Studio Art: Youth Art Month

 
March is Youth Art Month (YAM) so we will celebrate by creating a sharable work of art for YAM with this year's theme which is "Art Connects Us". Above is a great example from Sarah in Studio Art, we'll be collecting all the images to share out this month on social media.

Film: Sherlock Pilot- A Study In Pink

 
Today we will watch the aired 90 minute pilot of BBC's Sherlock which is titled A Study in Pink. The episode was written by co-creator Steven Moffat and is a re-vamp of the unaired pilot which was 60 minutes long along with many other small changes.

Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards 2021 Articles

Six student-artists from Smithtown High School East and Smithtown High School West have received awards in the annual Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards and I so proud that 2/3 of the students were from my classes. The school recently released the news to the press and Angelina, Alexandra, Kiersten, and Nethmi are featured in articles on the school's website and the Smithtown Patch.

Digital Media: 2021 Rube Goldberg Machine

 
This week we are working on designing elements for our 2021 Rube Goldberg Machine for this year's contest which requires us to shake and pour a box of nerds and today we'll look closer at Joseph's Machines YouTube page as inspiration because his machines are some of my favorites! 

Media Art: The Coded Messages on the NASA Mars Perseverance Parachute

 

The parachute that helped land the NASA Mars Perseverance spacecraft held a secret message- where would you begin trying to decode it? Here it is seen from an upward-looking camera during landing on Feb. 18. Within hours of this image’s release on Monday, people figured out the message hidden in its pattern working together on social media- the message states:"DARE MIGHTY THINGS"

Another part of the rover has small material swatches mounted to the front of the vehicle to help validate NASA's fabric choices for future Mars-bound astronaut spacesuits. These swatches also help keep one of Perseverance's science instrument, SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals), fine tuned as it investigates the dry river basin in Mars' Jezero Crater. It has another hidden Easter egg embedded in it as a reference to it's name, can you find it?

Credit...

Media Art Honor Society/Film Club: Freakonomics

Our first screening of 2021 will be the documentary Freakonomics today in Media Art Honor Society/Film Club. The film is based on the best-selling non-fiction book and radio show by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner. It features segments directed by: Seth Gordon, Morgan Spurlock, Alex Gibney, Eugene Jarecki, Rachel Grady, and Heidi Ewing (a who's who of contemporary documentary filmmakers) and was released in major cities with a pay what you want pricing offer for selected preview showings.

We'll watch segments of the movie and how the approach different directors approached telling the stories and conveying the data which made Freakonomics so popular.

National Art Honor Society- Rube Goldberg Machine Contest

 
The National Art Honor Society will begin work on our 2021 Rube Goldberg Machine for this year's contest which requires us to shake and pour a box of nerds as the last step in out machine. We'll finish our registration for the team and watch some inspirational examples of Rube Goldberg machines such as the one OKgo created below.

Shanti Peace Poster Design: Shepard Fairey

 
We are beginning our Peace Poster designs today for the Shanti Contest so I'll share a favorite of mine from artist Shepard Fairey better known by his street art name OBEY. He has created a number of variations based on the poster above that he designed including a mural in Los Angeles and another in Berlin (both pictured below).

The artist first became known for his "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" images and still incorporates Andre into his current work. He was was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina and  currently lives in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles. He continues to create posters, murals, stickers, and prints as well as book covers, clothing design, album designs, and films. 

The Mars Perseverance Rover Landing

Welcome back from Winter Break, while we were away the Mars Perseverance Rover had a successful landing and the helicopter has begun charging. 

 

Above and below you can see some photographs from the event and a link to a team update later today. 

Busy, busy. What I’ve been up to since landing, you ask? Well, quite a bit. On Feb. 22 at 11am PT (2pm ET/1900 GMT, hear my team back on Earth discuss the data I’ve sent them so far and what I’ll be doing these upcoming days. https://t.co/gx7ChsBy7k #CountdownToMars pic.twitter.com/aXnrmwM0Il

— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) February 20, 2021

Film: Self Portrait Film

This week we learned about Adobe Spark, a tool we'll use to create films this year and our first assignment was to make a short film introducing yourself to the class. The film should answer the following 3 questions

1. Who are you? 2. Why are you here? 3. What is something that is important to you? Today we will watch the films and critique them together, above is a short professional example as a comparison.

