Senior AP Show 7: John

This week was the opening of John's solo show which featured a variety of work in nearly every media including: paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, ceramics, and a screening of his latest film for the Art Honor Society. It was a terrific show and an impressive amount of work being that John has taken nearly every course Smithtown East has to offer!

Painitng Tips

In Painting class we are about to begin our second acrylic painting so here are a few tips and some terminology to be aware of before we begin. We will be focusing more on learning various techniques in this painting and we will once again be using just primary colors so practice working on the different methods of blending and creating colors that we are going over in class before we begin.

Google Doodle celebrates Mies

Today Google's search page celebrates German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe known commonly as just "Mies" on his birthday 126 years ago today. His well known quote “God is in the details” gives a bit of insight into his design style which sought big areas of open space divided by clean lines which attracted the eye. He was the director of the Bauhaus, the inspired school of art in design in Berlin, for a few years before emigrating to the U.S. in 1938 and creating well known buildings such as: The Seagram Building on Park Avenue/52nd Street in Manhattan (which is also home to the The Four Seasons restaurant famous for its interiors and art created by painters such as: Mark Rothko (who later refused the commission), Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso (whose curtains still hang in the restaurant), and Ronnie Landfield), The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in D.C., and S. R. Crown Hall on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology which is pictured in the doodle.

Photography: School Spirit

This week we have been working on a typography project with photographs taken around school focused on the school colors red and white. Here are some examples from McKenna and Angela of the photographs that were taken and what the final result looks like. Remember the final project is due at the begining of Wednesday's class so make sure you flatten your images and save them to our public drive before then!

MSG Varsity Awards V

This Friday is the final day to enter the MSG Varsity Awards so make sure enter by Noon on March 30, 2012 for a chance to win. Categories include: BEST FEATURE SPORTS & NON-­SPORTS, BEST EDITING, VIDEOGRAPHY, and BEST ORIGINAL PRODUCTION (less than & more than 5 minutes). Prizes include $5,000.00 grant and an MSG Varsity V Award trophy.

Keith Haring @ The Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Museum is showing the first large-scale exhibition of Keith Haring's work with addition materials that are not often seen such as: experimental videos, sketchbooks, and archival objects. The show runs March 16 – July 8, 2012 and is well worth checking out especially if it's a nice day because the museum is nearby the Brooklyn Botanical Garden which should be in full bloom!

Photographing through walls

Here's some amazing video of a Camera that can see through walls thanks to laser technology. Photography students should be able to comprehend the significance of this easily after learning about how light enters standard cameras but think of all the possibilities and applications this sort of advancement offers, pretty cool!

Film History: Mad Men

In Film History class we have begun to study television, and we were speaking this week about the modern show Mad Men. Above is a great interview from the New York Times with the show runner and the major cast members to take a look at and here's my interview with the actor who plays Mad Men's Sal Romano, Bryan Batt that I spoke about in class.

Senior AP Show 6: Dylan

This afternoon was the opening of our most recent AP Studio Art senior show featuring Dylan's illustrations, paintings, and a pretty special photograph. Here's some photographs of the highlights of the show.

Photography: Famous Photographs Remade

This week's photo assignment is to remake a famous photograph from one of the photographers we studied are here are a few examples by photographer Mike Stimpson who recreates well know images with legos and other toys. Here are remakes of: Arnold Newman, Robert Capa, Alfred Eisenstaedt, and Yousuf Karsh.



Also dont forget the extra credit assignment "Ant's Eye View" due Friday, here's a great example from Gordon Ashby

Google Doodles Duetles Todoodles

If you've been working on your Doodle for Google project make sure it's all set to be mailed today!

Doodles are due on March 23, 2012 and must be postmarked no later than March 20, 2012
All submissions should be sent to the P.O. box (regular mail) or courier service address (e.g., UPS or FedEx, etc.) listed below. Please note that you cannot submit artwork via courier service to the PO box below. If you use USPS you must use the top address and if you use a courier service you must use the bottom address.

P.O. Box Address
Doodle for Google
PO Box 9112
Plainview, NY 11803-9112

If you used use Photoshop for your entry here's Google's advice:
"Create your doodle in a new document 1894 pixels high by 2960 pixels wide at 300 dpi. When you are finished, simply open the second page of the PDF in Photoshop and use it as the background layer for a new document and paste your digital doodle in as a second layer. If necessary, move and resize your doodle to fit inside the doodle box. Don't change the size of the document from the original PDF, and you should be able to print it, and then fill in the few fields on that page by hand. Hand written entries will be accepted."

