering, and costume construction.

Visual Arts Faculty

Ms. Qiu Yan Hao

Ms. Qiu Yan Hao

Visual Arts Teacher

Ms. Hao has loved painting since childhood. She received three years of professional art training at an arts high school. In 1991, she studied fashion design in the Fine Arts Department of Hebei University of Science and Technology. After graduation, she began to study and practice Western classical painting, traditional Chinese painting, graphic design and sculpture. Many of her works are customized and collected privately. In 2014, she participated in the “World Realistic Portrait Painting Contest” and won the “Outstanding Humanities Award.” Ms. Hao worked in one of the largest state-run television station in China for many years and had an extensive work experience on stage design and prop design. Ms. Hao teaches Painting, Chinese Painting, Studio Arts, Costume Design, Graphic Design, Prop Design and Stage Design at Xian Yun.

Ms. Yue Vera Wang

Ms. Yue Vera Wang

Visual Arts Teacher

Yue Wang was born in Da Qing, China. She is a creative artist with professional skills and great enthusiasm for illustrating and creating art. To pursue her artistic dream, Yue Wang studied Western oil painting in the Ukraine in 2008. During her college years, several paintings of hers were chosen for exhibition in the academy and retained in its collection. In 2013, Yue Wang received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts. In 2015, Yue Wang came to San Francisco and studied for her masters degree at the Academy of the Arts, expanding her professional horizon to encompass Digital Painting, the Graphic Novel, ands Perspective for Illustrators. As a teacher, she hopes that she can help students acquire a solid foundation in drawing and hone their hand-drawing technique to enable them to produce independent work of the highest caliber.

Mr. de Groot

Mr. de Groot

Media Arts Teacher

Mr. de Groot is an experienced video professional with special expertise in producing, writing and editing broadcast news. He teaches Media Arts at Xian Yun Academy. He received a Bachelor of the Arts degree from UC Davis. Mr. de Groot has done freelance work as a producer and editor, creating and posting content for major corporations, television networks, and entertainment companies. Some of these companies include Oracle Corp, CBS, Lucas Films, Indigo Films, PBS and Turner Home Entertainment.

Student Art Gallery

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