This course prepares students for the newly designed Advanced Placement exam. It emphasizes understanding works in their cultural context and making thematic connections across cultures. The thematic approach to the study of art provides fresh ways of looking at art and often inspires class discussion. When analyzing works of art, students think critically about form, content, context, and function.
Create Beyond Limits
PINGRY ARTS
Unleash your boundless creativity in our innovative and modern arts program, where an abundance of opportunities await, and individualism thrives.
Welcome to the Stage
The Transformative Power of Art
At Pingry, we believe that the best education happens when our imagination is valued and creativity is recognized as a path to open-minded thinking and critical analysis. Our community brings together actors, filmmakers, fine artists, graphic designers, singers, instrumentalists, photographers, journalists, publishers and beyond to form an inspiring, dynamic sense of creativity. This is when deep, thoughtful, artistic learning occurs.
Visual Arts
The visual arts—they affect us personally, socially, and culturally. At Pingry, we seek to help students explore this pervasive media through wide exposure, critical examination, and age-appropriate curricula. Our courses are carefully designed to help students discover their talents and find their voice.
Our facilities are state-of-the art. On the Lower Campus, students work in two renovated studios. At the Basking Ridge campus, they enjoy the resources housed in the beautiful Hostetter Arts Center, completed in 2003. And for Upper School photography students and Middle School studio labs participants, the main campus building is the center of activity.
Visual Arts
Film Production
Filmmaking
Filmmaking has no limitations or box you have to fit into. There are no right or wrong answers, only different ways to tell a story. I can choose the shots, colors, and sounds that I think convey certain emotions, but the real meaning of a film is up to the audience, and I think that’s the best part of filmmaking.”
-Anthony Truncale, 2024 Pingry Filmmaking Award Recipient
Performing Arts
To some, theatre is simply a form of entertainment. But at Pingry, we pride ourselves on using theatre as a way to connect our students to the world around them, helping them to become better people and better citizens. Drama at Pingry encourages genuine personal interactions and truthful moments, allowing actors to open their eyes to the lives of others, to walk in their shoes, and to listen to and respect their voices. As we like to say, the character that a Pingry student portrays onstage ultimately helps to develop their character offstage.
Performing Arts
Past Musical Productions
Pingry students with a desire to perform onstage have several opportunities throughout the year for enriching theatrical experiences. Explore our past productions showcasing our Drama students and their unforgettable performances.
Music
At Pingry, we believe that music is an indispensable part of a well-rounded education. With that in mind, we offer students the opportunity to study vocal and instrumental music as well as music theory, addressing the needs of both experienced and experimental musicians through individualized and group instruction.
We believe that a strong foundation in the classic repertoire not only allows students to experience musical performance with greater understanding, but also encourages them to explore other musical styles and textures. Our performance classes expose students to classical, traditional, world, folk, jazz, musical theater, a cappella, and popular/contemporary repertoire.
Music
Hostetter Arts Center Gallery
Now Showing in the Hostetter Arts Center Gallery: Peter Allen ’78 – Pingry Alumni Art Exhibition
The Hostetter Arts Center Gallery is pleased to present Peter Allen ’78, an alumni art exhibition on view from May 1 through May 23, 2025. This exhibition invites viewers into an intimate, deeply considered world—where gesture, form, and emotion converge—and where questions of legacy, identity, and community are made tangible through bronze and line.