AP Studio Art Course 2014-2015 Important Information & Summer Assignment Criteria Mrs. Campbell Tricia.Campbell@vbschools.com
AP Art Studio Summer Assignment Criteria Welcome AP ARTISTS! I am excited to share this new adventure with you and expect our year to be full of challenges, growth, and discovery. Please know I am here to guide, support, and inspire your creative and intellectual growth! Together, we will have a successful and rewarding year! As an AP student, you choose to work either in the Drawing Portfolio (which includes painting), 3-D Design Portfolio (sculpture) or 2-D Design Portfolio. Please review this packet for your summer assignment criteria and important information about the course work. This information will give you a good idea of what to expect and how to prepare for a demanding, yet rewarding year. Assessing Your Work Areas that I will look for as we develop your abilities are: Visual Impact includes composition, color, contrast, and overall formal/aesthetic qualities. Expression of Idea includes your expression of concepts/themes and the depth of your ideas. Your voice! Innovation includes the originality, creativity and newness of your work. Craftsmanship/Technical Skills includes your technical skills, overall craftsmanship and mastery of media. Please keep the above assessment areas in mind as you create. These will be the standard focus areas that we will work to strengthen and develop throughout the year.
AP Art Studio Summer Assignment Criteria Assignment: Complete 10 fully developed and highly resolved drawings/paintings in your sketchbook along with preparatory sketches. Please purchase a large spiral bound sketchbook to complete this assignment. To manage your time/work, that s about one piece per week over summer break. These must be 10 finished drawings completed at a very high level. I have included artworks throughout this packet. Use these as a guide for quality, composition, and conceptual ideas. Due Date: The sketchbook is due on the first day of class in September. No exceptions. Guidelines: From the attached list of concepts, you are to choose 10. Simply write the selected concept on the back of your sketchbook page. Any artists that you studied for inspiration, list on the back as well. On the front, interpret the concept any way you choose. Be innovative. Do something unexpected. Push the assignment. You can do something amazing with every one of these concepts just by looking at your surroundings in a new way. Everything you need to create evocative works of art with subtlety and sophistication is right in front of you. Additional Criteria: Interpret each concept by drawing from life or from observation. All of the main aspects MUST be drawn from life. You can embellish with imagery from other visual sources and/or your imagination. NEVER copy. However, if you need an elephant or an airplane in your work, consult a photograph, but include something drawn from observation. CAREFUL OBSERVATION AND PRACTICE WILL IMPROVE YOUR DRAWING TECHNIQUES! PRACTICE! You won t believe how much stronger your work will become. Treat each image in your work as an actual work of art. It should be completely developed, not just a quick sketch. Use everything you know about strong composition and formal design: avoid floating images in the center of the page; use the ENTIRE page; crop; zoom in; over- and underlap; choose an interesting angle; create variety, unity and movement; etc. Use any media you choose or a combination. If working with pastel or charcoal, use fixative or a cover sheet or both. Try mix media and experiment with layering! Experiment! Treat your book with respect. Consider it a conceptual portrait of you. Be proud of your work and continue to develop until you feel this sense of pride with each piece! Continually ask yourself How else could I approach this? Where else can I take this?
AP Art Studio Summer Assignment Criteria CONCEPTUAL FOCUS SELECTION Select a concept for each fully developed sketch. Write the selected concept on the back of your work. Each concept lends itself to personalization and expansion of meaning. It s the artist in you that needs to find creative ways to communicate meaningful interpretations. Remember: These assignments MUST BE BASED ON DRAWINGS FROM LIFE/OBSERVATION CONCEPT Chart Boundaries Fear Traditions Time Memories Pathways Conflict Displacement Daily Ritual Spirituality Social Iconology Destruction Entertainment Relationships Identity Nourishment Refuge Sanctuary Childhood Greed Exploration Injustice Aging Systems Celebration Growth Expansion Revelations Perception Past/ Present/ Future Metaphors Yesterday Fortune Technology Materialism Dislocation Balance Interdependency Endings Beginnings
