AP Studio Art: 2-D Design Syllabus

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1 AP Studio Art: 2-D Design Syllabus Chapel Hill High School Voic Ms. Adams Course Description The AP Studio Art: 2-D Design course is an advanced level course designed for students who want to further develop mastery in their art making skills with an emphasis on concept, composition, and execution of their ideas. The class is presented as a college level course completed at the high school level. Students have generally taken Visual Arts: Comp I and Drawing/Painting I as prerequisites. AP Studio Art is not based on a written exam; instead, students submit portfolios for evaluation at the end of the school year. Students are required to investigate all three aspects of portfolio development: Quality, Concentration and Breadth. In building the portfolio, students experience a variety of concepts, techniques and approaches designed to help them demonstrate their abilities as well as their versatility with techniques, problem solving, and ideation. Students also develop a body of work for the Concentration section of the portfolio that investigates an idea of personal interest to them. Goals of the Course To encourage creative investigation of formal and conceptual issues in the Quality, Concentration, and Breadth sections of the portfolio. To emphasize making art as an on-going process that involves the student in informed and critical decision making to develop ideation. To develop technical versatility and skills while using the Elements and Principles of Art within personal compositions. To encourage students to become independent thinkers who will contribute creatively and critically to society through the making of art. The AP Studio Art course addresses three major concerns that are a constant in the teaching of art: (1) a sense of quality in a student s work; (2) the student s concentration on a particular visual interest or problem; and (3) the student s need for breadth of experience in formal, technical, and expressive means. AP work should reflect these three areas of concern: Quality, Concentration, and Breadth. The AP Studio Art: 2-D Design Portfolio requires the student to produce a minimum of twenty-four works of art that reflect issues related to 2-D design. These works may include traditional as well as experimental approaches to 2-D design. Drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed media, photography and collage are all appropriate means for expressing design principles. In the Concentration section, students develop a body of related works based on investigation of a concept, idea or subject matter that is of personal interest to them. Throughout first semester the teacher will meet with each student to assist in choosing a Concentration theme. Students will investigate their idea and create a plan of action, through sketches and written reflections, with revisions based on continued teacher feedback. As second semester approaches the final theme will be approved by the teacher. The Concentration will be a body of work demonstrating a strong underlying visual idea that may be developed in any single media, mixed media and related processes. During second semester, the teacher will be involved in continued dialogue with students as they use informed decision-making and problem-solving skills in an ongoing process to develop and select the twelve pieces of work for their Concentration. In the Breadth section, students will experience a variety of concepts and approaches to demonstrate their abilities and versatility with techniques, ideation, and problem solving. The Elements and Principles of Art are explored extensively in the Breadth section. Five Quality pieces are selected from either section or are created independently of Concentration or Breadth. During the first week of school, the course is outlined to the students. The individual sections of each portfolio Quality, Concentration and Breadth are discussed in detail. Students view digital examples from both the College Board and past students work that correspond to each section of the portfolio. Additionally, the students review the images and instructions from the AP Studio Art Brochure. Summer Assignments In the spring preceding the AP course, students meet with the teacher to go over the content and structure of the class. Prior to leaving for the summer they receive a list of summer assignments and supplies needed for completion of the work.

