Advanced Film: Montage

In our Advanced Film class we are working on a culminating project this week as a group so I wanted to begin by sharing this amazing video from the WYNC's Radiolab show that uses visuals to look at the nature of symmetry done by the creative minds at Everynone.

Senior AP Show 7: John

This week was the opening of John's solo show which featured a variety of work in nearly every media including: paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, ceramics, and a screening of his latest film for the Art Honor Society. It was a terrific show and an impressive amount of work being that John has taken nearly every course Smithtown East has to offer!

Painitng Tips

In Painting class we are about to begin our second acrylic painting so here are a few tips and some terminology to be aware of before we begin. We will be focusing more on learning various techniques in this painting and we will once again be using just primary colors so practice working on the different methods of blending and creating colors that we are going over in class before we begin.

Google Doodle celebrates Mies

Today Google's search page celebrates German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe known commonly as just "Mies" on his birthday 126 years ago today. His well known quote “God is in the details” gives a bit of insight into his design style which sought big areas of open space divided by clean lines which attracted the eye. He was the director of the Bauhaus, the inspired school of art in design in Berlin, for a few years before emigrating to the U.S. in 1938 and creating well known buildings such as: The Seagram Building on Park Avenue/52nd Street in Manhattan (which is also home to the The Four Seasons restaurant famous for its interiors and art created by painters such as: Mark Rothko (who later refused the commission), Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso (whose curtains still hang in the restaurant), and Ronnie Landfield), The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in D.C., and S. R. Crown Hall on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology which is pictured in the doodle.

Photography: School Spirit

This week we have been working on a typography project with photographs taken around school focused on the school colors red and white. Here are some examples from McKenna and Angela of the photographs that were taken and what the final result looks like. Remember the final project is due at the begining of Wednesday's class so make sure you flatten your images and save them to our public drive before then!

MSG Varsity Awards V

This Friday is the final day to enter the MSG Varsity Awards so make sure enter by Noon on March 30, 2012 for a chance to win. Categories include: BEST FEATURE SPORTS & NON-­SPORTS, BEST EDITING, VIDEOGRAPHY, and BEST ORIGINAL PRODUCTION (less than & more than 5 minutes). Prizes include $5,000.00 grant and an MSG Varsity V Award trophy.

Keith Haring @ The Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Museum is showing the first large-scale exhibition of Keith Haring's work with addition materials that are not often seen such as: experimental videos, sketchbooks, and archival objects. The show runs March 16 – July 8, 2012 and is well worth checking out especially if it's a nice day because the museum is nearby the Brooklyn Botanical Garden which should be in full bloom!

Photographing through walls

Here's some amazing video of a Camera that can see through walls thanks to laser technology. Photography students should be able to comprehend the significance of this easily after learning about how light enters standard cameras but think of all the possibilities and applications this sort of advancement offers, pretty cool!

Film History: Mad Men

In Film History class we have begun to study television, and we were speaking this week about the modern show Mad Men. Above is a great interview from the New York Times with the show runner and the major cast members to take a look at and here's my interview with the actor who plays Mad Men's Sal Romano, Bryan Batt that I spoke about in class.

Senior AP Show 6: Dylan

This afternoon was the opening of our most recent AP Studio Art senior show featuring Dylan's illustrations, paintings, and a pretty special photograph. Here's some photographs of the highlights of the show.

Photography: Famous Photographs Remade

This week's photo assignment is to remake a famous photograph from one of the photographers we studied are here are a few examples by photographer Mike Stimpson who recreates well know images with legos and other toys. Here are remakes of: Arnold Newman, Robert Capa, Alfred Eisenstaedt, and Yousuf Karsh.



Also dont forget the extra credit assignment "Ant's Eye View" due Friday, here's a great example from Gordon Ashby

Google Doodles Duetles Todoodles

If you've been working on your Doodle for Google project make sure it's all set to be mailed today!

Doodles are due on March 23, 2012 and must be postmarked no later than March 20, 2012
All submissions should be sent to the P.O. box (regular mail) or courier service address (e.g., UPS or FedEx, etc.) listed below. Please note that you cannot submit artwork via courier service to the PO box below. If you use USPS you must use the top address and if you use a courier service you must use the bottom address.

