Adobe Spark Social Activism Challenge

 

Love these early student examples from our Adobe Spark Social Activism Challenge which incorporate the UN sustainable development goals & ISTE's Student Digital Citizenship Standard. The project was extended to today due to the issues we had with Adobe Spark last week.

Thanksgiving Break- Norman Rockwell

 

Today is the last day before Thanksgiving Break so I wanted to wish you all a terrific holiday! The image above is a classic from artist Norman Rockwell which is entitles Freedom from Want and happens to be on exhibit right now at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA along with my video art piece I created a few years ago as part of the Four Freedoms project based on President Roosevelt's Four Freedoms speech that Rockwell illustrated as a series of paintings.

Social Activism Challenge

Research a social cause from the list of UN Social Development Goals below the research and learn about the history of the subject, and find facts, statistics, or quotes that you might later include as part of your design.

Determine who your audience will be for this project (how images, facts and quotes may work better with different populations, for example, boys vs girls, adults vs students, etc.) Create 2 different social graphics using Adobe Spark Post that use principles of design to create a compelling visual image. 

We will have a discussion about your work in class and the message it portrays then share the work ob social media posts with #AdobeEDUCreative

Studio Art: AI experiment with Auto Draw

 

In Studio Art we will be taking our first quiz on the drawing terms so the students not in class or finished with the quiz will work on an AI experiment with Auto Draw. This program uses AI to interpret your drawing and make it into a visual riddle.  We are going to try to visually portray a famous film and have each other guess each movie on Tuesday. Below is an example of 5 films done with emojis, can you guess what they are?

Studio Art: AI, Art, & Magic

This week we are learning about Artificial Intelligence and how some artists, like Refik Anadol shown in the video above, are using it to help create art works.  We are going to use The Magic Sketchpad to create a collaborative drawing with Google's AI like the demonstration I created with the AI below drawing a series of butterflies. I found it to be a bit like drawing with a young child as they are often impulsive and make curious decisions but that's part of what makes it fun, looking forward to seeing what you create!

Digital Media: Piskel Characters

 

In Digital Media class we are working on creating 2 different Characters for our upcoming video game using Piskel. We have a week to design and animate the 2 characters and create a short 6 second animated introduction to our video game.

NYSATA & NYSCATE 2020

I'm proud to represent my home state of New York this week with presentations at both the NYSATA & NYSCATE 2020 conferences! Looking forward to sharing some STEAM Power with my art & edtech colleagues from NY!

Photography: Photographing the Color Wheel

 

In Photography we'll learn about creating color block photography and take on the Color Wheel. Students will work this week to create an image for ROYGBIV to create our own creative color wheel.

End of Quarter 1

 

Today marks the End of Quarter 1! We will finish our last assignment and review the quarter grades then look forward to what we have planned for next week.

STEAM Week: Exploring multimedia art with artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

 

Loved the @art21 “Borderlands” screening & discussion tonight with artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer & Kerry Doyle, Director of the Rubin Center, always fascinating learning about #art that connects people in #creative ways! pic.twitter.com/mm8jXEWekI

— Tim Needles (@timneedles) November 12, 2020

I had an opportunity to talk with artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer as well as the Director of the Rubin Center and his partner on his new Borderlands project Kerry Doyle this week with Art 21. We will take a closer look at the Borderlands project and Hemmer's art in an extended version of his Art 21 segment: https://art21.org/watch/

Extra Credit: Artemis Moon Pod Essay Contest

Our next Extra Credit assignment is to enter the Artemis Moon Pod Essay Contest. NASA is taking remote learning to the Moon! 2020 has been a year of working and living at a distance. Now consider what it might be like if you were living with a pod of astronauts 250,000 miles from Earth. Your challenge is to imagine leading a one-week expedition at the Moon’s South Pole – with the whole world cheering you on. Tell us about the types of skills, attributes, and/or personality traits that you would want your Moon Pod crew to have and why. How many would be in your pod? And of course you’ll need high tech gear and gadgets! In your essay, also describe one machine, robot, or technology that you would leave on the lunar surface to help future astronauts explore the Moon. Your entry must meet these requirements: 

• Grades 9-12: Essay, up to 300 words
• Please DO NOT put your name in your entry

Selected semifinalists will be invited to represent their state or territory in a series of Artemis Explorer sessions with NASA experts. Nine finalists will travel with a parent to NASA’s Johnson Space Center next summer to learn about lunar exploration, and the national winner in each grade division will win a family trip to see the first Artemis test launch to watch the most powerful rocket in the world launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Godspeed and good luck!

GRAND PRIZE:

Trip to the Artemis-1 Launch

3 FINALIST PRIZES:

Trip to NASA's Johnson Space Center

52 SEMIFINALIST PRIZES:

Artemis Prize Pack & 4 Virtual Artemis Explorer Sessions with NASA

Photography: Principles of Design

We are learning the basic Principles of Design so this week you should working on creating images of the fall landscape (which can also include people and other subject matter) that incorporates at least the Principles of Design.

• Emphasis
• Unity/Variety
• Balance
• Contrast
• Movement
• Rhythm/Repetition

National STEAM Day

Happy #STEAMDay! I’ll be celebrating all week as we share some of the work on projects from my book STEAM Power in classes! pic.twitter.com/nPpZfnIVyG

— Tim Needles (@timneedles) November 8, 2020

Happy #STEAMDay! I’ll be celebrating all week as we share some of the work on projects from my book STEAM Power in classes! We are going to create STEAM trading cards based on notable people in the Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math field.

Photography: The Principles of Design

 In Photography we reviewed the Principles of Design with a QUIZLET. and we'll be working to identify them in the work of the National Geographic Photographers we researched as well as play a game of Quizlet Live to see how well we know the terms!

Photography: National Geographic Photographer Research Project

 Today we will begin to share the research projects on artists and photographers that we've been working on in class and focus on their work and process.  We'll learn about the basic principles of design and see how they appear in the work we learn about. The example above from National Geographic photographer Bob Krist is a terrific example of rhythm and repetition in it's composition.

Studio Art: Artist Trading Cards

In Studio Art and AP we will be creating 10 unique and creative Artist Trading Cards this week that will be traded with schools around the country. the cards are 2.5 x 3.5" and should include artwork on the front and your name, school, date, teacher, and city-state on the back. The 10 cards will be due on Monday and the subject matter and medium is your choice.

I'll be creating cards along with you that I'll trade, here are a few examples above of cards I've made and traded over the years.

In the past we have trades with schools from around the world from every grade level and it's been a really interesting and fun project. Check out my ATC Pinterest Page for some great example that will inspire you!