Teacher: Celeste Guthrie (Read more about her biography here)
Dates for 4-week course:
February 23 – March 20, 2026
Times for Live Sessions: Monday through Thursday, Starting at 9:15am MT (which is 11:15am ET and 8:15am PT). Each live session lasts between 50 and 70 minutes. On Friday at 9:15am MT there will be student group meetings.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
From Renaissance to Enlightenment: Art, Invention, and the Rise of Observation
In this four week Grade 6/7 block, students explore the Renaissance as a cultural “rebirth,” then follow its thread forward until we step into the Enlightenment. Through biography and a small set of key artworks, we study how renewed interest in classical learning, artistic innovation, and close observation changed how people understood the world. Students will also see how inventions such as the printing press and new instruments helped knowledge travel more widely, beginning the shift toward the evidence-based thinking of the early Enlightenment.
Throughout the course, students will practise “ways of seeing” through perspective drawing. In three sessions with guest art teacher Kathryn Loveday, students learn one point, two point, and introductory three point perspective, using horizon lines and vanishing points to create the illusion of depth and strengthen accuracy and control in drawing.
Short, structured writing tasks will develop clear description, precise observation, and thoughtful reflection.
