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FDS Art Program

All about Art Classes at FDS

FDS is excited to offer our students, ages 3-15, the opportunity to immerse themselves not only in dance and gymnastics but in the visual arts as well.

FDS art classes are taught by our beloved and very own Professional Artist, Ms. Irina Lib; and by Ms. Hanna Golovko, who is a practicing artist with experience designing and making stained glass vitrage windows, as well as years and years of drawing and painting, and teaching art to small groups of children. Our teachers will focus on unlocking each child's imagination and helping them develop their style.

They will work in different mediums, learn about famous artists, and create their own masterpieces that will always reflect their unique points of view.

FDT's Art classes offer students the opportunity to delve into the visual as well as performing arts. Students explore different styles and mediums with bountiful chances to be as creative as possible. Imagination is childhood's greatest gift, and here it is never stifled but fostered and aided by the introduction of proper technique at appropriate age levels.

REGISTRATION IS GOING ON NOW!

The class schedule is online for the 2023-2024 school year!

FDS School Year: August 16th, 2023 – June 29th, 2024!

Enroll now for the 2023-2024 school year!

Call to schedule your Trial Class Today! (650)965-4135

ART I ... 3-4 years old

By age 3, many children are learning to control their hand and wrist movements better. They are making forms and objects almost, but not quite, recognizable to adults. Circles, lines, and crosses are always popular forms. Some 3 and 4-year-olds may begin naming their drawings. In the middle of drawing, a child may look and say something like, “This is a truck,” or, “This is Mommy.” Naming artwork is a big step that shows the child has begun to think in terms of mental pictures. It doesn’t matter that the drawing has little or no resemblance to Mommy. What matters is that the child has discovered that drawing is more than just something physically fun to do. It is also a way to communicate ideas.

Art Techniques & Subjects:

Line Drawings/Directed Line Instruction
Cutting and Pasting (lots of this!)
Primary and Secondary Colors (painting and/or collage)
Free Expression

ART II ... 5-6 years old

By age 4, some of these forms have taken shape, and adults can identify them as people, houses, cars, or whatever the young artist intended to draw. Typical drawings at this age are pictures of people consisting of large heads that appear to have arms and legs growing out of them. There is usually little evidence of relative size in these drawings. Tiny legs sprout out of giant heads. A drawing of a butterfly may be twice as big as a dog.
Whatever is most important to the child at the time gets the most significant play on the page; what is unnecessary may be left out. Youngsters may leave out fingers, necks, or other body parts. It’s not that children don’t notice that people have fingers; it’s just that fingers are not essential to them when drawing a child’s choice of colors. Art Techniques & Subjects:

Watercolor Introduction (increases in difficulty with grade levels)
Form-based art (Playdough, clay)
Mixing paint and experimenting

ART III ... 7-9 years old

Primary grade children (ages 5-7yrs) are beginning to understand that art is a way to communicate. They consciously create symbols, and their pictures feature bold, direct, and flat images. There is little detail shown to realistic, spatial concepts. They are eager to share their art with others. Art Techniques & Subjects:

Line Drawings/Directed Line Instruction
Cutting and Pasting (lots of this!)
Primary and Secondary Colors (painting and/or collage)
Free Expression
Watercolor Introduction (increases in difficulty with grade levels)
Form-based art (Ceramics)
Painted Paper (mixing paint and experimenting with textures)
Drawing/Rendering with Oil pastel, Crayon, or Chalk
Creating Art with Shapes
Portraits (K and 1st)
Modern Artist (1st-3rd)

ART III ... 10-12 years old

Students at this age build skills through drawing, pen, ink, and watercolor. Tonal studies in pencil, colored pencil, charcoal, and pastel are other options to improve students' abilities. Eventually, students advance into oils.

Art Techniques & Subjects

Drawing/Line Drawing Lessons with markers
Watercolor Techniques (resist, salt, lifting, wet-on-wet, wet-on-dry)
Tempera Painting (mixing paints/tints and tones)
Paper Cutting and Collage
Form-Based lesson (ceramics)
Art History (Artist, Culture)
Oil Pastel Lesson
Chalk Pastel Lesson
Portraits (5th)
Ceramic Tile Mural (6th)
Modern Artists
Colored Pencils/charcoal

ART IV ... 13 and up

Our program recognizes that teens have diverse interests and skills. Our goal is to provide an environment where teens can challenge themselves to develop and refine their techniques in a friendly and inclusive atmosphere. We offer a variety of classes to suit your pre-teens and teens' growing and changing interests in the arts.

Art Techniques & Subjects

Watercolor Techniques (resist, salt, lifting, wet-on-wet, wet-on-dry)
Tempera Painting (mixing paints/tints and tones)
Paper Cutting and Collage
Form-Based lesson (ceramics)
Art History (Artist, Culture)
Oil Pastel Lesson
Chalk Pastel Lesson
Portraits
Ceramic Tile Mural

ART & PSYCHOLOGY for Teens

In this experimental class, teens will explore the history and psychology of famous works of art and what motivated and drove the artists behind them. Students will try their hand at styles popularized by these artists as well as have a safe space to channel and discuss their own challenges, ideas, and motivations as they navigate this often exciting but charged time in their lives.

Art Techniques & Subjects

Watercolor Techniques
Tempera Painting
Paper Cutting and Collage
Form-Based lesson (ceramics)
Art History (Artist, Culture)
Oil Pastel
Chalk Pastel
Portraits
Ceramic Tile Mural

“Painting is concerned with all the 10 attributes of sight; which are: Darkness, Light, Solidity and Colour, Form and Position, Distance and Propinquity, Motion and Rest.”

-Leonardo da Vinci, 'The Notebooks Of Leonardo Da Vinci Volume 2', 2005.

Tuition and Fees

Tuition is calculated annually based on the cost of the program and the number of days in the entire school year.

Tuition is divided into 11 equal payments (Mid-August to June) for your convenience, regardless of the number of weeks in a month, missed lessons, school closings, or school vacations.
Tuition is due by the 1st of each month and considered past due after the 3rd.
FDS runs on a calendar month, meaning the tuition remains the same whether there are 3, 4, or 5 classes in that month.

TUITION

Monthly Tuition Per Student...

1 class … $115/month

2 classes … $205/month

3 classes … $295/month

4 classes … $375/month

5 classes … $445//month

6 classes … $465//month

7 classes … $515/month

8 classes … $585/month

9 classes … $645/month

10 classes … $705/month

11 classes … $765/month

12 classes & up … $825/month

Private Classes ...

1 person /30 min ... $50

1 person /45 min ... $70

1 person /60 min ... $90

2 people / 45 min ... $110

2 people / 60 min ... $130

3 people / 45 min ... $150

3 people / 60 min ... $165

4 people / 45 min ... $200

4 people / 60 min ... $220

FEES DUE UPON REGISTRATION

NON-REFUNDABLE:

New Family Registration Fee: $80 per student or $135 per family
Returning Family Registration Fee: $65 per student or $105 per family

This fee covers the administrative costs of the enrollment process and insurance and can also be used as a "Waiting List Fee."

DISCOUNT

10% Discount for additional Siblings/Parents. To apply the tuition discount for an additional Sibling/Parent, the new student must have equal (or fewer classes) per week than the first student.