Welcome to Art Room 161

This blog was created as an extension of the dialogue that began in our classroom and the purpose is to share creative ideas, images, and critiscm. All posts should be appropriate for the high school classroom and critiscm should be helpful and positive.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

CTCart: Hacking Technology for the Classroom


Last week I was honored to be invited to speak at the Creative Technologies Symposium for art and education at Columbia University Teachers College.  The event was inspiring and informative with great speakers that range the gamut from curators to designers to educators.


I wrote a short synopsis of the concept behind my presentation for Education Closet's Coaching Calls blog on which I regularly contribute here:

Hacking Technology for the Classroom

I'll also be writing up a full paper on the subject for the University Press later this summer.  Below is a short Vine video that gives a flavor of the terrific event!

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Last Day of Classes



Today is the Last Day of Class which is exciting but bittersweet.  I hope everyone has a fun and safe summer and remember to keep the creativity flowing!  It was fun working with all of you this year and best of luck to all the seniors who are graduating!  The Vine above will help you remember what this year was like with Mr. Needles in art room 161

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Art Honor Society: Student Interview with artist Heather Sinclair



This month the studio art classes and the Art Honor Society had a chance to do a video interview with artist Heather Sinclair after we worked on a drawing assignment based on her inspiring works in the Sketchbook Project some of which is shown in the video above.  Below is the results of the interview

Question 1:




Question 2 & 3:






Question 4:




Question 5:





Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Media Arts: Final Projects Due Today



In  Media Arts and Advanced Media Arts the Final Film Projects are due today via You Tube, Vimeo, the public or google drive.  Be sure to get your film in as it is a very large grade for the quarter!  Tomorrow we will begin sharing and viewing some of the films and critiquing them-we'll start with Emily and Jenna's doc about this year's prom!

Monday, June 8, 2015

Extra Credit: 7 Days with the Journal Fodder Junkies Sketchbook Challenge

The final Extra Credit for Studio Art classes this year to to work along with Journal fodder Junkies's 30 day sketchbook challenge.  The challenge is to work 15 minutes a day on sketchbook art with the daily theme for the month of June but being that school ends this week you can choose 7 Days and participate.

Friday, June 5, 2015

Advanced Media Art: Film Festivals



In our Media Art and Advanced Media Art classes we are working on our final film projects which are due Tuesday so it's a perfect time to talk about submitting to Film Festivals.


Many film festivals have student categories such as the Lighthouse Film Festival in New Jersey where Max from our Advanced Film class recently entered and will have his film "House of Memory" shown in this weekend.  As a reminder, here are the basic rules for the final project once again
Final Project Basics: The content is up to you as long as it is school appropriate and has the basic structure of a film which we learned in class (if you have a question see me).  The basic time minimums are below: 
Drawn animation- 30 seconds minutes
Pixilation Animation- 1 min minutes
Live Action- 3 minutes
Collaborations- Add time for each class member working on a project
Most festivals have online entry via withoutabox these days so submitting has become mush easier than in the past.  Here are links to a few film festivals and competitions which students have had success with:

Hamptons Film Festival

Young Arts

Long Island Film Expo

there are many festivals with student categories, check out this film festival list for more opportunities!

Thursday, June 4, 2015

AP Art: 2015-2016 Summer Assignments


The 2015-2016 AP Art class will have a short meeting today Wednesday June 10 at 2:05pm in room 161 to discuss the schedule and summer assignments which are posted below. If you cannot attend for any reason make sure you see Mr.Needles and complete the 26 assignments by the first week of class because they are a large part of the first quarter grade and the AP test itself.

As an example of what a finished work should look like in terms of the art/design principals above is an example of the first assignment (listed below) by Shelby and below are examples of Clay's concentration pieces and some of the finalists for the Shanti Peace Posters by Lisa and others from the AP Art class a from earlier this year. If you have any questions about the assignments feel free to email me or come speak with me, other than that remember to enjoy the work and don't stress out because it usually means death to creativity!


Summer Assignments:
All assignments can be done in any medium, technique and style you desire but should be 2-Dimensional work (flat) not 3-Dimensional (sculpture) work in any media that is 18”x24” or smaller and should be entirely original (do not use other people’s pictures, characters, or content in any way).
Part I: Breadth Assignments:
(these 5 assignments should be sent to me via twitter or  instagram- @timneedles with the #needlesclass or mail tneedles@smithtown.k12.ny.us by August 1 for feedback. These works will also count towards your 1st Quarter grade and will be critiqued during the first week of classes.)

