Brightworks Blog

Brightworks is a flurry of activity and we are thrilled to share peeks into the lives of the students, our school and the community.

Follow along on social media too!

Our upper elementary school students are studying California Immigration History during the Exploration phase of our current Memory Arc! And they are doing it in typical BWX fashion! After learning about California's immigration history they spent a
'Sit with it!' - A weekly excursion into The Presidio by our high school students who venture out to observe, sharpen their senses, find inspiration and write about it! Take a peek and imagine how this beautiful tradition serves as a bridge to develo
A big Thank You to everyone who came out for our Bi&PoC Family Kickback & Dinner last night! We work hard to create a community that feels supportive, inclusive & safe for all of our community stakeholders! Meeting around the table for s
A Mathematician Like Me! Peek in on our Middle School math learners and see how they work to develop their Mathematical Identities! Aiming to develop their sense of confidence & understanding of math as an everyday language, these students wo
This is our campus. The @presidiosf is our playground. As you may have heard, spending time in nature has been linked to better mental health and a decreased risk of psychiatric disorders among adults and children. Dr Heather Eliassen, at Harvard,
A big Thank You to our visiting friends and educational scholars from the Future Classroom Lab at University College Copenhagen! We have hosted them in the past and were thrilled to see them again on their second visit to San Francisco and Brightwork
Community, exploration, Learning, brightworks Lisa N Community, exploration, Learning, brightworks Lisa N

Creative Studios: tools for expression

At Brightworks, creativity is a practice.

Key to our value of meaningful engagement is giving students the tools to express themselves in new and innovative ways. Through exploration, experimentation, and iteration, they build a repertoire of what works—and what doesn’t—when bringing their ideas to life.

In the first half of each term, Upper School students participate in Creative Studios—dedicated spaces for developing deeper skills, using professional-quality tools, and collaborating across classes. These studios invite students to connect around shared interests and creative challenges, while cultivating the focus and craft that turn inspiration into impact.

This fall, studios options are Kinetic Light Sculpture, Fine Arts, Pinhole Photography, and Coding with BASIC—each one an invitation to explore how ideas can take shape in the world. Past studios have led to experimental animation screenings, ceramics pop-up exhibits, shadow puppet performances, playable video games, and interactive mechanical installations.

In every studio students learn that there are so many ways for ideas to become visible. It’s not just about essays and presentations (although those are meaningful as well). Sharing your ideas with the world can also happen through documentaries, ceramics, animation, acting, improv, animation, 3-d printing and so much more.

One student transformed these oil paints into a beautiful piece of art, later hung up at Butterlove Bakery on Balboa Ave.

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