Last Day of 2019

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Today is the last day of class for 2019! Have a terrific holiday break and I hope you have a fantastic New Year, let's hope 2020 is a happy, healthy, and successful year for all of us!

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National Art Honor Society- Holiday Party

Today in National Art Honor Society and it's our last meeting of 2019 so we will celebrate with our annual Holiday Party complete with pizza and art and then some more pizza and a bit more art.
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Studio Art- Explorer Classroom Talk

Yesterday we talked with scientist Mark Elbroch from @PantheraCats with a live @NatGeoEducation #ExplorerClassroom web chat & learned about learned about big #cats & #pumas for our upcoming #STEAM project in #art class! pic.twitter.com/CLMcgpv9s3

— Tim Needles (@timneedles) December 18, 2019

Yesterday in Studio Art we had a chance to talk with scientist and photographer Mark Elbroch from Panthera in our National Geographic Explorer Classroom live chat.  We will reference what we learned in our upcoming #STEAM project after the holiday break.

Digital Media: Digital Zentangles

In Digital Media class this week we will be drawing and designing Digital Zentangles in Adobe Photoshop.  The file size should be 8.5" x 11" (US Paper) and students can create any kind of ORIGINAL design (don't copy and paste other people's work) to fill the page with doodles.  They work best with a central design element (shape or word) but feel free to be creative!

Digital Media: National Geographic's Explorer Classroom talk with biologist Alex Braczkowski

Today my @SCSD_HSE digital media students had a terrific #ExplorerClassroom talk w/ big #cat biologist @AlexBraczkowski who’s studying tree climbing lions in Africa w/ @NatGeo, great learning about the #photo & #video tools he uses & his techniques for making amazing images! pic.twitter.com/gFoD915swn

— Tim Needles (@timneedles) December 13, 2019

The Digital Media Art Class had an opportunity to talk with big cat biologist, photographer, and filmmaker Alex Braczkowski on Friday thanks to Nat Geo's Explorer Classroom, he’s been studying tree climbing lions in Africa with National Geographic.  Below is a tweet with a clip from the talk in which Alex discusses the camera traps which we've been interacting with in class to learn about AI Machine Learning.

Great to talk to big #cat biologist @AlexBraczkowski about using #camera traps w/ @NatGeoEducation #ExplorerClassroom today after my @SCSD_HSE digital media students learned about #ArtificialIntelligence in @codeorg’s #HourOfCode & sorted trap images w/ @the_zooniverse this week! pic.twitter.com/qAKOwMa750

— Tim Needles (@timneedles) December 13, 2019

Digital Media: AI for Mountain Zebra National Park

This week we learned about how AI and Machine Learning works with Code.org’s AI for Oceans and then began use the skills we learned to work on the snapshot project for Mountain Zebra National Park by finding animals, fires, or people in photographs take by camera traps.  Today we will move onto the next step and classify 10 of those animals and prepare to talk with biologist and photographer Alexander Braczkowski who uses these AI tools as well as drones and robots while studying and filming tree climbing lions in Africa.  We’ll be speaking to him as part of National Geographic’s Explorer Classroom series this week.

National Art Honor Society- Artist Trading Cards and Holiday Cards

My @SCSD_HSE AP #art students created some #creative artist trading cards this week, we’ll be exchanging #ATCs with students in Idaho, Wisconsin, & Texas this year! pic.twitter.com/OP5E4quQ1D

— Tim Needles (@timneedles) December 11, 2019

Today in National Art Honor Society we'll finish working on our Artist Trading Cards and Holiday Cards!

Digital Media: STEAM Career Infographic

In Digital Media we are creating a STEAM Career Infographic based on a career of interest and we will be including an AR component.  We will research and answer 5 basic questions about the career as well as giving a basic description and examples of successful people in the career on the poster.

We will also be learning about AI and machine learning for HOUR OF CODE this week with a new code.org assignment on the topic: AI oceans puzzle

Drawing: Looking at the work of James Victore

In Drawing class we'll look at the work of artist James Victore today and using it to inspire out next projects based on his design class.  We will alos be working with a new drawing medium, ink so well learn how to use Japanese ink and Acorn ink in class.  The 3 short assignments that we will do after seeing his work are below, we'll collect and critique all 3 on Thursday:

1. Put yourself into your art
2. Draw a randomly generated word
3. Create a motivational poster for yourself

AP ART: MIDTERM ASSIGNMENT

AP ART MIDTERM ASSIGNMENT

1. Identify a topic 
2. Ask essential questions about the topic
3. Inquiry, research, collect data, and analysis data
4. Identify big idea
5. Ask essential questions about the big idea
6. Inquire: research and analysis
7. Visualize the findings (through 4 art works)

Due: January 24, 7am

Drawing: Illustration Friday- Brain

In Drawing class we are going to revisit Illustration Friday in preparation for our Illustration Unit and this week's theme is: Brain.

National Art Honor Society- Artist Trading Cards

 This week in National Art Honor Society we will be creating Artist Trading Cards to trade with AP Art and National Art Honor Society Students in Idaho and Wisconsin.  The cards should be 2.5" x 3.5" and the subject matter and medium is up to you!

 Here's a few examples of ATCs from the past few years, we will also be taking a photo with our final Wyland painting which was submitted last week and working on creating homemade holiday cards for our Adopt a Family program!

National Art Honor Society- Artist Trading Cards

Digital Media: Video Games

In Digital Media class this week we will be finishing and completing our Video Game then playing and critiquing all of them.  Below is the rubric we'll use to judge the video games so make sure you have a working link like this example from Alexa (screen shot's above): SCRATCH: Sweet Social Hour.

Using the rubric you'll score the 3 categories each of which have a max of 4pts (12pts would be a perfect score).  For clarification, in the game play the term "hard to play" means clarity not difficulty.

We all learned a great deal about designing characters, animating, and coding video games so now it's time to share the fun!  Below are a few of the student video games that were rated the highest in out BETA testing period so far this year, try them out:

Haunted   Swish or Miss   Zoo Day   Fighter Game   Sweet Social Hour   MrSpring

Because the class enjoyed the project so much we will try collaborating as a class on a video game next quarter to build our skills even further and continue learning about the process!

Daniel Gale Art Show

Today is the Daniel Gale Art Show from 5-7pm so come join us in celebrating the work of fellow artists from Smithtown High School East!

Scholastic Art and Writing Awards

Today we are working on submitting work into the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards so make sure the work is submitted by midnight tomorrow!