Interview with artist Micah Lidberg

Here's a great short interview with artist Micah Lidberg, an artist you may have seen in: Beautiful/Decay, Computer Arts, and the New York Times Magazine. He pieces are super detailed and colorful as well as absolutely creative, take a look at his book for friends below!

Maurizio Cattelan in VICE magazine

I've mentioned Maurizio Cattelan a few times recently and it seems the artist has been busy in his self-imposed retirement from art as his work is featured in this months VICE Magazine. The magazine's website also has some great content from the Creator's Project which they sponsor, above is a piece on one of my favorite installations at this summers show, Origin by UVA.

Competition: Young Arts

Young Arts is a student competition that encompasses nine different disciplines including: cinema, photography, and fine arts as well as others like writing and voice which stems from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and it's now open for submissions. Winners have an opportunity to win a trip to Miami to attend a Masterclass with world renowned artists such as the example below with painter/director Julian Schnabel done in conjunction with HBO.


Young Arts

Painting Class: Watercolor Figure Painting

In painting class we spent last week working on watercolor figure painting using student models in class and here are a few of my favorite examples of the different excersizes we did each day by Sabrina, Lindsay, and Jenna. We are now working with the skeleton in class building on what we learned.

PDN’s 30: Photography Seminar

Wednesday SVA is hosting a free panel of photographers featured in the 2012 PDN’s 30 issue who will speak about getting started in the photography industry. Panelists will discuss how they got to where they are today, including how they got their first job, and how they structured and financed their first promotional efforts. They will also discuss what they learned in school, what they wish they had been taught, and offer career advice. Photographers such as Mark Mahaney (in the SCAD video above), Mark Hartman, and LaToya Ruby Frazier (whose work is currently in Whitney's Biennial) are expected to be in attendance.

Wednesday, March 14
SVA Theatre, 333 West 23 Street

Seminar: 7 – 8:30pm
Reception: 8:30 – 9:30pm

Free and open to the public

Artist's Talk: Joseph Szabo

On Thursday, March 15 the Heckscher Museum of Art will be hosting an artist's talk with photographer Joseph Szabo from 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm (admission- $15)


Mr.Szabo's work is featured in the Museum's Coming of Age in America: The Photography of Joseph Szabo exhibition and he will be shareing his thoughts about his career and his photographs. The program will also include a special screening of The Joseph Szabo Project, a documentary film by David Khachatorian and George P. Pozderec, which has been shown in numerous film festivals including the prestigious DOCNYC, New York's leading documentary film festival.

The Power of Habit

Here's a great short piece about our habits from New York Times reporter Charles Duhigg who just published a book on the topic entitled The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. It's always good to know how your work and the motivations that drive us!

Photography: The Color Project

This week I asked students in photography to create a photograph then in editing select just one portion of the color to remain for effect. Here are some of my favorite results from the project by Alexa, Angela, Sarah, and Nicole which all work especially well thanks to the photographer's use of texture and text, great job!

The story of Keep Calm and Carry On

Here's a short piece on the very popular Keep Calm and Carry On, the poster designed in England for World War II and later found and revitalized at Barter Books. The poster and phrase have been showing up everywhere as well as many parodies but the phrase has also been the center of a big trademark battle.

Senior AP Show 5: Cody

Today was the opening of Cody's senior art show which showcased his eclectic work including his handcrafted wood and plexi-glass pieces as well as his drawing and illustration. It will be open until next week so come down to room 161 and take a look!

LaToya Ruby Frazier

The 2012 Whitney Biennial opened on March 1 and includes a diverse collection of work from artists as well known as some notable names in film like Werner Herzog and Vincent Gallo. Here's a short piece on photographer and performance artist LaToya Ruby Frazier whose work is in this years show and revolves around the economic and environmental decline of her hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania as well as the Levi's advertising campaign which used the town as a backdrop in 2010.

Doodle For Google

The annual Doodle For Google contest is in effect and the final product should be postmarked by Mar 20, 2012. This year the contest is a bit easier and you don't need to preregister, just create a 2D doodle with the Google logo for the theme "If I could travel in time, I'd visit…" on the entry form and mail it out! The prizes include loads of scholarship money but really isn't having your doodle featured on the Google homepage enough? Best of luck!

Film History: Research Project I- The Directors

In Film History class we we be working on creating a 5 page presentation on PowerPoint with a title page, a video clip with a scene, a bulleted biography, and explanation of the director’s style. Below is the list of directors we'll be looking at and we'll watch the finished presentations and then conclude with a short quiz that includes each of them. I created the list based on the their number of Academy Awards nominations (they've all been nominated for at least 3). Above is a clip about director John Ford who has won the most Academy Awards for Best Director, 4 in total: 1935- The Informer, 1940- The Grapes of Wrath, 1941- How Green Was My Valley, 1952- The Quiet Man.