P.O. Box Address
Doodle for Google
PO Box 9112
Plainview, NY 11803-9112

If you used use Photoshop for your entry here's Google's advice:
"Create your doodle in a new document 1894 pixels high by 2960 pixels wide at 300 dpi. When you are finished, simply open the second page of the PDF in Photoshop and use it as the background layer for a new document and paste your digital doodle in as a second layer. If necessary, move and resize your doodle to fit inside the doodle box. Don't change the size of the document from the original PDF, and you should be able to print it, and then fill in the few fields on that page by hand. Hand written entries will be accepted."

Interview with artist Micah Lidberg

Here's a great short interview with artist Micah Lidberg, an artist you may have seen in: Beautiful/Decay, Computer Arts, and the New York Times Magazine. He pieces are super detailed and colorful as well as absolutely creative, take a look at his book for friends below!

Maurizio Cattelan in VICE magazine

I've mentioned Maurizio Cattelan a few times recently and it seems the artist has been busy in his self-imposed retirement from art as his work is featured in this months VICE Magazine. The magazine's website also has some great content from the Creator's Project which they sponsor, above is a piece on one of my favorite installations at this summers show, Origin by UVA.

Competition: Young Arts

Young Arts is a student competition that encompasses nine different disciplines including: cinema, photography, and fine arts as well as others like writing and voice which stems from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and it's now open for submissions. Winners have an opportunity to win a trip to Miami to attend a Masterclass with world renowned artists such as the example below with painter/director Julian Schnabel done in conjunction with HBO.


Young Arts

Painting Class: Watercolor Figure Painting

In painting class we spent last week working on watercolor figure painting using student models in class and here are a few of my favorite examples of the different excersizes we did each day by Sabrina, Lindsay, and Jenna. We are now working with the skeleton in class building on what we learned.

PDN’s 30: Photography Seminar

Wednesday SVA is hosting a free panel of photographers featured in the 2012 PDN’s 30 issue who will speak about getting started in the photography industry. Panelists will discuss how they got to where they are today, including how they got their first job, and how they structured and financed their first promotional efforts. They will also discuss what they learned in school, what they wish they had been taught, and offer career advice. Photographers such as Mark Mahaney (in the SCAD video above), Mark Hartman, and LaToya Ruby Frazier (whose work is currently in Whitney's Biennial) are expected to be in attendance.

Wednesday, March 14
SVA Theatre, 333 West 23 Street

Seminar: 7 – 8:30pm
Reception: 8:30 – 9:30pm

Free and open to the public

Artist's Talk: Joseph Szabo

On Thursday, March 15 the Heckscher Museum of Art will be hosting an artist's talk with photographer Joseph Szabo from 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm (admission- $15)


Mr.Szabo's work is featured in the Museum's Coming of Age in America: The Photography of Joseph Szabo exhibition and he will be shareing his thoughts about his career and his photographs. The program will also include a special screening of The Joseph Szabo Project, a documentary film by David Khachatorian and George P. Pozderec, which has been shown in numerous film festivals including the prestigious DOCNYC, New York's leading documentary film festival.

The Power of Habit

Here's a great short piece about our habits from New York Times reporter Charles Duhigg who just published a book on the topic entitled The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. It's always good to know how your work and the motivations that drive us!

Photography: The Color Project

This week I asked students in photography to create a photograph then in editing select just one portion of the color to remain for effect. Here are some of my favorite results from the project by Alexa, Angela, Sarah, and Nicole which all work especially well thanks to the photographer's use of texture and text, great job!

The story of Keep Calm and Carry On

Here's a short piece on the very popular Keep Calm and Carry On, the poster designed in England for World War II and later found and revitalized at Barter Books. The poster and phrase have been showing up everywhere as well as many parodies but the phrase has also been the center of a big trademark battle.

Senior AP Show 5: Cody

Today was the opening of Cody's senior art show which showcased his eclectic work including his handcrafted wood and plexi-glass pieces as well as his drawing and illustration. It will be open until next week so come down to room 161 and take a look!

LaToya Ruby Frazier

The 2012 Whitney Biennial opened on March 1 and includes a diverse collection of work from artists as well known as some notable names in film like Werner Herzog and Vincent Gallo. Here's a short piece on photographer and performance artist LaToya Ruby Frazier whose work is in this years show and revolves around the economic and environmental decline of her hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania as well as the Levi's advertising campaign which used the town as a backdrop in 2010.

