Art Honor Society: NAHS News

Our Smithtown HS East Chapter of the National Art Honor Society was featured in the recent national edition of NAHS News.

There was a story on our mural collaboration with artist Jon Burgerman and the student art from members Luke and Kayla.

Studio Art: Creating and designing a Dunny

Today we will learn about a new street artist, Tristan Eaton, and his creation the Dunny.  We are each going to design a unique Dunny then sculpt and paint it.  today we will look at a variety of different artists designs and look at examples from Kid Robot's collections.  The example above is by artist Tara McPherson.

Street artists who we've learned about like OBEY (example shown above) and Ron English (example shown below) have created popular Dunny's.

Artists like Jon Burgerman, who we worked with last year on our Earth Day mural, also have created a number of different Dunny designs like the example below.

So we are going to begin by sketching out ideas the sculpting the Dunny using a 3D printed mold created in my digital media class.

There is a huge variety in Dunny style and modifications so we really want to find a creative and unique approach and those elements will feature heavily in the grade.

The we will paint the Dunny and create any necessary accessories- look at the professional example below by artist SEKURE D.

After learning about the basics we will start sketching out ideas and coloring them, this part of the process is due on Wednesday.

Art Honor Society: Open Studios Brooklyn

In Art Honor Society this week we discussed this weekends open Invisible Dog Studios in Brooklyn with Oliver Jeffers and Jon Burgerman.



Here are some links about the artists and to more information about the events.  We worked with Jon Burgerman here at the school on collaborative art project last April and he also talked to students about having a career in the arts.



He was not only a terrific artist but fun and funny so take a look at his doodling lesson above and a little more about his process below.

Digital Media: Visit from the Creator of the Morphi App

We welcomed guest speaker Sophia Georgiou, the Creator of the Morphi App, in Digital Media class this week and learned about the amazing possibilities for 3D printing, design, and animation with the app as well as the fascinating process of how the app was designed.  It was a great opportunity to bring together all of our learning in design, coding, 3D printing, collaboration, and the creative process.



We learned about a few really cool features of the app and even created a great 3D model of the 'Mouse-fish' character from our recently completed collaboration mural painting with Jon Burgerman!

Tomorrow is Burgermanday at Smithtown East!

Tomorrow is Burgermanday at Smithtown East!  The National Art Honor Society will be collaborating together with artist Jon Burgerman on a school mural periods 5-9 as well as after school for the school courtyard.  Here's a look at his process and a bit of what's he's about as an artist-it's an exciting project!



The project was made possible thanks to the Smithtown Childrens Foundation and the School Improvement Team.  Here's a link to the new SIT Team blog I created to share the story of how the project came about: Smithtown East SIT

Art Honor Society: Burgerman Mural

A week from today artist Jon Burgerman will be visiting us at Smithtown East to collaborate on a mural together outside the school cafeteria.  The National Art Honor Society will be painting alongside Jon after he creates an outline similar to the one above created at the AOL offices.  It's an exciting opportunity and we'll be discussing the details in a short meeting next week to prepare for the mural!

Art Honor Society: The Smithtown East Burgerman Mural

I'm thrilled to announce that today we I was awarded the Smithtown Children's Foundation Teachers Grant which will complete our funding for the National Art Honor Society's Smithtown East Mural with artist Jon Burgerman.  I'm so excited that we will be working together on this great project this spring!  Today we will work on planning some of the details and get up to date on the proposals.

Yesterday I presented the mural project with the School Improvement Team to the principal who approved it and was excited to hear about the work we've been doing and the future mural.  We also presented some of the design work we have been doing in class to revitalize the courtyard and make it a more accessible place for students and the school at large.

Tonight I'll be attending the Eighth Annual Kisses for Kaylee & Friends Dinner Dance at The Watermill Inn to accept the grant!

Studio Art: Doodle Art

Making Art with Doodles is as fun as it is creative and interesting and it's what we are going to be focusing on this week in class.  You will create a page of doodles that elevates itself to a work of art,  Just because you want it to look good when it's finished doesn't mean you need to pressure yourself or get self-conscious as you are drawing.  To create a great work from doodles I suggest you let your mind go and just draw whatever your subconscious leads you to.  Here's some great examples of artists who create art from their doodles and their work can be seen below:  
Jon Burgerman, Lei Melendres, Chris Piascik and Heike Weber

I myself do this all the time and have even used some of this method to create illustrations for magazines such as the Long Island Pulse like the example below.  The great thing about doodle art is that it actually relaxes you as you are doing it.  We are going to begin the process with some deep breathing and meditation then begin wandering on the page with our doodles and see where they take us.

Art Honor Society: A Note from Jon Burgerman

The Art Honor Society will meet today and begin preparing for our annual induction.  We will be 
creating a large mural to use at the event in the style of one of my favorite artists, Jon Burgerman.
He gives some really great advice in the clip above and it's great to see his actual working process.
The film also features the painting that I bought of his at Tara McPherson's Cotton Candy Machine 
gallery summer small works show in the introduction.