Billy Wilder
David Lean
Elia Kazan
Francis Ford Coppola
Frank Capra
Fred Zinnemann
George Cukor
George Stevens
Joel & Ethan Coen
John Ford
John Huston
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Martin Scorsese
Michael Curtiz
Mike Nicholls
Milos Forman
Robert Wise
Steven Spielberg
Woody Allen

SKYPE in the classroom: Guest speakers

Now that we have SKYPE in the classroom we are looking for guest speakers in the film industry (actors, screenwriters, directors, or even grips) to speak to my Advanced film class about the profession and how to get into it. Is Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin, or Judd Apatow available?

Advanced Film: Montage

This week the advanced film class will be working on short films consisting of a montage of images and sound. There may or may not be a formal storyline but there should be no sound dialogue because we'll be working on the filming techniques, techniques for editing, image adjustments, color correcting, and other post production elements. Above is the the example we created in the Media Art Honor Society.

Educators Study Tour to Japan

I wanted to let any educators that have an interest in traveling to Japan this summer about the Japan Society's fantastic Educators Tours. In 2009 I traveled to Japan for three weeks thanks to the Japan Society's Educators Study Tour and it was a life changing trip which added a number of lessons to my arsenal that I still teach each year soI highly recommend it. It's open nationwide this year and the deadline is this month so here's the information:

Educators Study Tour to Japan Applications due: March 15
Pre-departure orientation: June 28 – June 30
Tour dates: July 1-July 22

Middle and high school educators will be selected to participate in a three-week study tour to Japan in July of 2012. Study tour highlights include visits to local schools, homestays with Japanese families, and a wide range of site visits in Japan including Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Aichi and Wakayama, as well as a part of the Tohoku region. Open to educators nationwide.

Cost: $1,000 (includes airfare, accommodations, orientation & meals)
For additional information, please email jseducation@japansociety.org or call (212) 715-1275

Film History: Charlie Chaplin

We learned about the history and relevance of Charlie Chaplin this week in class after watching a number of clips from Chaplin's films as well as the Chaplin biopic so now it's time to answer the following question in a short essay:

Using what we learned and discussed in class what do you feel was the key to Chaplin's success and the reason for his later downfall? There are many potential answers but give a reasoning for your answer and support it with examples to prove your point.

If you enjoyed The Gold Rush and the other clips we watched in class I'd highly recommend The Kid, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator which are some of my favorite Chaplin films.

Photography: Self Portraits, words and images

Today in photography class we will be critiquing the self portrait assignment that we worked on this week. The results were varied just like the personalities but here are two of my favorites from what I've seen so far done by Angela and Sarah, nice work!

Painting Class: Hopper's Lighthouse

We critiqued the finished watercolor paintings from the recent Edward Hopper assignment earlier this week and I posted one of the favorites done by Tara above. Watercolor is one of the more difficult mediums to master and it's just the first assignment so don't get frustrated if you weren't happy with your results just yet. Remember focus on proportions, geometry, and the tones in the monochromatic painting and then well talk about color, texture, and feel later in the course.

Artroom 161 on Pintrest

One of the hot new online trends that's developing is pinterest and so far I've found it valuable as a visual bookmark for class so I started a Mr.Needles Pintrest account to post images that we'll discuss in lessons or just use as inspiration that you can take a look at as I continue to compile them.

Update: After reading an article from Business Insider about the copyright issues involved in Pintrest and how users are held personally accountable financially I've chosen to repost the same image via Flikr and delete all my boards on Pintrest just a day after I put them up (it was fun while it lasted). The lesson to be learned from this is valuable though, always be sure to actually read your user agreements with applications and programs and know the rules. Part of the Pintrest agreement reads:

"You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold Cold Brew Labs, its officers, directors, employees and agents, harmless from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including, without limitation, reasonable legal and accounting fees, arising out of or in any way connected with (i) your access to or use of the Site, Application, Services or Site Content, (ii) your Member Content, or (iii) your violation of these Terms.”

This means that the company is not liable but you are which is a situation that might be very frightening considering the sheer numbers of pictures and videos pinned and repinned on the site.

Smithtown Alumni Art Shows

Over the February break I had a chance to check out Smithtown alumn Andrew Brischler's work at Maurizio Cattelan's new Family Business Gallery. Andrew has three paintings included in the "The Virgins Show" which was curated by my former painting professor Marilyn Minter. It was so cool to see the work of a former student in a Chelsea show and I was excited to hear that he has his first solo show on the way, amazing!

