Visual Arts

The Barbara Crawford Gallery, named in honor of a legendary art teacher at Chestnut Hill Academy, was established in 2000. Crawford profoundly influenced the lives of hundreds of students with her passion for teaching and love of art. The gallery serves as an important teaching tool, offering our students the opportunity to experience a diverse range of artwork through rotating shows by significant area artists. Our current curator, Melissa Haims, works with the art faculty to assemble shows that enhance the student experience as she strives to find overlap between the artists' work and the curriculum in the school. 

With a fully-equipped woodworking and ceramics studio, SCH artists are supported in their creative endeavors. Every course is taught by a working artist on our faculty—each with an area of expertise that boasts many years of experience in the professional art world.

Upper School classes range from beginning to advanced levels of drawing, painting, design, photography, woodworking, and ceramics. We take pride in our students and ensure that each Upper Schooler is assisted in the process of developing portfolios of their artwork, leading many graduates to pursue an arts-related career at renowned art schools and universities.

Our Upper School students have won numerous regional awards for their submitted work to the Scholastic Art Awards. In 2018-2019, this included four regional Gold Key awards and two national Gold Key awards for a walnut oak table by Joe McDermitt and a cardboard construction by Destiny Weal.