Studio Art: Our Countdown To Mars Rover Landing

 

This week we are designing and creating social media posts incorporating interesting aspects of the Mars Rover landing next week using any of the tools we learned in class such as: Sumo Paint, Brush Ninja, and Adobe Spark. The live rover landing will be live streamed on YouTube on Feb. 18, 2021 at 2:15 p.m. EST during our winter break as we #CountdownToMars together with a live watch party for the event.

Photography: Found Classic Photography Studio

 A classic photography studio was found in Geneva, New York after being long forgotten in an attic. It contained a number of treasures, most importantly a portrait and glass negative of Susan B. Anthony. Check out the story here for more details: Hidden Studio.

Film: Exploring the Art of Storytelling

 
We are beginning to examine how to structure a story in film with our first assignment which uses Adobe Spark. There are a multitude of approaches but a few things that are consistent among them that we will look at in class. Our first assignment is to tell a story about yourself.

AP Art: Goals Project

 
We are beginning our work on the Goals Project this month and posted our introductory video last week to the partner classes around the world including students from India, Taiwan, Greece, and Moldova. we'll check in with our partners and brainstorm for our goal 17 project.

Extra Credit: OKgo Art Together Now

Last week we created our own short animations for OKgo's All Together Now video project on OKgo Sandbox and this week we have a chance to take it a step further and work with the band on a music video. The Art Together Now project is a collaborative animation which allows anyone to participate and record part of the song as well as color in a frame of the animation (which will be a postcard). This project will count as extra credit if you want to participate and I can help you to sign up or you can do it yourself on the OKgo Sandbox page. You do need to sign up before February 20 so be sure to do it before winter break to receive your postcard which will need to be returned to them digitally by March 10 in order to complete the video for it's premiere on Yuri's Night on April 10.

 

Studio Art: Google 4 Doodle

In Studio Art class we are taking on the annual Google 4 Doodle contest and designing a Google doodle for the theme  "I am strong because..." The video below gives some insight into the contest and we'll view more resources in class then have some time to brainstorm and think of 5-10 different ideas before we choose one to proceed with.

 

Film Class: Welcome

 
Today we begin out filmmaking class with a very quick look at the history of film for some context. We'll also discuss some of the work we'll be doing and get to know some of the equipment we'll be using.

2021 Regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

Congratulations to the following AP Art and Digital Media students on being recognized in the 2021 Regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards! Good luck to Angelina and Alexandra (whose work is pictured above) who both won Gold Key awards and will be moving onto the Nationals in March, best of luck! I'm proud of all the hard work everyone has done and it's a pleasure to see your work honored!!

Angelina Bhola Gold Key- Digital Art (Flower model)

Alexandra Lanzon Gold Key- Mixed Media (Agape)

Gold Key- Mixed Media (Mon cœur t’appartient)

Honorable Mention- Mixed Media (Thantophobia)

Kiersten Hebron Honorable Mention- (Facade)

Honorable Mention- (They Won’t Understand)

Poetry- (Star Crossed Lovers)

Nethmi Withanage Drawing & Illustration- (Beauty and the Beast)

NAEA Eastern Region Art Educator Award

 

I was honored this week to learn that I was chosen as the recipient of the 2021 National Art Educators Association's Eastern Region Art Educator Award. I was to share this award with my students as this distinguishment is a reflection of our ongoing collaboration! 

National Art Honor Society: Video Poems

 

In today's National Art Honor Society meeting I'll be doing a short 20 minute workshop on creating creative, original Video Poems as a preview of Playfest 2021 this weekend. We will all create our own video poems ahead of National Poetry Month this spring when we will be sharing them.  The project which is included in my book STEAM Power is elastic and can be created with a variety of digital and traditional tools.

