The Lindenhurst Art Program (K-12) has been designed with the goal of having students experience the full range of the visual arts with an emphasis on the New York State Standards of Learning for the Arts and an emphasis on the Elements of Art and the Principles of Design. Art history is an integral part of the curriculum and is integrated into the art classroom at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. The art curriculum is designed to teach students how to create, analyze, and critique their own and others’ art as well as finding individual ways of expressing themselves.

Art instruction encourages students to:

• Develop visual literacy and creative thinking
• Strengthen cognitive skills
• Express themselves with confidence
• Refine and expand problem-solving techniques
• Learn and practice social skills
• Expand vocabulary and language skills
• Increase their awareness and appreciation of the world around them, past and present
• Experience the joy of their own creations and the creations of others

Parents can further enhance their child’s appreciation of art by visiting museums and exhibits showing original art such as at local libraries, the Hecksher Museum in Huntington, the Long Island Museum in Stony Brook and the Long Island Children’s Museum in Garden City.

In addition, parents are encouraged to:

• Read books to their children about art and artists such as a biography of Van Gogh, Linnea in Monet’s Garden, or Harold and the Purple Crayon.
• Supply their child with inexpensive papers, crayons, paints, clay, markers, and scissors
• Use artists and art as subject matter for classroom book reports and research
• Value, respect, and display children’s art in the home
• Visit websites appropriate for children that contain information and instructions for art projects such as Crayola

Lastly, during the course of the year there are numerous art competitions and shows both in the district and across the metropolitan area that the art students of Lindenhurst are encouraged to participate in. They include:

• The Lindenhurst Fire Department Fire Safety Poster Contest.
• Long Island Media Arts Show
• Ward Melville Heritage Organization Cultural Arts Show
• Lindenhurst Library Art Exhibition
• NYSATA Art Festival
• Senior High School Art Exhibition
• SCALA Art Festivals
• Spring Exhibit
• Celebration of the Arts