AP Art: Stencil Photo Gelli Printmaking

After creating our first monoprints in Studio Art class with the gratitude prints we will take monoprinting to the next level by adding drawing and layer masks like the example from my photography demo above and from last year's AP Art below.  Each student should create a portrait of a person, animal, or thing on printmaking paper in pencil or ink, cut a stencil mask and print over it creating a mixed media piece.  These prints will be due next Tuesday December 6.

• AP art should create a series of 11 prints 5"x7" or larger.
• Photography shhould create a photo print and a photo transfer print.
• Studio should create a stencil print.

Project Gratitude

This week Smithtown High School East participated in Project Gratitude, a social emotional learning printmaking project.  Over 350 students and teachers participated in the project creating small gratitude prints to remind themselves to be thankful and to give away to family, friends, loved ones, and even troops overseas as part of a collaborative project with the diversity club.

The project was created by Mr. Needles and grew out of our schools social emotional learning program.  It was arranged with the help of a collaborative group of teachers from our high school cohort of the Smithtown's Social Emotional Learning program including: Mrs. Schmalz (Counseling), Mr. Kelly (English), Mrs.Tener (Social Studies), Ms. Locascio (Special Ed), Mrs. Brienza (Special Ed), Mrs.Scholepflin (Math), Ms.Primiceri (Spanish), along with Mr. Needles (Art).

Students from a variety of clubs such as the National Art Honor Society, The Math Honor Society, Leadership, the Diversity Club, the Media Art Honor Society and others joined with interested students and teachers from across the school for the project.  Classes also joined in with Mr. Needles art and media classes during the day to create prints during Thanksgiving week.

The after school event included a short video, a guided meditation led by Mrs. Schmalz, a reflection lessons learned about gratitude from Mrs.Tavis and Leadership based on their reading of alumni and author John Gordon's The Energy Bus, a few personal stories and reflections in words by Mrs.Scholepflin and in writing Mr. Kelly by and a concluded with the printmaking project.

The printmaking portion of the project featured students creating 3"x5" prints on paper stock using Gelli printing plates and acrylic paint along with stamps, stencils, and other creative materials.

Studio Art: Gelli Printing

In Studio Art we are beginning our printmaking unit with Gelli mono-printing.  We'll begin by creating interesting stencils to use- they can be random organic or geometric shapes or more specific imagery.



We will then create a series of 2 mono-prints that relate to each other, in the art world this is called a diptych.

Studio Art: Monoprinting and stencil printing

In Studio Art class we will be working on a new printmaking technique- Monoprinting along with a variation on stencil printing using Gelli plates and acrylic paint.  The nature of monoprints is that each print is different and totally unique so you'll be creating a few and choosing your best from each of these methods to submit for a grade on Friday.

Studio Art: stencil screenprinting

In Studio Art class we are currently working on our stencil screenprint and yesterday we looked at some of the history and types of printmaking from early cave paintings to early Chinese printmaking techniques to woodblocks by Albrecht Dürer and Japanese artists such as Katsushika Hokusai to Alois Senefelder's  Lithography technique invented in 1798 to modern street art such as Obey (Shepard Fairey) and Banksy.  This week we will but cutting our stencils and on Friday we will have a short quiz on what we learned.

Studio Art- Artist Research Project II

To begin the second semester we will be researching artists who work in three dimensional art, sculpture, printmaking, and graphic design which are the major units we'll be covering.  Below is the master list of artists we'll be covering and just as we did last semester we'll have a test on them after the presentations.  Check the assignment drive to see which artist you've been assigned and complete a PowerPoint with 10 full slide images, 10 relevant facts, and a title page with the artists name, birth (and death) and your name and period by Friday 2/7.

Studio Art Semester II Artist Research Project

1. Alberto Giacometti
2. Albrecht Dürer
3. Alexander Calder
4. Andy Goldsworthy
5. Auguste Rodin
6. Bradbury Thompson Bradbury Thompson
7. Chip Kidd
8. Christo
9. Claes Oldenburg
10. Constantin Brancusi
11. Dan Flavin
12. David Carson
13. David Smith
14. Donatello
15. FAILE
16. Gian Lorenzo Bernini
17. Henri Toulouse-Lautrec
18. Isamu Noguchi
19. Louise Bourgeois
20. Louise Nevelson
21. Marcel Duchamp
22. Massimo Vignelli
23. Michael Bierut
24. Milton Glaser
25. Paul Rand Ruth Ansel
26. Richard Serra
27. Robert Indiana
28. Saul Bass
29. Stefan Sagmeister
30. Ushio Shinohara

AP Art: Etching with guest artist Dan Weldon

The AP Studio Art class recently welcomed guest artist and former Smithtown East teacher Dan Weldon to our class for a Solar Plate Etching workshop and above are some of the varied results from Clay, Devon, and Samantha.  Each student made their own unique etching using different techniques so the class learned a great deal about the process and the possibilities it offers artists.  Now that we have etching under our belts we'll be learning about some different techniques like monotypes, linocut, and serigraphy when we return from testing week.

Guest Speaker: Dan Welden

This morning we are welcoming guest artist Dan Welden to our class for a special workshop on solar plate etching.  Dan has been working in printmaking for over 40 years authoring books and films on the subject such as Printmaking In The Sun and participating in countless shows around the world.  He has also worked with a number of well known artists that we've discussed in class ranging from: Robert Dash, Willem de Kooning, Dan Flavin, Esteban Vicente, Kurt Vonnegut, Alfonso Ossorio, Jane Freilicher, David Salle, and Eric Fischl. The workshop runs period 2-5 so make sure your prepared with the drawing that you are going to use, it should be fun!

AP Printmaking

This week we will begin our actual prints in printmaking unit and we'll be using a number of techniques including the one pictured above in the video. You'll be experimenting a bit but make sure you have your designs ready because we'll be doing a demonstration in class again tomorrow.

AP Art: Printmaking

This week's assignment in AP Art is printmaking but what type of print you doing will depend on which AP test your taking. Below are the assignments with some student examples:

Fine Arts (Painting & Drawing) - Monoprint Series

We will use water soluble media to create a series of 3-5 monoprints that have some relation to each other. They can be variants on an image or a narrative series, it's up to you. For this assignment your work should work in a series and it preferable that you include a figure but not absolutely necessary.

Design (2D) - Stencil Prints

We will create our own original 3-5 color stencil using cardboard that you will print with different media on a constructed background. For this assignment your theme should be based on a modern social issue of your own choice.