AP Art: Midterm

 
This week the AP Art will have their Midterm check-in in which we review your first 3 Sustained Inquiry artworks and your sketchbook summer assignment at the halfway point of the school year. The piece above is a creative example from Julianna who was in the AP class last year- the difference of what should be exhibited will vary with each of the 3 tests but the creativity, exploration, and self-expression should be consistent in all the work.

End of the Semester

This week is the end of Semester 1 which also means it's the last week of Photography. All assignments should be handed in by Wednesday so final grades can be tabulated for Friday.

OK Go Sandbox: The One Moment Animation

 
Our last assignment for the quarter will be a collaborative animation based on the band OKgo's music video for The One Moment. We'll be working together to digitally animate a short sequence which we will then share out on social media. the video can be seen above along with a behind the scenes sequence below that explains part of the process.

Dia Gallery Talk: Artist Sam Gilliam

 

The DIA Art Center is offering a free gallery talk today on the color field painter and lyrical abstractionist artist Sam Gilliam. The talk is Live on ZOOM at 12pm today and requires registration here. He works on stretched, draped and wrapped canvas, and adds sculptural 3D elements. He is recognized as the first artist to introduce the idea of a draped, painted canvas hanging without stretcher bars around 1965.

One of his notable works entitle Blue from 1991 (pictured below) can be found in the Jamaica train station here on Long Island (if you haven't been there yet odds are that you will one day).

at the age of 87 Gilliam is still creating work and "trying to express something that is contemporary" such as these new works from Pace gallery below.

Inauguration Day 2021

Today is Inauguration Day and it's one like no other before it so we'll take a moment to watch the event and view it in historical context as it occurs at midday. Since 1937, it has taken place at noon EST on January 20, the first day of the new term. Since the 1981 inauguration of Ronald Reagan, the ceremony has been held at the west front of the United States Capitol facing the National Mall with its iconic Washington Monument and distant Lincoln Memorial. From 1829 through 1977 most swearing-in ceremonies had taken place on a platform over the steps at the Capitol's east portico. They have also been held inside the Old Senate Chamber, the chamber of the House of Representatives, and the Capitol rotunda. The most recent regularly scheduled inauguration not to take place at the Capitol was the fourth inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, which was held at the White House.

The first inauguration, that of George Washington, took place on April 30, 1789. All subsequent  inaugurations from 1793 until 1933, were held on March 4, the day of the year on which the federal government began operations under the U.S. Constitution in 1789. The exception to this pattern was those years in which March 4 fell on a Sunday. When it did, the public inauguration ceremony would take place on Monday, March 5. This happened on four occasions, in 1821, 1849, 1877, and 1917. Inauguration Day moved to January 20, beginning in 1937, following ratification of the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution, where it has remained since. A similar Sunday exception and move to Monday is made around this date as well (which happened in 1957, 1985, and 2013).

Today Joe Biden's inauguration will occur without a large crowd due to the pandemic and heightened security after the recent Capitol events so they will instead be met with a sea of American flags on the National Mall. 

Photography: Light Painting

This week we are taking on Light Painting in Photography Class. We are going to each create a light painting either using free apps at home or different techniques and tools we learned about in class. Here are some examples from previous classes, I'll do a  demonstration this week to further explain the technique and we'll play with different approaches and lights to see what produces the best results!

 

STEAM talk at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The talk given by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory last night was terrific so I wanted to share some highlight's of how STEAM is an interictal part of the process in the work that is being done at JPL. The full talk can be see above, I asked a question which was the last to be asked about what lessons the creative technologists learned in school that still make an impact in the work they're doing towards the end of the talk we'll look at. I also found the origami Solar Sails to be facinating examples of sciene and art merging along with the concept of origami paper robots which is a magnificent STEAM innovation!

