AP Art: Long Island's Best

The deadline for entry into Long Island's Best High School Artists competition at the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington is coming up March 8 and Devon, Carissa, Kerrin, and Gabby were chosen to represent High School East so make sure you complete and submit the registration form and let's all cheer them on!

AP Art: College Visit from New Hampshire

Today the New Hampshire Institute of Art will be visiting our AP Art class and explaining some of their program and talking about the faculty and facilities.

Media Art: Paperman, the Oscar winning Short Animated Film

This week the Academy Award for Best Short Animated film was awarded to Disney's Paperman which was directed by John Kahrs and produced by Kristina Reed (who was actually kicked out for throwing paper airplanes) with Pixar head John Lasseter as executive producer.  It is a perfect example of a story arch with a clear begining, middle, and end as well as a clear theme and powerful emotional pull.  As we are gearing up to creating our own short animated films think back to the consise clarity that this wonderful film has to help keep you on track!

Photography: Self Portrait with hand writing

In Photography we are working on creating a unique self portrait with hand writing this week like the examples above.  Once you've created the writing sample and scanned it it's time to shoot some selfies so try and make sure they match the mood and statement your trying to make!

Media Art: The Oscars

The 2013 Oscars were handed out on Sunday and the Best Picture went to Argo which also won Best Film Editing and Best Adapted Screenplay with Ang Lee winning Best Director, Quentin Tarantino winning Best Original Screenplay, Daniel Day-Lewis and Jennifer Lawrence winning Best Actor Awards and Christoph Waltz and Anne Hathaway taking away the Supporting Actor Oscars.   Best Documentary went to Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn for their film Searching for Sugar Man and Best Animation went to Pixar's Brave.

Today we'll be wrapping up Hugo, a big Oscar winner last year and you'll be asked to write a critique using the same format which will be due on Friday but take a look at the video clip below for a peak at the author and the inspiration for the film, a real automiton.

Photography: JR and Vik Muniz

We looked at contemporary artists JR and Vik Muniz in photography class this month and today we'll have a quiz reviewing some of what we learned.  Here are two clips to check out from each of the artists to learn a little bit more if you're interested.

Media Arts: Hugo

This week in Media Arts class we are watching the Oscar winning 2011 film Hugo directed by Martin Scorsese based on Brian Selznick's novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret about the last days of film pioneer Georges Méliès life in Paris's Gare Montparnasse railway station.  The film features cameos by characters such as: the guitarist Django Reinhardt, artist Salvador Dalí, and writer James Joyce and goes over the period of time in film history we just discussed in class.  The short video above gives a look at how difficult some of the shots were with a complicated tracking shot which goes around characters through 3 rooms, pretty impressive!

Media Arts Honor Society: MSG Varsity

Today we welcome MSG varsity to class for some basic training in our Photography class and afterschool for our Media Art Honor Society.

Media Art: Georges Méliès

Last week we looked at the innovative director Georges Méliès and his film A Trip to the Moon / Le Voyage dans la lune from 1902 which uses advances in animation, editing and special effects. This week we will look at Martin Scorsese's 2011 Oscar-winning film Hugo which stars Ben Kingsley as Georges Méliès.

Arts Alive Poster Contest

The Long Island Arts Alliance is launching an Arts Alive LI poster contest which is open to students, professionals, and amateurs of all ages from February 4 – May 24, 2013 and the theme is "Arts & Long Island".  The medium is open (drawing, painting, photography, digital, ect.) and the piece should be 34″ x 18″ horizontal or 22″ x 27″ vertical and the details can be found in the link above.  There is no entry fee to participate and winning posters may be viewed by thousands across Long Island, offering recognition to winners as well as cash prizes.

Media Arts: Film History

In media class we began to learn about the history of film including the phenomenon of persistence of vision and the development of a standard 24 Frames Per Second which makes film possible, early predecessors to film such as the camera obscura (Latin; camera for "vaulted chamber/room", obscura for "dark", together "darkened chamber/room") and the zoetrope (Greek taken to mean "active turn" or "wheel of life") and the men who invented the camera: Thomas Edison and William K. Dickson as well as the film projector, The Lumiere Brothers who's first film La Sortie des usines Lumière à Lyon which is displayed above was shown at Paris's Grand Café on December 28, 1895 along with others such as Le Repas de Bébé and later the popular Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat shown below

AP Art: The Concentration

Now that we are working full time on creating a body of work it's important to remeber to look up occasionally to see the big picture of how all the work fits together as a larger piece and makes a point (and hopefully its the point that you are trying to make). Like Hippocrates said:

"Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgment difficult."