Another former student, Jess Brett, who recently spoke to our AP Art class has a show opening Thursday at 7pm this week as well in Toast Coffeehouse in Port Jefferson. Jess recently graduated from the Hartford Art School and the show, which will run throughout March, will showcase some of her new work.

Monday Morning Manifesto

I'd like to welcome everyone back to school with an inspirational Monday morning manifesto from Holstee design which reflects so many of the things I believe in in a well designed typographic poster.

"Life is short. Live your dream and share your passion!"

I came across the manifesto on one of my favorite creative blogs Brain Pickings which is well worth checking out along with Drawn, Illustration Friday, and Design Taxi. I recommend taking a look, they are all terrific ways to stay artistically positive and keep up with cool art going on around the world.

Senior AP Show 4: Jeri-Anne

Yesterday was Jeri-Anne's opening which met with a large crowd and a great deal of enthusiasm thanks to her creative approach in designing the show with details like numbering each piece and adding a menu with tiles and information on the work. The show will be up through the rest of the month so come down and take a look down the rabbit hole!

Friday Advice: Carrie Fisher

"Even when you don’t feel inspired, do it anyway"

This week's advice comes from an actress we are all familiar with, Carrie Fisher. She is known for her iconic roles in films such as the Star Wars trilogy, The Blues Brothers, When Harry Met Sally, Austin Powers, and recently on the cartoon Family Guy but in addition to acting Fisher has written a number of plays and books such as Postcards from the Edge which was made into a film directed by Mike Nichols as well as working on screenplays such as Sister Act and The Wedding Singer. I had a chance to interview her while she was working on her most recent play, the autobiographical Wishful Drinking which was recently made into a documentary film which aired on HBO is September.

Mr.Needles: I teach high school and I teach film, screenwriting, and acting. What advice would you give to young creative people in terms of them wanting a career in a creative industry whether it’s writing or acting?

Carrie Fisher: Well it’s a big difference between whether it’s writing or acting. The important thing is to learn as much as you can and to write even when you don’t feel inspired, you know, to do it anyway. Do everything anyway whether you feel confident or not it’s worth going for.

Full Interview: Short & Sweet NYC

Photography: Self Portraits

In photography we are now working creating unique self portraits combining photographs we take of ourselves and writing samples which are layered in Adobe Photoshop. The assignment is due the Friday we return from break but be sure to be original, the only necessary ingredients are writing and an image the rest is up to you!

AP Art Senior Shows

Our AP Art senior solo shows have been a great success so far this year, last we Kyle and Matt showed off their diverse pieces. Here's a few images from their show.

Photography: The first ten days

This week in photography we combined and edited photographs we created documenting the first 10 days of class. Each student choose to focus on different things such as the example above which focuses on color and others which addressed changes in weather, light, and visual diary's of each day.

Film History: Chaplin

This week we will be looking at the films of Charlie Chaplin in film history class, one of the most successful and recognisable comic actors ever. We will be viewing a selection of clips from his films and watching his classic Modern Times as well as the film about him starring Robert Downey Jr.

'The Virgins Show'

My former teacher Marilyn Minter is the curator for the upcoming 'The Virgins Show' which will feature my former student, Smithtown grad Andrew Brischler at the new Family Business exhibition space on 21st Street in Chelsea which is run by Massimiliano Gioni and Maurizio Cattelan fresh off his retrospective at the Guggenheim. Andrew has been doing some amazing work recently and we are very proud of his achievements thus far, check out some of his work at AndrewBrischler.com

Friday Advice: John C Reilly

"Keep growing, keep moving and you’ll find the world that you need"

This Friday's advice comes from Oscar and Grammy nominated actor, singer, and screenwriter John C Reilly who you probably know from films like: Step Brothers, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Chicago, Gangs of New York, Boogie Nights, Casualties of War, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, and one of my favorites What's Eating Gilbert Grape. He'll be in the upcoming film The Dictator and Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie but I interviewed him for the film Terri last year in which he plays a high school assistant principal.

Mr. Needles: What's your advice for students who are being bullied or having a difficult time in high school?

John C. Reilly: If you’re in high school and you’re freaking out about your place in the pecking order and you feel like a monster or an outcast and you feel like, in the deck of cards that is high school there’s the aces and the kings and queens and you’re like the three of clubs, just know that this is true for every single person in the world- the moment you get out of high school that deck of cards is thrown into the air and those who were kings and queens often end up the assistant manager at the grocery store and those who were the three of clubs end up on press junkets for movies starring themselves, it gets better for everybody, and you just have to get through it. Keep growing, keep moving and you’ll find the world that you need.

