AP Art: Spring Gallery Exhibit 3

This week we hosted our 3rd AP Art  Spring Gallery Exhibit 3 with work from Anna, Jillian, and Emily.  The art was really varied and it was great to get a chance to see the progress of all the AP portfolios in one show.

Studio Art: Origami Recycled Paper Vase

In Studio Art we are beginning work o creating our Origami Recycled Paper Vases in class.  We will be recycling magazines to create the vases so we'll start by folding 25-35 pages into thin strips and gluing them.  The rest of the process can be seen in the tutorial below:

Art Honor Society: Vans Custom Culture Contest

Today in Art Honor Society we will find out the results of the first round of judging in the Vans Custom Culture Contest.  Above is our four shoe designs that were entered earlier this month and created by Anna, Luke, Ilysa, Emily, Jillian, Adelaide, and Sarah.  We also entered the poster design below which was created by Jon.  The work looks terrific so best of luck!

Film Class: Aardman Studio

In film class we are working on our animations while also learning about some of the great animation studios and this week we are looking at Aardman Studio in the UK.  Above is a video tour around the studio and today we will finish looking at their history and where they are headed next with new tech and 3D printing!

Digital media: Digital haiku

My school day #Haiku video #art for #NationalHaikuPoetryDay & #NationalPoetryMonth pic.twitter.com/Cr5n2ORaOo

— Tim Needles (@timneedles) April 17, 2017

In Digital media we will continue our Poetry month project by writing and filming a haiku poem.  A haiku is a poem with 3 lines (5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables).  The Digital haiku can be created with pictures, drawings, or video but the video should include the haiku with written or spoken and be at least 7 seconds long with original imagery.  We will begin by writing 3-5 haiku's in class then we will work on creating the video.  Above and below are example digital haiku I created this month.

Created another digital #Haiku video for our #NationalPoetryMonth #art project pic.twitter.com/MYeVeO78VY

— Tim Needles (@timneedles) April 25, 2017

AP Art: Spring Gallery Exhibits

We opened our 1st APArt gallery shows of the season today, love sharing the amazing work students create w/ all of the @SCSD_HSE community! pic.twitter.com/sZpXmbmVCb

— Tim Needles (@timneedles) April 5, 2017

We started our AP Art Spring Gallery Exhibits this month with Luke and Stephanie's show on April 5th which had a great response from the students and staff.

Yesterday we opened the show for Ilysa, Danielle, and Lauren which looks fantastic as well!  Congratulations on the terrific work you've created this year, it's great being able to share it with the school!

Studio Art: Paper Origami Cranes

Now that we have all mastered the origami box we will move on to the Paper Origami Crane in Studio Art class today.  Above is the demo crane I created in class this morning and below is the step by step tutorial video showing how to create them.



The paper crane is an important symbol in Japan strengthened by the story of Sadako and the 1000 paper cranes from after World War II. In our continued relationship with japan we have created a 100 paper cranes each year in class and gifted them to Japan each year since my first visit in 2009.  I have even given Sadako's brother himself cranes that are housed at the Hiroshima war memorial in Japan as well as the school district of Fukushima where the terrible 2011 tsunami and nuclear meltdown occured and our cranes are housed in city hall.  Below is the story of Sadako is you are unfamiliar with it.

Digital Media: Digital Drawing

In Digital Media we will begin working on digital drawing using Photoshop in class and get our first look at the new computer lab.  Each student has chosen a poet for National Poetry Month (listed below) and we'll begin by finding a good source photo to work from, creating layers in Photoshop, and creating a drawing.  We'll then change our mindset to design and work on adding a short poem and designing the finished product later in the week.

1. Daniel- W. B. Yeats
2. Ethan- Shel Silverstein
3. Hanna- Walt Whitman
4. Christian- Robert Bly
5. Stephen- Oscar Wilde
6. Hunter- Allen Ginsberg
7. Jack- Thich Nhat Hahn
8. Michael- Robert Frost
9. Erin- Francis Scott Key
10. Joshua- Sylvia Plath
11. Derek- Edgar Allen Poe
12. Amber- Maya Angelou
13. Jonathan- Robert Burns
14. Kelsey- William Shakespeare
15. Aline- Dylan Thomas
16. Alexa- Pablo Neruda
17. Benjamin- Emily Dickinson
18. William- Alfred Tennyson
19. Nicholas- Leonard Cohen (Tim Needles)
20. Needles-  Billy Collins

Studio Art: Paper Crafts

We're back from spring break in #art class working on creating paper crafts & jewelry to raise funds for community arts! #mondaymotivation.

Today we are going to begin by creating an origami box to keep our beads in.  Below is the tutorial for creating the box and above is an example of what one looks like.

Digital Media: 4 frame video poem

April is National Poetry Month and we will celebrate by merging art, media, and poetry together to create an original 4 frame video poem this week.  Today we will work on writng and we will learn different approaches and formats.  Tomorrow we will concentrate on and editing and creating images to support the work and Thursday we will assemble our animated creations.  Above is an example that I created and wrote to give you a better idea of what to expect but feel free to be creative and interpret the assignment openly!

Below are a few favorite video poems from Billy Collins, Reverend Pedro Pietri, Matt Cook, and the great Leonard Cohen who we happened to meet a few years back in NYC on our Art Honor Society field trip!

Studio Art: Typography

In class we have been working on a type design project so it's time to learn a bit more about Typography and the terminology that goes along with it.  We learned some of the basic terms involved with type that you can review on our quizlet here- Typography terms


We will continue to create a letterform design this week until we have a full set and then I will show you how you can digitize them and create a font.  We will also learn a bit about the history of type to understand better where it might go next.  Remember it's not just an alphabet we are dealing with its a living language that is constructed through design and usage.

Today we are completing our Typography and tomorrow is a short quiz on the terms.  Make sure you font designs are complete for Monday in class.

Art Honor Society: Vans Custom Culture Contest

Today in Art Honor Society we will complete our  Vans Custom Culture Contest entries together.  Here's an image of our finished ART shoe design entry- just 3 more left along with the poster.  

Studio Art: Typography

In Studio Art we are learning about the basics of Typography and creating our own unique font set.  First we will design out own alphabet A-Z and number 0-9 fonts then add color and effects before digitizing them to complete the process.  Check out the example below which shows the first step of the process.

And here is an example that I created showing what a complete letter might look like- it's from a project called 36 days of type in which people are inspired to create and share a font design each day.

AP Art: Preparing The AP Test

Today in AP art class we will begin uploading the AP Studio Art Submissions for the AP test, on May 5. Below is the information you need to know to "forward your portfolio to teacher":

School Code: 335001
School: SMITHTOWN HIGH SCH E CAMPUS
Teacher Key: xwt0100

Make sure all the work is sized and the media is stated and the concentration statements are set before submitting your work to me.  Additionally you need to have your 5 quality pieces prepared to send in the AP portfolio case.  Good luck, we're almost there!