2 Students are expected to complete five works over the summer that may be included in the Breadth section of the portfolio. The five pieces will be due on the first day of class and will be critiqued during the second week. Students are also expected to keep a personal sketchbook throughout the year. The sketchbook is a place for developing ideas, exploring media and techniques and working out ideas for the Concentration section of the portfolio. Summer assignments: choose five to complete over the summer. Be original and creative. Do not work from online images. Draw from life! Set up your own still life objects and work from your own photographs. Cubist Still Life research Cubism and set up a still life. Draw random shapes to segment the background. Make the objects abstract by simplifying and distorting them. Exaggerate angles and curves. Use patterns and designs to fill in spaces. Use markers, ink, pastels or a combination. Shoe Still Life Make a pile of shoes. Leave interesting negative spaces. Zoom in and fill the picture plane. Use acrylic, watercolor, tempera or a combination. Tool Still Life Find a tool (a set or variety based on theme/type) and create an interesting arrangement. Use graphite, ebony, charcoal or a combination. Don t be afraid to use colored paper. Surrealist Landscape Research Surrealism. Ideally you would use a landscape that you have photographed yourself for your background. If the landscape that you have in mind is inaccessible then you can work from an online photo; however; you must make substantial changes. Surrealism has realistic qualities but the objects in a surrealist piece are arranged in an abnormal way. The piece should have a dreamlike quality or feeling of being somewhat absurd. Use tempera, acrylic, watercolor or a combination. Figure Study - Find a family member or friend to pose for you in a comfortable position. You can draw them from an angle that doesn t show their face if you would like. The focus here is the figure proportions. Hint at shadows and highlights. You can elongate or distort the figure. Don t be afraid to use a color media or colored paper. If they become uncomfortable before you finish, you can photograph them and finish using the photo. Use charcoal, ink, markers, or a combination. Frida Kahlo Style Self-Portrait - Research Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Use symbols to portray positive or negative experiences and emotions. Place yourself in a unique setting that evokes the mood that you would like to capture. This can be close-up or incorporate the entire figure. Use tempera, acrylic, watercolor or a combination. Course Schedule The course is full year and modified block scheduling is used with classes meeting every other day for 90 minutes. The course focuses on both sections of the portfolio (Breadth and Concentration) throughout the year, with the best artwork selected for use in the Quality section of the AP Studio Art portfolio. The Breadth work is generally teacher driven with a variety of alternate assignments from year to year to encourage individual and unique responses to all work. The assignments made are based on a variety of collected problems commonly encountered in college-level courses. The students have specific in-class and out-of-class assignments; they are also expected to complete some in-class work out of class, depending on the schedule of assignments. Portfolio Development AP Studio Art creates opportunities, throughout the duration of the course, for investigation of the three aspects of portfolio development Quality, Concentration, and Breadth as outlined in the AP Studio Art Course Description and the new AP Art Brochure. With an emphasis on original thinking, students are encouraged to create art works from their own knowledge base, experiences, and interests. The 2-D Design portfolio has three sections (total of 24 works): The Quality Section (I) requires that five works actually be sent in for submission. These are pieces that clearly demonstrate mastery, and may come from Breadth and Concentration. The Concentration Section (II) requires students to submit twelve digital images. The work in this section must be unified by an obvious conceptual idea or theme. The Breadth Section (III) requires students to submit twelve digital images depicting a variety of works that demonstrate understanding of the Elements and Principles of Art along with evidence of expressive and conceptual thought processing and technical skill.

3 Section I: Quality This section of the portfolio consists of five works that are actually sent to the College Board for evaluation as examples of mastery and skill. These five works may be pulled from the Breadth and Concentration Sections of the portfolio, and do not have to be new or separate pieces. Section II: Concentration This section of the portfolio consists of twelve works submitted in a digital format. The purpose of the Concentration Section is to demonstrate an in-depth exploration and evolution of one theme or conceptual idea. The theme must be of interest to the student in order to ensure commitment, excitement and consistent critical inquiry throughout the creative process. An extensive list of possible concentration themes will be provided along with viewing of examples from previous portfolios. While the actual Concentration pieces are generally created second semester, the students will begin to plan and work out ideas beginning with the start of school. As they investigate possible themes and ideas that they can relate to, students will explore, research and develop those ideas as thumbnail sketches and outlines in their sketchbook. They will also be expected to create written reflections about their ideas in an effort to solidify the thought process behind the visual interpretations of their Concentration. The teacher will meet individually with each student to critique and review the sketches and outlines periodically to ensure consistent development of their ideas. Considerable time and effort must be devoted to creating a body of work that demonstrates growth and evolution of thought and ideation that goes beyond just mastery of the skills and techniques explored during the Breadth section first semester. The students are encouraged at the beginning of the school year to formulate ideas for their Concentration by pondering answers to the following questions: What are your interests/hobbies? What affects your life on a daily basis? What qualities make you care about something? What is a theme that seems to recur in your personal artwork? The following is a short list of possible Concentration themes: Identity hiding behind masks and other roles people play Ink drawings based on personal photographic portraits Abandonment of both places and people Evolution of an illness Illustrating a story using a specific artistic style Series starting with representational works evolving into abstraction Exploration of pattern and designs found in nature or culture Abstractions developed from cells or other microscopic images Personal or family history Inside looking out Section III: Breadth This section of the portfolio also consists of twelve works submitted in a digital format. The purpose of the Breadth Section is to demonstrate a variety of concepts, media, and technical approaches with an emphasis on the Elements and Principles of Art. Breadth pieces will be assigned and completed in class primarily during first semester. Students will be encouraged to feed off of each other s strengths and experimentation with discussion and critiques used periodically to enhance the final pieces. Students will be encouraged to think of the portfolio process as building blocks with each new skill, technique and idea being retained for future use. Creative and unique individual responses are expected for each assignment. The following is a list of assignments that may be used: Childhood memory composition based on childhood Encaustic nonobjective, collage, charcoal transfer Symbolic Manikin study composition using artist manikin, emphasis on proportion Self-Series altered self-portraits Figure drawing draw from student model in class Food Still Life photorealism approach Conceptual Piece brown background, monochromatic color and white and black with concept chosen from word bank provided by teacher Narrative Portrait words incorporated within portrait, pattern background, mature color choices and emphasis on mark making