AP VOCABULARY - The AP Portfolio consists of three components: Breadth, Concentration and Quality. Drawing Portfolio: Your AP Portfolio, as defined by The College Board, is a series of 24 fully developed images: 12 in Breadth and 12 in Concentration. The drawing portfolio is designed to address a very broad interpretation of drawing issues and media. Light and shade, line quality, rendering of form, composition, surface manipulation, and illusion of depth are drawing issues that can be addresses through a variety of means, which could include painting, printmaking, mixed media, etc. (Photography unless you work back into it with drawing, painting or collage is NOT allowed in this portfolio.) Submitted digitally to The College Board in May. 2-D Design Portfolio: Your AP Portfolio, as defined by The College Board, is a series of 24 fully developed images: 12 in Breadth and 12 in Concentration. You are as to demonstrate mastery of 2-D design through any two-dimensional medium or process, including, but not limited to, graphic design, digital imaging, photography, collage, fabric design, weaving, illustration, painting, and printmaking. Submitted digitally to The College Board in May. 3-D Design Portfolio: Your AP Portfolio, as defined by The College Board, is a series of 18 fully developed sculptures, 8 in Breadth and 10 in Concentration. You are asked to demonstrate mastery of 3-D design through any three-dimensional approach, including by limited to, figurative or nonfigurative sculpture, architectural models, metal work, ceramics, glass work, installation, assemblage, and 3-D fabrics. Submitted digitally to The College Board in May. Note: For either Portfolio, some work may have been created in 2012-2013. You will probably find that work completed in a previous year is not of AP Quality without working back into it, which is definitely allowed and encouraged! Reader: The professional artists/educators hired by The College Board to score your portfolio. Breadth: These 12 images (8 for 3-D Design) demonstrate your ability to deal with a range of subjects, media and approaches (from life, from life combined with other visual sources, from life combined with imagination, etc.). Did you pick up on the emphasis on from life? Learning to springboard from the appearance of actual things is critical in your development as an artist. Some of these pieces will be based on your summer assignment drawings/paintings (in fact, if strong enough and arge enough, the pieces in your sketchbook can be used as Breadth pieces themselves). Others will be your responses to studio challenges that I assign. Concentration: These 12 images (10 for 3-D Design) demonstrate your ability to develop a series related to a theme that is significant and relevant to you. Rather than 12 versions of the same idea, you are to show growth and development. A Concentration doesn t box you in; it just gives you a place to start. When you submit your portfolio, you will also submit a Written Commentary with your Concentration that is not scored, but helps the Readers understand your direction. Quality: These are five images that demonstrate your very best work. They may be taken from either your Breadth or Concentration sections or a combination. Or they may be additional works. For the Drawing portfolio, five actual works [18 x 24 (preferably) or smaller] are shipped to The College Board as part of your exam. For 3-D Design, 2 views of five sculptures (a total of 10 slides) are uploaded to The College Board website as part of the exam.
IMPORTANT Information FOR SUCCESS: The pace is generally 1 Breadth and 1 Concentration piece finished every 2 weeks for a group critique. You must be willing to work outside of class. Start the year strong! Complete your summer assignment with enthusiasm, commitment and motivation! Be Innovative. Find new ways of communicating through your artwork. Your art is your voice! Personalize, individualize, and be original! Do not copy from others work, including images in magazines with no named artist. This is plagiarism and is strictly forbidden in AP as it should be regardless of their rules. Copying can be a good technical exercise in the privacy of your home. But, it teaches you NOTHING about composition and little about careful looking. It is not artmaking!!! COMPOSITIONS MUST BE STRONG FOR THE SUCCESS OF YOUR PIECE! Regardless of whether a viewer or an AP Reader grasps your concept, your work must still be strong visually and it must incorporate strong drawing techniques (even if you are working on the 3-D Design Portfolio). COMPOSITIONAL GUIDELINES: AVOID: Avoid placing objects in the middle of the page or middle of the sculpture Avoid 4 Corners placing objects in the four corners of the composition Avoid leaving dead zones of negative space, especially around the edges of your compositions. CROP OFF THE EDGES Your negative space must work as hard as you positive space it should be JUST as thoughtfully considered and JUST as interesting, but not overwhelm your positive space DO: Do use overlapping/underlapping of objects for unity Do implement a variety sizes Do unify background to foreground using any design element (color, line, etc.) Your foreground should not look separate from your background. COLOR: Color can make or break you, especially in terms of the maturity of your work. Go for rich, complex, layered and ish colors, i.e. colors that are, for example, goldish, greenish, brownish, bronze-ish. Anything else looks elementary! Choose a color scheme from a well known work of art and base your palette on that. DO this until you master color. NEUTRALIZE your color. Rainbow bright colors tend to look childish. Your favorite colors will be more beautiful if not all used at once. If you love beachy colors, try using them with neutral caramels and grays LINE: Use weighted lines - lines that vary in thickness and quality. No coloring book lines. LAYERING/MIXED MEDIA: ALWAYS layer your colors/media, regardless of the medium. Never use a single layer of paint, pastel, colored pencil or even graphite. LAYER with marks or brushstrokes. Mix your media in a composition.
Sample Sketchbook Pages (Drawing Portfolio)