AP Art: 2018 Scholastic Winners

Congrats to the following AP Art students who were chosen as 2018 Scholastic Art & Writing Award Winners!  Gold key recipients Anna, Joe, and Ilysa will be moving on to the National competition- best of luck!

Jei Davis- Silver Key in Comic Art
Anna Koke- Gold Key in Mixed Media
Anna Koke- Honorable Mention in Painting
Joe Link- Honorable Mention in Art Portfolio
Joe Link- Gold Key in Comic Art
Joe Link- Honorable Mention in Digital Art
Danielle Napoli- Honorable Mention in Photography
Ilysa Sirota- Silver Key in Drawing & Illustration
Ilysa Sirota- Honorable Mention in Fashion
Ilysa Sirota- Gold Key in Painting

Studio Art: Flextangles

In Studio Art we will be working on our first 3D STEAM project, creating kaleidoscopic, hand-drawn Flextangles.  The first step is to sketch out your idea in your sketchbook because the design shouldtransform in an interesting way through the 4 different sides..Next grad a Flextangle template from my desk (it is also in the assignment drive or here online) and we will draw out the Flextangle in pencil then color or shade it.  The completed Flextangle should have 4 separate lines of images that correspond like a kaleidoscope.  Finally we will fold and construct them as 3D objects in class.  The final product will be due on Monday Feb 5.  Above is an example of what they should look like and below is a video showing how they work from Babble Dabble Do.

Here is a demonstration that I created in class using street art I photographed in Brooklyn.  As you can see below the sections need to correspond to work properly as a 3D object.

Each student should use ORIGINAL drawings to create a creative flextangle one layer at a time. When you are finished be sure to add your name in as well.

The demonstration I made in class using photographs of street art that I took at 5 Pointz in Queens can be seen above, think of a fun and interesting way that you can design a flextangle that reflects your interests!

Welcome to Film & Video Class

Welcome to Film & Video Class!  We will begin by taking a look at some of the structure and archetypes of Television by watching and responding to the PBS series America in Primetime.  We will be working towards creating our own television shows later in the class.  We will examine both the shows and their structure and characters along with what it says about us as a country sociologically.

Digital Media:Doodle For Google

This week in Digital Media we will be designing a Doodle For Google digitally with the theme of "What Inspires You?".  You can click the link above for all the details but the contest asks you to take your inspirations and form them into a Google doodle for a chance to win both regional and nation prizes.  Here's a link to some example inspirational doodles from the google staff and below is an example of the creative process behind a Google doodle.



The entry form/template is on the assignment drive, Google classroom or here so use that as a framework to create your design in Adobe Photoshop.  You can also draw and scan in images but everything MUST BE ORIGINAL in your design, no copy and pasting things from the web!

The National Winner:
Will receive:
A behind-the-scenes experience with the Doodle team to transform their Doodle into an interactive experience on Google.com
A $30,000 Scholarship
A $50,000 Technology package for their school
A trip to Google Headquarters in California
Google Hardware
Fun Googley Swag

Judging criteria:
Doodles will be judged on the following parameters:
Artistic merit: Based on artistic skill
Creativity: Representation of the contest theme, use of the letters in the Google logo, and the unique approach to the doodle
Theme: communication: How well the contest theme is expressed in both the artwork and the written statement

Disqualifications;
Doodles that are not original works and doodles that contain logos will be disqualified.

End of Quarter 2

Today is the Semester so it's the final day of class in Painting and it is also the End of Quarter 2 in all the full year classes.  Any outstanding or late assignments should be handed in at the beginning of class.  We will go over each students grade individually today.  Good luck during testing week!

National Art Honor Society: Field Trip Reflection

A great day @metmuseum today in NYC w/ #Art Honor Society exploring the #Michelangelo & #Hockney exhibits! #MetMichelangelo was worth the trip! pic.twitter.com/hn1NmAuOOh

— Tim Needles (@timneedles) January 12, 2018

Last week the National Art Honor Society took our Winter field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the great Michelangelo and David Hockney exhibitions.  Below are some of my thoughts on the exhibit, today we will all write short reflections about what we learned and liked about the museum and share photographs we took.

My favorite things about the #Michelangelo show on our @metmuseum field trip was his mastery across different #art media & seeing his #creative process develop though various sketches-the studies are amazing! It's a great lesson for students, he put in the hours! #MetMichelangelo pic.twitter.com/W5lD2jPT8C

— Tim Needles (@timneedles) January 12, 2018

Painting: Last Week of Class

In Painting we are finishing the class the same way we began it with a self-portrait painting.  This painting will be used to access what skills you learned and how much you developed and grew in class so do you best, they are due on Thursday!