4 Metal or Glass Study surface quality and reflections Watercolor Experimentation Song Interpretation symbolic and expressionistic, but not literal. Artist Combination Old Master combined with 20 th Century artist Honor Piece honoring someone who impacted your life in a positive way Pen and Ink work emphasis on mark making and control of line and ink Pop Art inspired painting with personal symbols Acrylic painting with analogous, monochromatic or complementary color scheme Metaphorical Self-Portrait Mixed Media Texture Piece apply gesso, modeling paste, tissue paper, cardboard and burlap to heavy paper or canvas and then use an acrylic wash to create a colored background. Create a high contrast drawing on the textured surface using white and black charcoal. 2-D versus 3-D illusion drawing areas of drawing transition from simple contour to fully rendered sections (i.e. Escher s Drawing Hands) Compositions that incorporate the use of inset imagery (sections of original include details/close up views of object) Homework As in any college-level course, it is expected that students will spend a considerable amount of time outside the classroom working on completion of assignments. Ideas for projects or solutions to problems should be worked out in a sketchbook both in class and outside of class. The sketchbook is an essential tool for recording ideas, capturing visual information, working on compositional issues, and experimentation. Assignments/Evaluation Assignments that are open-ended in nature and that explore a variety of approaches to design (Breadth) are made during the first semester, with second semester devoted to the Concentration section. Assignments will have due dates. Students should make every effort to complete work by the end date; however, there may be circumstances that cause an assignment to be delayed. It is important that students have a discussion with the teacher if work is going to be turned in late or if they will miss a critique. Work is evaluated in progress and in the finished state through critiques with teacher and peers in-group and individually. For grading purposes, a rubric based on the AP Scoring Guidelines for Studio Art will be used. It is important for AP students to be familiar with the rubric that will be used to score the work in their portfolios. Critiques Critiques are an integral part of all classes. All students are brought together for critiques at regular intervals. Each student must show their work and briefly discuss intent and incorporation of the Elements and Principles of Art. The class is then expected to provide positive feedback and offer suggestions for improvement. All students are required to participate. The vocabulary of art is introduced through the foundation classes and is reinforced through the verbal and written critique. We have class critiques on the day work is due. These generally take the entire class to complete, sometimes more than one class period. Additionally, there is ongoing dialogue between the teacher and students on an individual basis during class time. The students will also have opportunity to dialogue daily with each other about their work. Copyright All student work is expected to be original. At the beginning of the course, students are informed that the use of reference images that are not their own must be limited. Throughout the course they are encouraged to incorporate personal photography or work from direction observation as much as possible. Sometimes, however, the use of reference images (animals or architecture for example) may be necessary. During group and individual discussions and critiques, students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of what plagiarism is and the importance of avoiding direct copying of other artists work. The necessity to alter images for inclusion in larger pieces will be discussed in detail with examples provided. In the instances when reference images have been used, the students know that the work must be significantly altered and incorporated into a larger idea of their own. They will be expected to site sources and include image thumbnails in their sketchbook, along with written notes describing the alterations they have made.

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