 

Love how the #STEAM subjects merge in creating #origami solar sails at @NASAJPL, check it out, streaming live now: https://t.co/sAHOZYMnge pic.twitter.com/AwJZvKUVJY

— Tim Needles (@timneedles) January 15, 2021

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

We believe in the power of science and art. Hear experts discuss how folding spacecraft saves space while traveling to space. Don't miss this live talk Thursday, Jan. 14, 7pm PT (10pm ET/0300 UTC). Reply with questions for a chance to be answered on air. https://t.co/OHmr2nNVL8 pic.twitter.com/Cnywl4r9T4

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) January 12, 2021

I recently began working with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and learned about a really terrific program online that begins this week. There is a live STEAM talk Thursday, Jan. 14 at 10pm sharing how NASA merged art and science together in creating origami-like folded parts to save space when traveling through space. The talk has some noted experts who will also be available for a Q & A, check out the link above for more information.

National Art Honor Society: Sketchbook Day

 
Today we will have another meeting of the National Art Honor Society and have our 1st Sketchbook Day of 2021! We'll begin by reviewing some of our new business for the year and then spend most of our session working together drawing and painting in our sketchbooks!

Photography Career Research Project

 

We are exploring the different careers in photography this week as we begin our research project. We began by learning about some of the most prominent careers in photography and looking at some notable elements of the jobs. Now you are being invited to choose a career of interest to explore further in greater detail for our research project and highlight a notable photographer in that career. Above is an example of a noted photography curator from the MoMA as an example.

National Art Honor Society and SADD Meeting today

Today the National Art Honor Society and SADD club will meet at 3pm to work together on a design for the train trestle mural we will be creating in St. James later this spring. Members should join in and be ready to collaborate on ideas and designs!

Studio Art: The Basics of Animation

In Studio Art we will learn about the basics of animation as we begin our short collaborative animation project. These 12 principles were laid out by Walt Disney's animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas.

Artist Talk: Duane Michals

 

Widely known for his work with series, multiple exposures, and the essential use of text in his images, Duane Michals is one of the great photographic innovators of the last century. Michals will lead a candid discussion touching on topics such as metaphysics, personal identity, the nature of memory, photography, and filmmaking. The artist will be in conversation with the Princeton Art Museum Director James Steward on Thursday January 7 at 5:30pm on Zoom. Registration is free but must be completed in advance.

Welcome back! Happy 2021!

 

Welcome back and Happy 2021 to everyone! 

Have a Happy and Safe Holiday Break

 

Today is our last day of class in 2020 so I want to wish everyone a Happy and Safe Holiday Break and Best Wishes for 2021! 

Photography: The Decisive Moment

 In Photography we are learning about Henri Cartier Bresson's concept of the Decisive Moment to prepare for our final assignment which is a long form photo story. We started watching the short documentary above which we will finish today and review the details of our final photo story project in class.

 

#25DaysofMaking project

 

We are sharing our one word project with the Maker community including it as Day 30 in the #25DaysofMaking project. We are going to share some of our results with the world so now that we have our word chosen and designed we'll be learning to make a digital 3D version of it using tools like Tinkercad or Morphi.

National Art Honor Society: Among Us Tournament

 

We had a Virtual Reality Holiday Party this week in the National Art Honor Society and our last meeting of the year will occur on Monday at 3pm for out Among Us Tournament with the SADD club. We'll be working with  SADD on a number of projects this year so it's a fun introduction, join in to play and see which club comes out on top!

Studio Art: One Word for 2021

We are heading into a New Year so this week we are going to work one creating a #OneWord resolution for 2021 and making it a graphic image using 3D design that we can use for inspiration.  This concept comes from author and speaker Jon Gordon who came from Smithtown along with Jimmy Page (not the Led Zeppelin guitarist) and Dan Britton who wrote the book One Word that Will Change Your Life.  Jon Gordon returned to Smithtown speak here a few years ago and was inspirational, below is a look at his Football highlight reel from the late 1980's which appears to be taken here at Smithtown East at points.



The idea behind choosing one word is that it's simple, memorable, and more realistic as a driving force for you but it's important to be authentic and think about what you really need in your life before choosing a word.  Here's a clip of Jon on the Today Show talking about the process and the questions to ask yourself when considering your word.  I chose my word. CREATE, early this year and painted it on the classroom wall as a daily reminder which has made an impact.