Assignment #1: Inspiration- Take a look at this list of 100 Artists from Art 21, choose any artist and create a piece responding to (not copying or in their style) their work. The list includes everyone from artist who use traditional media such as: Cindy Sherman and Richard Serra to artist like: Ai Weiwei, Marina Abramović, and Laurie Anderson who do performance pieces. Video clips are available for each artist on the website so do a bit of research, find something in one of the artists that you connect to and create a piece on it.

Assignment #2: Design with TextureCreate a piece that incorporates elements of design and features texture in an important way.  It can be any 2D media but make sure the composition and rhythm of the piece stands out and draws the eye.

Assignment #3: A mixed-media portrait – Create a portrait using various media in monochrome or in color. Feel free to use any medium you desire (ink, collage, newspaper, paint, & other mixed media) and as many media as you like. The style may be handled in any way you wish: realistic, abstract, expressive, impressionistic or cubistic, etc. This portrait should reveal something significant about the model. Hands, torso and face are important features and should be included in the work. Try an unusual surface. The portrait may be done on any flat smooth unbreakable surface such as cardboard, mural paper, plywood, masonite, plexiglass, homasote board, etc.

Assignment #4 -Intransigent - Create a piece based on interpreting the following term:
intransigent

(adj.) refusing to compromise, often on an extreme opinion (The intransigent child said he would have 12 scoops of ice cream or he would bang his head against the wall until his mother fainted from fear.)

Assignment #5: A Day In Your LifeChoose a moment from your everyday life and express it visually using any media. This can be a moment that’s memorable or very average, reoccurring or just a moment you remember. Try to use media that helps illustrate the moment and think about your perspective vs. others when creating the imagery.
Part II: Shanti Peace Poster

Create a 8"x10' poster for the Shanti Peace Poster Contest, the theme is peace and you are free to use quotes from Gandhi and/or Martin Luther King if you wish. Here's a link to the some winning Smithtown designs from past year's: 2011 Peace Poster

Part III: Process Assignments:

Create new 20 pages in your sketchbook or a series of 20 photographs/works on paper in 1 or 2 themes of your choice.  Use any media that you want to work with for the AP test (pencil, photography, mixed media, ect.). Experiment with creating multiple pieces with the same theme or if you aren't sure what theme to work with create pieces then go back and identify what the themes you tend to work in are. Try to work with concepts that you might consider for the concentration portion of the AP test (Examples from the past include "A Day In The Life", "A Reinterpretation of the Past through Steam technology", and "Perspectives of the Brooklyn Bridge" so it's really wide open but if you want to run your idea past me before you begin I'd love to hear it). Here's a link to the College Board website which has information about the test with examples of Concentration pieces that have scored well in the past:
AP: Studio Art




Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Art Honor Society: Closing out the year



The school year is almost over so we'll be finishing up our projects in art honor society and making some of the ongoing projects for next year.  Congratulations to all the new inductees! We'll recap the induction as well and look at some of the plans for next year.  Finally we'll also talk with an artist from the Sketchbook project who is currently living in Germany via video!


Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Studio Art: Taking Notes from artist Wayne White


In Studio Art class we will be taking some notes from one of my favorite contemporary artists Wayne White and creating "oversize sculptured puppet masks" from cardboard, paper, paint, and glue in groups.  Each group will be given a famous artist from art history and they will have to work together to come up with a design and then build the puppet head.



The puppet masks will be featured in a few different local events such as the Art Honor Society's float for next years homecoming parade as well as the first Smithtown East art parade!  The artists we'll create masks for include greats such as DaVinci, Van Gogh, and Picasso as well as some more contemporary artists such as Banksy and Andy Goldsworthy.  The AP art class started a mask last week so here's a glimpse of what they look like in process!


Monday, June 1, 2015

Tweet A Dream


Today is International Children's Day and thousands of young people in 50+ countries will share the future they want to see via Twitter using the hashtag #tweetadream. 



We will share a dream along with some images described below:
Paintings, Drawings & SketchesPut your visualisation down on paper, canvas or other surfaces and submit a photo of it together with your short text.
Photography & VideographyCapture your visualisation in a photo or video and submit the photo or video as a link together with your short text.



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