• Arts > Visual Banner

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Visual Arts

In the visual arts, students will not only develop hard skills and concepts such as line, shape, pattern, value, form, texture, and color across various media but also learn to perceive the world in new ways through the lens of art. This in turn helps them to pay closer attention to the world around them and detect the ordered everywhere. Through a wide range of approaches and styles, students develop and refine skills, attitudes, and knowledge. Stimuli are provided to the student to develop creatively, aesthetically, and socially. As a student begins their learning in art, emphasis is placed on their creative process. But, as the student grows and develops as an artist, he or she is pushed to refine their techniques to create stunning final products. Courses will explore the two- and three-dimensional and include art appreciation and history experiences through the study of various artists, past and contemporary.

    • Chad Austin

      Lower School Visual Art

Mr. Chad Austin is a graduate of Fairmont State University and has a B.A. in Art Education K-12, and a minor in Commercial Design and Graphics. He has been an art teacher for 37 years and has taught Elementary, Middle, High School, and adult classes. Mr. Austin has taught at the Covenant School for the past 26 years. He leads his students in following the Christian Liberal Arts and Sciences tradition of having art connected to all subjects and aspects of learning. Mr. Austin is a practicing landscape artist and has his work in many private collections throughout the United States. He lives well, loves his family, and has dedicated his life and passion to enriching his students by fostering and elevating excellence in the art world. Mr. Austin views himself as a Renaissance man that has been gifted with many talents in order to bless his students, colleagues, friends, and community. Chad loves his craft because within it he can teach his students how to create a world of tranquility and peace through art.

    • Cee-Jay Renner-Thomas

      Hickory Visual Arts

Mr. Cee-Jay Renner-Thomas attended VCUarts to originally study Sculpture & Extended Media but switched to Craft & Material Studies with a focus in woodworking and glassblowing. Over the last few years, he has taken classes at Penland School of Craft, Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, and Anderson Ranch Arts Center. These classes covered glassblowing, woodworking, and painting. Mr. Renner-Thomas's interests are always growing - from drawing and painting to woodworking and glassblowing, skateboarding, and now creating handmade sneakers. His hope and vision for students is that they would understand their role as makers: that God created us to create, to be imaginative, and that He wants us to be in community.

    • Jerry King

      Arts Director

Mr. Jerry King has a BA in Studio Art from Kenyon College, where he arranged for and sang in an A Capella group, designed, acted, and painted for the theatre department, and helped launch the dance program. His Graduate work is in Art History, English as a Second Language (ESL), and Theology. Mr. King worked in full-time ministry, for 25 years, including campus ministry, multi-ethnic urban pastoring, and serving as Senior Pastor for an L-Abri-like congregation.
 
Mr. King has written and staged various scripts, songs, and scores in churches, schools, and communities, and has assisted in local stage design work for Live Arts and Four County Players. 

Before coming to Covenant, Mr. King taught at Mansfield Christian School and Olney Friend School, both in Ohio, and Blue Ridge School in Virginia

    • Robyn Iler

      Photography 1 & 2, Yearbook

Mrs. Robyn Iler taught digital media classes, including photography, graphic design, and video editing, for eight years prior to moving to Charlottesville and joining the Covenant faculty in 2022. She started in visual media while studying journalism at the University of Kentucky. During that time, Mrs. Iler contributed to the student newspaper and interned for the news station at the CBS affiliate. In the Covenant classroom, Mrs. Iler uses her past experience in journalism and law as she teaches Photography and Yearbook. She considers it a privilege to teach a variety of classes involving digital media and it is her prayer that God will use her classroom for His purpose and glory as he raises a generation of students who can share the beauty of God’s creation with the rest of the world.

    • Andrew Irving

      Photography 3 & 4

The Covenant School

Birdwood Campus | Lower School | Pre-K–Grade 5 |
1000 Birdwood Road Charlottesville, VA 22903 | 434.220.7309

Hickory Campus | Middle and Upper School | Grades 6–12 | 175 Hickory Street Charlottesville, VA 22902 | 434.220.7329
Located in Charlottesville, VA, The Covenant School is a non-denominational, private, Christian day school for Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12. Students benefit from a challenging academic program, visual and performing arts, competitive athletics, and a wide selection of extracurricular activities.
The Covenant School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, nationality, ethnic origin, or sex in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, tuition assistance programs, athletic and other school-administered programs, nor in the hiring of faculty or staff.
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