We are going to talk about how to choose your one word then you will create an 8"x10" design incorporating the word to use for inspiration.  Tomorrow we'll finish our designs and then Wednesday we'll share our work and talk about our goals and why we choose the words we did. We'll learn about 3D design and make our word designs able to be 3D printed. Remember to keep it positive and focused, we are starting out on a blank slate in 2021!

Photography: Using the Tiltshift Technique

In Photography we are continuing our work on Alternative Processes this week with creating tiltshift images. Tilt-shift effects are done either optically, via a special (and expensive) lens, or more usually, in Photoshop. For this first experiment we will use the tiltshift maker link to create 3 tiltshift versions of your photographs. We'll be using the technique and pairing it with others in the future so spend some time seeing what works and getting acquainted. Here are a few tips on what makes for a good tiltshift image:

• The photo must be taken from above, but not directly overhead. This only reflects what someone taking a photo of a miniature scene would likely do; it’s unlikely they would (or even could) be level to the subject. If you have a direct over shot, you won’t be able to get a decent depth of field that is required.
• A simple scene is usually better than a complicated one. This is because miniature scenes are usually very simple; you wouldn’t find a dense city block, for example, in a model railroad scene. 
• Photo sharpness is a must, as well as good lighting. There will be enough blur in the photo as it is; your focal point must be sharp.
• If people are in the scene, they need to be fairly obscure and small. Again, reflecting what you’d see in a real miniature scene. People are very small, and not well detailed in miniature scenery. 
• Generally, avoid wide shots, and make sure the scene is interesting – for instance, an aerial photo of a cathedral with spires and flying buttresses is interesting, while an aerial photo of a flat-topped shopping mall would not be.

National Art Honor Society: Artist Trading Cards

We are mailing out our 2nd round of Artist Trading Cards with other schools around the country this week. We'll also be creating ATC's to exchange with each other for the holidays as well as creating some cards to exchange with students at some of our district elementary schools!

Art Honor Society: Artist Trading Card Exchange

 

This year in addition to making artist trading cards to exchange with other high schools around the world we'll also do a trade with some of our own elementary schools. Create a card that's appropriate for students k-4 and we'll do a trade at the end of the month then take it a step further and develop an art exchange!

Studio Art: 8-bit Self Portrait's

 

In Studio Art class we are continuing our STEAM unit by creating 8-bit self portrait's in Piskel.  Here are a few terrific examples from class. The next step will be learning how to make them into simple 6 second animated GIFs.

Photography: Coding a Digital Photo Booth

This week we are going to learn how to Code a Photo Booth with CODE AVENGERS to celebrate Hour of Code and CS Week. We'll follow the step by step directions on the link below together then each student will create their own photo book app.

Computer Science Week

We're working on new STEAM projects to celebrate CS Week & Hour of Code- we'll make CODE ART with Code dot org & Scratch then experiment with new technologies! We'll start by learning a little bit about the TIME magazine teenager of the year Gitanjali Rao then start working on some CS and art projects of our own!

Collaborative Doodle with Jamboard

 

For this week's Creative Challenge we will try to work together to complete a Doodle Drawing using Jamboard. Click the links on the Google Classroom and finish the first doodle yourself and submit it. Then we will work together to complete the a second drawing as a class.

Photography: Photo Transfers

In Photography we are learning about the world of Photo Transfers and preparing images for our first experiments with the alternative photography process. We'll be working with a few different techniques such as: wet transfers with alcohol hand sanitizer and gel medium along with wet and dry techniques with different surfaces.

Studio Art: Drawing with Code

 

This week we will begin learning the basics of coding using Code.org.  Were beginning with the basics but the concept can lead to really cool technology such as the sand table featured below.   A link is posted on Google Classroom, follow the step by step instructions to complete the 10 levels and make sure your computer coding is completed by Wednesday at the start of class.