Studio Art: Illustrated haiku poems

We learned about the basics of typography and design in class and now it's time to bring a creative approach to what we learned and pair them together as we learn a bit about Japanese culture.  The image above of the Holstee Manifesto is a great example of great type design and the image below is an example of what we are doing, creating an original illustrated haiku poem.

Haiku poems are 3 lines consisting of 5 syllables on the 1st line, 7 syllables on the 2nd line, and 5 syllables on the 3rd and final line.  We will write 5 haiku poems then choose our favorite to illustrate.  We'll also be learning a little more about Japanese culture and schools with examples from my travels and discuss our student exchange program with the Japan Society.  Below is an example of the traditional Japanese haiku illustrated.

In the TED talk below Billy, who was a two-term U.S. Poet Laureate, explains the project and how his poems were animated for the Sundance Channel.

Digital Media: Video Haiku's

In Digital Media we are completing our video haiku poem's today, make sure the are exported (shared) as mpeg videos so that we can review them.  Remember all video and images must be your own.  Above is an example I did in class this week.

Digital Media: Wrapping Up Poetry Month

In Digital Media we will be wrapping up our National Poetry Month project by completing the digital poem graphic design layout in Adobe In Design.  Here are a few great examples of our first part of the National Poetry Month project from Hunter above and Jon and Kelsey below.

The final layout is due tomorrow and should be saved as an In Design file in the public drive so be sure to use the whole poem and be as creative as possible in the layout and design of the page as we will combine them to make a eBook.

Mr.Needles Sick Day

Today I'm out sick but don't worry I'm home finishing up your grades not at a wild beach party.  Being that it is National Poetry Month it does bring to mind one of my favorite poems by Pedro Pietri, co-founder of the Nuyorican Poets Café in NYC which I posted below and on video form above. 

In studio art class we are finishing up our digital typography project and beginning the type art portrait that I introduced last week so if anyone is finished early you can choose any poet off of this list on Poets.org and find an image, a short bio of the poet, and a sample of their writing to work from and I'll introduce the specifics tomorrow.  All my other classes should continue working on their current projects, I'll see you soon!


Telephone Booth #905 1/2 by Pedro Pietri


Woke up this morning

feeling excellent,
picked up the telephone
dialed the number of my
equal opportunity employer
to inform him i will not
be in to work today.
“are you feeling sick?”
the boss asked me
“no sir,” i replied:
“i am feeling too good
to report to work today.
if i feel sick tomorrow
i will come in early!”