January 26-March 19, 2004:
Students in the Art I curriculum will be introduced to a wide variety of drawing mediums. These mediums will allow students to improve their eye/hand co-ordination and basic drawing skills. Students will explore many different techniques focusing on still-lifes, portraits, and nature as their subjects. Below is an indepth explanation of each project of the drawing section of the curriculum.
STILL-LIFE RENDERINGS IN PENCIL
Students will introduced initially to 2 key Elements of Design... LINE AND VALUE. Understanding the importance of these elements in relation to drawing becomes absolutely necessary to the development of a heightened skill level when executing their still-life renderings.
---Awareness of varied line weight verses contour lines and tonal gradation
---Contrasting highlights with shadows
---Noting details
---Creating realistic textures
---Creating the "illusion of depth on a 2D plane
---eveloping effective compositions
---Defining the background, middle ground and foreground
---roper proportion and balance of objects within the picture plane
---Creating a light source
These are a few of the many concepts that will be discussed throughout the course.
Teacher will demonstrate and describe the various techniques and possibilities created with the series of dry media that students will be utilizing. Students will explore 2B pencil, layout pencil, charcoal, pastels pen & ink and ink washes on a variety of surfaces...newsprint, vellum, brown kraft paper, and printed newspaper offer interesting effects depending on the medium of choice.
Students will first create a value scale using a 2B pencil. This exercise allows them to see tonal gradation. Then students use these value scales to shade in basic forms...sphere, cube, cylinder, egg, cone/pyramid striving to create the illusion of depth.
Next, students work with cut paper objects and learn to create effective compositions on black paper. This allows students to gain an understanding of + - space, proportion, balance, foreground, middle ground, and background,and the use of overlapping objects to create a sense of depth in the composition...
After arranging their compositions, students/teacher will critique compositions and make corrections if necessary. Following these drawing exercises, students will begin to learn "the how to's" to skillfully render inanimate objects. These techniques allow them to sharpen their drawing skills and force them to focus on noting all the details. Accurate proportioning of each object will ensure a more realistic look.
When students complete an effective still-life linear composition, they can now concentrate on modeling (shading) it in wide range of tonal values, creating a realistic appearance. Following this piece, students will explore other dry media on varied surfaces allowing for a looser, more aesthetic style.
BR>
*Following the completion of each piece in the series of still-lifes, students will engage in critiques of the work.
*Students will have a written test on the basic drawing terms and concepts following completion of their still-life series.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Portraiture
Art I elective classes will be involved in a series of PORTRAIT STUDIES. These studies will allow students to experiment and explore a wide variety of wet and dry media. Various techniques will be employed, enabling students to expand their individual creativity and produce works that are entirely original and unique to that of their peers. Using the DIGITAL CAMERA, students will be allowed to choose a black/white photo. The photos will be the subject for their series of PORTRAIT STUDIES. Students will be instructed on how to create a GRID (a technique used to proportionally enlarge an image).
After students enlarge their portraits/self-portraits, they will further develop their knowledge and skills by experimenting with the following mediums. ..CHARCOAL, INDIA INK WASHES, LAYOUT PENCIL and PASTELS.
Their expertise in handling the mediums will continually develop throughout the levels of Art I, II, Painting & Mixed Media, and Ceramics & Sculpture helping students to prepare quality work for their portfolios.
TERMINOLOGY and ART HISTORY are an integral part of the learning experience and students will be introduced to terms and art history (artists/periods/styles). Student works will also be used as tools that will help influence them in developing their own individual creativity.
Following the series of portrait studies, students will be involved in student critiques of the projects.
*Students will have a written test on all portrait terms and techniques for rendering a portrait.
*Students will also view an discuss powerpoints on Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Chuck Close, and Vincent van Gogh (created by the Painting & Mixed Media class.
Students will be tested on the artists/art history as a means of increasing students knowledge of art and further develop their understanding art, allowing for advanced creativity of their ideas and finished works.
Oil Pastels, Pen and Ink
Students will be involved in two drawing projects that utilize diverse drawing media.Oil/soft pastels and pen and ink allow students to create contrasting works of color vs. black and white. Replicas of artist masterpieces are the subject for the oil pastel medium. Students focus on“painterly techniques” such as color blending and the impressionist techniques of dots and dashes of color the oil pastel medium.