Studio Art: Illustration Friday- The Letter A

In Studio Art today we will complete our final Illustration Friday for the quarter and the theme is the letter A.  Above is an example, be sure to be creative and not too simplistic with the theme!

Also be sure to study for our upcoming midterm which is Thursday next week: MIDTERM QUIZLET

National Art Honor Society: Field Trip to The Metropolitan Museum of Art,

Tomorrow is our National Art Honor Society Winter Field Trip to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.  We will  be leaving at 8am via coach bus and we will begin our visit by viewing the Michelangelo exhibit: Divine Draftsman and Designer and David Hockney followed by lunch at The Cafeteria and a visit to the permanent collection then we'll begin our trip home at 1pm.

Digital Media: Flextangles

In Digital Media we will be working with the STEAM projects Flextangles and taking them to the next level with digital media.  The Flextangle template is in the assignment drive or here online and we will use digital media such as digital drawing and photography to create our Flextangles in Adobe Photoshop.  The completed Flextangle should have 4 separate lines of images that correspond like a kaleidoscope.  We will design them then print and construct them as 3D objects.  The final product will be due on Thursday April 7.  Above is an example of what they look like and below is a video showing how they work from Babble Dabble Do.

Here is a demonstration that I created in class using street art I photographed in Brooklyn.  As you can see below the sections need to correspond to work properly as a 3D object.

Each student should use ORIGINAL images (your photographs) or drawings to create a creative flextangle in Photoshop one layer at a time.  When you are finished be sure to use the text tool and add your name in as well the we will print them out and assemble them in class later in the week. The last step is to follow the steps on the template and make it a 3D object which will be graded on Wednesday 1/17

The demonstration I made in class using photographs of street art that I took at 5 Pointz in Queens can be seen above, think of a fun and interesting way that you can design a flextangle that reflects your interests!

AP Art: Last Breadth

This week in AP Art we will work on creating our Last Breadth piece for the AP Art portfolio.  Each student was given a individualized assignment based on their work so far and what might help bolster their Breadth section of the AP test.  We will also look over the AP bulletin and AP checks will be due next week made out to Smithtown Central School District in the amount of $94.00 with the name of the exam in the memo portion of the check.

Japan Society Junior Fellows Hosts

We will be once again hosting Japanese students from the Japan Society's Junior Fellows Program this March so if anyone is interested in hosting a student at their home from Sunday March 11^th  – Saturday March 24th see Mr. Needles for more information.  It's a really amazing learning experience and a chance to learn about Japanese culture as well as our own as students join you in classes for a week.  

 The home stay includes a stipend for food and transportation and as you can see in the video above a number of Smithtown students who hosted people later visited Japan through the same program.  As a teacher I attended the program myself and it was terrific as you can see from my travel journal. Anyone interested should have their paperwork in by next weekend.

Studio Art: Vans Custom Culture Contest

Welcome back from our snowcation! Today in Studio Art class we will continue working on creating designs for the 2018 Vans Custom Culture Contest.  The two themes are: OFF THE WALL & LOCAL FLAVOR and each should be created on a different type of show in color.  You can add any elements to the shoe you wish (they don't need to be wearable) but can't include any copyrighted materials like logos. Above is a closer look at last year's winners.

Painting: Vans Custom Culture Contest

Today in Painting class we will be working on creating designs for the 2018 Vans Custom Culture Contest.  Above is our four shoe designs that were entered last year that were created by Anna, Luke, Ilysa, Emily, Jillian, Adelaide, and Sarah.  We also entered the poster design below which was created by Jon.
The contest this year has new rules and themes so each student should create a design on a template for the two themes: OFF THE WALL & LOCAL FLAVOR in color.  You can add any elements to the shoe you wish (they don't need to be wearable) but can't include any copyrighted materials like logos.

The 2 designs will be due on Monday when we will vote for our favorites to submit to the first round.  If we are one of the 500 schools chosen as finalists we will once again get the free shoes that we must paint and create the final designs.  There are a number of great prizes, see the link above for more information.  Above is the winning designs from last year and below is a look at previous finalists creating their designs:

Digital Media: Digital Zentangle

In Digital Media class we've been working on creating Digital Zentangle Drawing using Photoshop and the Wacom tablet and the final designs which should contain at least 10 different design patters and fill the 8.5x11 page are due today.  Above is an example from our period 4 class.