Full story: Short and Sweet NYC

Painting: Edward Hopper

"Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world"

In painting class we are looking at the work of Edward Hopper (1882-1967) an American painter that was a master in watercolor among other media and who unique, geometric, and often isolated style influenced artists from Rothko to Hitchcock. We are looking at the painting of The Lighthouse at Two Lights from 1929 which is at the Metropolitan Museum and is done from the Cape Elizabeth Light which is just south of Portland, Maine. Above is a short video of his work from a recent show at the Whitney Museum in NY but check out the Smithsonian Museum's Hopper scrapbook and the National Gallery of Art's video podcast narrated by Steve Martin for more information on the artist.

Art Honor Society update

The Art Honor Society is currently working on preparing the JR mural, arranging a spring field trip, working on the Japan Society's Going Global project, and arrange our yearbook page but this week we also saw that the Smithtown Patch posted an article about our newly designed Art Honor Society t-shirts, check it out!

Going Global: Favorite Foods

This week we will begin working on the Japan Society's Going Global program in some of our classes and we will begin by discussing our favorite food with students from Japan and Pakistan so take a photograph of you're favorite food and post it to the site to begin. My example is shown above, it's a tough call but today I'd say it's the turkey and brie sandwich from Miami Beach's La Sandwicherie with a Starbucks coffee on the beach.

SCAD visit today

Today Michelle Garrigan, a representative of the Savannah College of Art & Design will visit our AP Studio Art class and give a presentation about the school and it's wide array of programs. I had a chance to visit the school in February last year and in addition to exploring their wonderfully designed facilities and eclectic classes I was able to attend their deFine Art exhibition and lecture with performance artist Marina Abramović which was amazing!

Friday Advice: Jonah Hill

"My advice would be writing is everything"

As you may know in addition to teaching I also work as a journalist and occasionally have opportunities to interview actors, writers, directors, musicians, and artists for magazines and blogs. In each interview I try to ask a question that might aid my students and throughout this month I'll be sharing some of the advice I've heard from some of the people I've interviewed each Friday.

We'll start it off with actor and screenwriter Jonah Hill; I'm sure most of you are familiar with Jonah from his roles in films such as: Superbad, Knocked Up, Get Him to the Greek, Funny People, and Moneyball (for which he was recently nominated for a Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor) but in addition to acting he's also a prolific screenwriter. I had a chance to sit down with him at the Fox offices last year while he was promoting the independent film Cyrus from the Duplass brothers which also stars John C. Reilly and Marisa Tomei and I asked him about his advice:


Mr. Needles: I teach film and screenwriting in high school
and wanted to ask on behalf of my students what advice do you have for people who want to succeed in the business?

Jonah Hill: My advice would be writing is everything. You know being an actor and not being able to write is one of the scariest things in the entire world, I know this from friends of mine who are actors and don’t write because a lot of time as an actor, especially starting out you spend 99.9 to 100% of the time unemployed so if you can focus on writing everyday and getting better at writing- you should spend every day getting better at what you are trying to do. If you’re an actor and you want to act there’s not going to be movie parts for years unless you are one in a billion so find some friends who are into writing, write a play with them, and then you guys put it up where ever you can: in someone’s house or at a party or something or whatever, borrow a family members camera make a short film, read plays out loud with your friends… every day should just be spent moving forward at getting better at what you are trying to do. That’s my advice and that’s what I did, I just didn’t waste any day when I wasn’t writing or acting even in the few years of unemployment, you know, you just have to fill that time with things that are positive towards your goal.

Here's a link to more from the interview: Short and Sweet NYC

Art Honor Society 2012 T-shirt Design

The Art Honor Society's 2012 T-shirt Design is complete and incorporates work from a number of our members. The t-shirt is available for purchase now in a variety of colors, sizes, and styles!

Adobe Photoshop in photography

Our last photography assignment for the semester was using Adobe Photoshop to prepare images for publication. Students used a variety of techniques that we learned in class from basic alterations with color and contrast to using and creating filters and above is a great example from class. If you are interested in learning more about advanced tools such as these in Photoshop there are some terrific materials on-line such as Adobe TV and Lynda.com.

Long Island Peace Poster Competition

Three members of our AP Studio Art class had their art chosen to be included in the 2012 Shanti Fund calendar as a result of being named finalists in the Long Island Peace Poster Competition. The competition aims to promote peace and non-violence for Long Island students. The students: Carissa Camilleri, Alejandro Carazo and Jeri-Anne Vestuto are pictured above along with Assistant Superintendent for Instruction & Administration Maria Rianna, Superintendent Edward Ehmann, SHS East Principal Ed Thompson.