RL Launches ART@RL, an Online Gallery

While the pandemic prevents guests from coming to campus this year, it also prevents the student artwork that reliably lines the halls from benefitting a broader audience. Arts Department Chair Brian Buckley and Headmaster Kerry Brennan were intent that the school still share students’ impressive work, despite the logistical constraints. With the helpful cooperation of art faculty members, students from all classes, and other colleagues, Roxbury Latin launched today its online art gallery, ART@RL. We hope that virtual visitors will enjoy the various class galleries, which include works—paintings, drawings, sculptures—created by students from Class I through Class VI.

At Roxbury Latin, the ultimate goal of the Arts Department isn’t to make artists, but to make art lovers. The intention is not to make masters, but rather students who are sophisticated at looking, and appreciating, and accessing meaning in art—all important skills in a complex world.

And yet, each year students choose to take their artistic interests and talents to great heights, creating true masterpieces—delighting in both the frustrations and rewards of committing to a work of art and bringing it to its full potential. Boys routinely win regional and national honors for their paintings and drawings.

Through the Visual Arts, Roxbury Latin faculty also teach boys about the history of art and the masters who have come before them: They give students a historical sense of the technologies and techniques employed by artists, architects, and engineers over time—and through which those individuals responded to practical or creative problems.

​Visit ART@RL today, and check back frequently.