AP STUDIO ART: 3 D DESIGN PORTFOLIO SUMMER ASSIGNMENTS Laura.addis@copley fairlawn.org Preparing for the AP Studio Art Class Summer work: Students will meet at the end of the previous school year. To meet the high aptitude of studio work, summer drawing assignments must be completed by the start of the school year. Your work outside of class will constitute 50% of your grade throughout the year. This summer assignment should be taken very seriously and you should be approaching each task with the desire to show your skills and creativity to the fullest. You will need to purchase two drawing pads/books. A visual journal will be required throughout the year. This will be used to record ideas, thumbnail sketches, design problems, visual inspirations, swatches of collage images and general drawing practice. It should be with you at ALL times. You should choose the format (Hardcover, spiral, etc ) of this journal. The hard covered sketchbooks are excellent when it comes to stability. Just be sure it has good quality paper in it. (Buy cheap get cheap!) It pays to get higher quality paper as it will allow you to achieve better results in your drawings. The second sketchpad should be of good quality paper. 90lb paper weight that is described as good surface for a variety of media is the best bet. This pad should not be larger than 18 x 24, and no smaller than 9 x 12. Assignment #1 Fill 35 pages of your new sketchbook. At least half of the sketchbook assignment will utilize both pages of the book (meaning, the artwork will start on the back of the left page, across binding and connect visually onto the right page.) Refer to the following ideas and suggestions: Pre-prepare many of your pages with washes, newspaper collage, b/w image collage, transfers, etc. Draw from imagination Record your day through images (like a diary but with pictures) Draw self-portraits using different expressions Draw to music Draw gestures at the pool or in a restaurant on scraps of paper and attach to your sketchbook later Pick an ism from art history and draw or paint something that represents it. Simply doodle or attach doodles from other places like napkins, notebooks from other classes Draw something sitting in front of your a fork, cup food, your hand, etc. Make abstractions of things from life Write random thoughts, poetry, lyrics, or famous quotes or collaged or water colored paper. Attach flyers, postcards, text, graphics that are visually interesting to you. Cut out parts of the sketchbook pages to create windows or patterns that reveal the next page. Restructure the edges of some pages, add extensions, pop-ups, doors and secret compartments. 1
Assignment #2 image collection Bring 30 examples of images that are interesting to you for the first week of school. They can be collected in 2 ways: photos taken by you or photos torn from magazines or whatever. Avoid the internet unless your printer is awesome! Assignment #3 PART I: REGISTER WITH COLLEGE BOARD PART II: CHOOSE A FAVORITE PORTFOLIO, WRITE. PART I: GETTING REGISTERED AT THE COLLEGE BOARD WEBSITE Register at www.collegeboard.com Here you will find information about AP Studio Art classes, the exam, scoring rubrics used, and examples of past student work in each of the portfolio areas. From the www.collegeboard.com homepage, click on the For Students tab on the top left. Under My organizer you can create a free user account you can use this account to access information about any AP exams and classes Under the College Board Tests section, you can click on AP which will take you to the AP homepage Here is a direct link to the AP subjects homepage, where you will find links to all of the AP course descriptions: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/subjects.html Here is a link to the Studio Art homepage: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_studioart.html?studioart PART II: CHOOSE A FAVORITE PORTFOLIO, LOOK AT THE STUDENT SAMPLES, COMMENTARIES IN CONCENTRATION AND STUDY THE SCORING RATIONALES FOR EACH SECTION. PRINT A COPY AND BRING TO CLASS. Go to the AP website and view the following pages: Concentration and Breadth student samples, student commentaries in concentration and the scoring rationales for each section. Here s the web address and how to navigate from the home page: http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/index.html From this page, scroll over the green button on the left of the page AP courses and exams and click on Course Home Pages. Click on Studio Art: Drawing at the bottom of the page. Then go to AP Studio Art: Drawing Portfolio with Student Samples and Scoring Guidelines. Then, click on the links for Quality with student examples, Concentration with Student examples and Breadth with student examples and become familiar with these examples, the scores that each received and reasons for the scores. For the writing assignment, choose a year to review for each portfolio (quality, breadth and concentration) and answer the following questions: Write down the year you chose, student name and score for each portfolio for that section (ex. 2008 Concentration- Mary Smith, score-6, Joe Jones, score-5, Sally Martin, score 4). 2