Doodle For Google

The annual Doodle For Google contest is in effect and the final product should be postmarked by Mar 20, 2012. This year the contest is a bit easier and you don't need to preregister, just create a 2D doodle with the Google logo for the theme "If I could travel in time, I'd visit…" on the entry form and mail it out! The prizes include loads of scholarship money but really isn't having your doodle featured on the Google homepage enough? Best of luck!

Film History: Research Project I- The Directors

In Film History class we we be working on creating a 5 page presentation on PowerPoint with a title page, a video clip with a scene, a bulleted biography, and explanation of the director’s style. Below is the list of directors we'll be looking at and we'll watch the finished presentations and then conclude with a short quiz that includes each of them. I created the list based on the their number of Academy Awards nominations (they've all been nominated for at least 3). Above is a clip about director John Ford who has won the most Academy Awards for Best Director, 4 in total: 1935- The Informer, 1940- The Grapes of Wrath, 1941- How Green Was My Valley, 1952- The Quiet Man.

Billy Wilder
David Lean
Elia Kazan
Francis Ford Coppola
Frank Capra
Fred Zinnemann
George Cukor
George Stevens
Joel & Ethan Coen
John Ford
John Huston
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Martin Scorsese
Michael Curtiz
Mike Nicholls
Milos Forman
Robert Wise
Steven Spielberg
Woody Allen

SKYPE in the classroom: Guest speakers

Now that we have SKYPE in the classroom we are looking for guest speakers in the film industry (actors, screenwriters, directors, or even grips) to speak to my Advanced film class about the profession and how to get into it. Is Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin, or Judd Apatow available?

Advanced Film: Montage

This week the advanced film class will be working on short films consisting of a montage of images and sound. There may or may not be a formal storyline but there should be no sound dialogue because we'll be working on the filming techniques, techniques for editing, image adjustments, color correcting, and other post production elements. Above is the the example we created in the Media Art Honor Society.

Educators Study Tour to Japan

I wanted to let any educators that have an interest in traveling to Japan this summer about the Japan Society's fantastic Educators Tours. In 2009 I traveled to Japan for three weeks thanks to the Japan Society's Educators Study Tour and it was a life changing trip which added a number of lessons to my arsenal that I still teach each year soI highly recommend it. It's open nationwide this year and the deadline is this month so here's the information:

Educators Study Tour to Japan Applications due: March 15
Pre-departure orientation: June 28 – June 30
Tour dates: July 1-July 22

Middle and high school educators will be selected to participate in a three-week study tour to Japan in July of 2012. Study tour highlights include visits to local schools, homestays with Japanese families, and a wide range of site visits in Japan including Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Aichi and Wakayama, as well as a part of the Tohoku region. Open to educators nationwide.

Cost: $1,000 (includes airfare, accommodations, orientation & meals)
For additional information, please email jseducation@japansociety.org or call (212) 715-1275

Film History: Charlie Chaplin

We learned about the history and relevance of Charlie Chaplin this week in class after watching a number of clips from Chaplin's films as well as the Chaplin biopic so now it's time to answer the following question in a short essay:

Using what we learned and discussed in class what do you feel was the key to Chaplin's success and the reason for his later downfall? There are many potential answers but give a reasoning for your answer and support it with examples to prove your point.

If you enjoyed The Gold Rush and the other clips we watched in class I'd highly recommend The Kid, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator which are some of my favorite Chaplin films.

Photography: Self Portraits, words and images

Today in photography class we will be critiquing the self portrait assignment that we worked on this week. The results were varied just like the personalities but here are two of my favorites from what I've seen so far done by Angela and Sarah, nice work!

Painting Class: Hopper's Lighthouse

We critiqued the finished watercolor paintings from the recent Edward Hopper assignment earlier this week and I posted one of the favorites done by Tara above. Watercolor is one of the more difficult mediums to master and it's just the first assignment so don't get frustrated if you weren't happy with your results just yet. Remember focus on proportions, geometry, and the tones in the monochromatic painting and then well talk about color, texture, and feel later in the course.