AP Art: Summer Programs

Last week in Art Honor Society we spoke about some of the different summer workshops that were available for high school students and here are links to 4 of the programs that I recommend and have witnessed.  All of the schools are very different and have pros and cons depending on your personality and interests so look into the details for a better sense and feel free to ask questions if you have any.  The cost ranges from$1000-$4000 depending on food, housing, supplies, college credit, and airfare but many of the programs have need based and art based scholarships as well.

Savannah, GA- Summer at SCAD

Rockport, ME- The Workshops Young Artists Program

NYC- SVA Pre College Program

Chicago, Il- SAIC Summer Institute

Photography: Looking at photographer Vik Muniz

This week we are looking at photographer Vik Muniz and his Oscar nominated film Wasteland.  Above is a video from his TED talk on creativity and here is a link to some examples of his work on Artnet.

Studio Art: The Mona Lisa

Have you ever wondered why Leonardo DaVinci's Mona Lisa is so famous and iconic?  One of the major reason's why is because the painting was stolen in 1911 and none other than Picasso was pulled in by the French police for questioning.  Take a look at the video above for some more clues on why the painting has become such an icon.

P.S. Mr.Needles Loves You

Today is PS I Love You Day at Smithtown East, lets bring the love.

AP Art: Senior Art Show 1 Alejandro

Yesterday was our first senior art show of the year showing off the illustration, graphic novel work, and drawings that Alejandro has put together so far this year.  He has some excellent work and his graphic novel is really intriguing so make sure to check it out while it's up!

Barry McGee in Brooklyn

Artist Barry McGee has installed a new Art in the Streets mural in Brooklyn that is well worth checking out at the Mark Morris Dance Center in Fort Greene next to the new Barclays Center.  McGee is an artist we have looked at as part of PBS's Art 21 series and mixes illustration, cartooning, street art, media art, and a vintage feel such as this show at Cheim Read

Media Art: Film Criticism

In Media Art we were reviewing the basic aspects of film criticism using the BBC television show Sherlock as an example.  We watch A Study In Pink and you were asked to write about the characters, plot, theme, and production design for today and now we will learn some more detailed terminology used in film criticism and the world of film for your next review.

Photography: The Basic Terminology

Last week in Photography class we learned some of The Basic Terminology and tomorrow is our first quiz which is based on those terms.  Below are some of the most important terms but click the link above to review the rest of what we discussed in class and good luck!

Composition- The arrangement of subjects and objects in the frame of your photo.

Focal Point- Where the viewer's eye rests in your photo. 

Exposure- The amount of light needed to make a photograph.

Single Lens Reflex Camera- A camera with a movable mirror and detachable lenses that allows you to see exactly what you will be photographing.

Rule of Thirds- The composition technique that breaks your frame into 9 even squares, and concentrates on keeping your subject outside of the center square, to keep your viewer's eye moving around the composition.

Resolution- The number of pixels per inch in your image. Often referred to in pixels per inch or ppi. A higher number will give you more detail and fineness in your image.

Contrast- The range of difference between the highlights and shadows in your photo. Contrast will add depth and a feeling of 3 dimensionality to your image.

F-Stop- The number defining how large or small your aperture is set to. Smaller numbers (1, 1.4, 2, 2.8) equal a larger opening, whereas larger numbers (22, 32, 45, 64) equal a smaller opening.

Aperture- The opening in the lens that allows light to come through to expose your photo.

Shutter Speed- The amount of time the shutter inside the camera is open to expose your photo.

Studio Art: Acrylic Painting Techniques

In Studio Art class we are now beginning to work on painting using acrylics and here are a few important tips for shading and working with colors that you should see before you begin.  Be sure to arrange you palette using the primary colors like a color wheel and remember the paint drys fast so don't use too much on your palette because its wasteful.  You have one week to create the painting of the skeleton, make sure you stay on schedule and don't fall behind also extra help is Wednesday if you need extra time!

Art Honor Society: PTA Art Auction

Here is a link to a preview of some of the work for tonight's Smithtown East PTA Art Auction from our Smithtown East MSG Varsity page- http://www.msgvarsity.com/s/5lqO.  The show starts tonight at 6:30 with music and the auction begins at 7:30.  A number of art honor society members donated work to the cause (such as Brianne's photograph above) and they are all on display outside of Art room 161 until 2pm today!