Pen and ink (a black and white medium) and scratchboard will be utilized by students to explore the possibilities of tonal variation created with line (crosshatching, hatching, and stippling). With the scratchboard material, students will experiment with the similar techniques such as crosshatching\ hatching but, instead of applying ink with a pen students use a sharp stylus and remove the black inked surface to create a white on black variation of tonal values and textural effects.
*Students will follow up these projects with a comparative essay on utilizing pen & ink vs. pencil to create tonal values. Students must properly use basic art terms and concepts in their essays to demonstrate a sound understanding of the terms.
MARCH 22-APRIL 30, 2004
Students in the Art I curriculum will be introduced to a variety of painting mediums and techniques. Students will develop a sound understanding of color theory in this section. Exploring the mixing of tints and shades of countless hues, students' works will begin to take on a more aesthetic look. Tempera, acrylics, and watercolors will allow students to create paintings that range from flat, opaque colors to transparent washes, to rich, blended tones.
PAINTING (COLOR THEORY)
A thorough understanding of the color wheel and color schemes will provide students with the knowledge necessary for creating any piece involving the use of color.
Students will utilize tempera to mix flat, opaque hues of varied color tones.
Students will experiment with watercolor techniques and create spontaneous, miniature landscapes of transparent colors.
Students will be introduced to acrylic medium with a strong concentration on color and
techniques. Developing an in-depth understanding of color will allow students to explore thlimitless possibilities of painting. Tints, shades, complements, primaries, secondary, warms,
cools and analogous color schemes are some of the concepts that will be explored.
Students were instructed to compose an 8” by 10” design utilizing FLOWING LINES ONLY. These curved lines should create tubular and donut shapes that are INDICATE KNOWLEDGE OF THE FOLLOWING DESIGN PRINCIPLES...
---PERSPECTIVE-by overlapping shapes, varying sizes of shapes, converging lines,and varied line weight.
---REPETITION-by repeating the 4" x 6" design to create an INTERLOCKING overall pattern.
---BALANCE(ASSYMETRICAUSYMMETRICAL) by centering or off centering a scanned/cropped/distorted section of the original design (CREATED USING THE SCANNER/PHOTO STUDIO SOFTWARE AND PRINTER)
After interlocking design is transferred to vellum, students are to INDICATE KNOWLEDGE OF COLOR THEORY by choosing various color schemes such as MONOCHROMATIC, ANALOGOUS, NEUTRALS, WARMS, COOLS, COMPLEMENTS.. .and their FINE MOTOR SKILL ABILITY (craftsmanship) by carefully mixing and blending these color schemes in designated sections of the overall composition.
When non-objective painting is complete, it should reflect the following;
--- A CONTINUOUS FLOW OR MOVEMENT WITHIN THE PIECE
---HARMONY OF SUBTLE TONAL TRANSITIONS WITHIN EACH COLOR SCHEME
--- AN ILLUSION OF DEPTH A FOCAL POINT/CENTER OF INTEREST THAT IS SYMMETRICALLY OR
ASSYMETRICALLY BALANCED AND UTILIZES ONLY NEUTRAL COLOR TONES A COMPOSITION THAT IS REPEATED 4 TIMES TO CREATE AN OVERALL INTERLOCKING DESIGN.
Students will take part in a several critiques to reflect on the paintings that were created.
Students will take written tests on color theory, various wet media, techniques and varied painting surfaces. These tests will support their understanding of creating "quality artwork".
MAY 3-23, 2004
CERAMICS
Teacher will demonstrate the skills for designing a 3-D piece that demonstrates knowledge of the following fundamental hand-building techniques.
COIL
SLAB
PIERCING
EMBOSSING
RELIEF
APPLIQUE
CARVING
Students should always employ crosshatching/slip technique to ensure adhesion of clay when using coils, slabs, and applique'. CRAFTSMANSHIP and CREATIVITY are extremely important when creating a piece that reflects a clean, finished look.
Students may choose to model a mask, sculpture, functional vessel, or relief, As long as the design is challenging and indicates heightened level of creativity and skill.
Students will read Scholastic Art magazines focusing on historical works done by Greek, Roman, Chinese, and Mayan artisans along with individual artists…Picasso and Robert Arneson. Ancient ceremonial masks will also displayed as source of ideas for ceramics project. Students are encouraged to visit websites like google and research ideas for their ceramic piece.
MAY 26-JUNE 2004