These questions should be used for each portfolio: quality, breadth and concentration. 1. In the portfolio that scored a 6 what did you feel was most successful and why? 2. In general, what was the biggest difference between the portfolio that received a 6 and the one that received a 5? 3. Analyze the composition of one of the images in the portfolio that scored a 6. How does the student create a focal point? How is the composition organized to lead the viewer s eye from one place in the image to another? 4. What did the judges respond to in terms of technique, media, composition, color, subject and content in the 6 portfolio? 5. What is 1 main difference from portfolio that scored a 6 from the one that scored a 5 and the one that scored a 4? 6. What is one major weakness in the 4 portfolio (in your opinion and based on the explanation from the judges)? What could that student have done to improve the work? 7. Looking at the commentary for the 6 portfolio in the Concentration section, How does the student clearly describe his/her work so that you can see their ideas in the work? 8. What is one thing from the 6 portfolio that will be important to keep in mind for your portfolio? What is one thing from the 4 portfolio that you will work to avoid? Why is this important? The more you know about how previous student have achieved and what the judges have responded to, the better equipped you will be as you begin your work PRINT A COPY AND BRING TO CLASS Your summer work should be planned in the journal and completed on the larger paper sketchbook. It is highly recommended that you investigate ideas on developing strong compositions. Study the importance of the elements and principles of design. The internet is full of ideas and descriptions. Whenever possible, draw directly from life, not from photographs or other reference images. If you must use printed images, save them with your completed work. Assignments #4 6 SELECT ANY 3 OF THE FOLLOWING: 1. Complete a sculpture using cardboard from old boxes. Form a relief sculpture or sculpture in the round. Emphasize building up layers. Create multiple levels using corrugated with smooth cardboard. 3
2. Use similar found objects or materials to create a relief assemblage. Use primer to paint over the objects then spray paint the whole sculpture one color. 3. Create a 3 D metaphorical self portrait from the Scraps of your life. 4. Create a group of organic forms or modified geometric forms that interact with one another (visually connect). 5. Design a sculpture that illustrates the concept of a circle and a square. 6. Showing tension, model your hand(s) holding, carrying, pushing or pulling an object. 7. Create an abstracted figure grouping. 8. Create an abstracted self portrait in the round. 9. Create rolls or tubes from newspaper, old phonebooks or other specially selected papers. Create a unified, freestanding sculpture using these forms. Embellish, accent, or design the surface. 10. Reconstruct an old piece of furniture. Rearrange or juxtapose parts. Paint or resurface with added features or materials. Unless specified, any material can be used in your sculptures (except super fragile or immediately degradable products). Sculptures should be well developed, show quality compositional analysis and reflect thought and time involvement. In all pieces, focus on the interplay between the positive and negative space do not forget to consider interior negative space. All 3 sculptures are due the second class period of the fall semester and count as your 1 st three grades. Minimum size requirements: 12 in height 4
Assignment #7 Contemporary Artist Research Explore the work of 3 or more contemporary 3 D artists Address 3 areas about the artist and their work: 1. Give some background information on the artist 2. Describe the artists work 3. React to the artists work Include printed images/text as well as your own descriptive drawing/writing of the artist s work Use as many pages as needed in your sketchbook on each artist Assignment #8 Gallery or Art Exhibition Review Explore one or more galleries/exhibitions and share your thoughts Address these areas: 1. Name, title, location, general information, date viewed 2. Describe, react and share your overall experience; reflect on the overall body of work shown 3. Discuss three or more specific pieces that affected you both positively or negatively 4. Include printed images/text as well as your own descriptive drawing/writings of the gallery/exhibition 5. Use as many pages as needed in your sketchbook 5