Congressional art show finalists

Congradulations to our 4 finalists in this year's Congressional art show. Each of the students work was included at a show in the new Lyceum Gallery in Riverhead and was given a certificate of recognition by Congessman Tim Bishop.

Assignments for the upcoming AP Art 2011-2012

On Thursday June 2 there was a meeting in art room 161 for all incoming AP Studio Art students in which went over some of the important information about the class and the summer assignments. If you missed it make sure you see Mr. Needles and get the assignments and information.

In addition to the four breadth pieces below you should complete at least 10 sketchbook pages with sketches and ideas for what you might want to concentrate on for the AP class as well as 10 sketches or paintings from life.

Below are the first four major breadth assignments due the first week of class (I suggest you email an image of the work in progress before August 1 so that you can get feedback):

These are strictly 2-D assignments and should be complete with a foreground, mid-ground, and background.

Assignment #1: Monster
This can be done in monochrome (black, white, gray) or in color using any medium, technique and style you desire. The important thing here is to illustrate a monster (real or imagined) including some background that makes sense in context.

Assignment #2: An mixed-media portrait
This can be done in monochrome or in color using any medium you desire (ink, collage, newspaper, paint, & other mixed media). The style may be handled in any way you wish: realistic, abstract, expressive, impressionistic or cubistic, etc. It’s your decision. (Note: select the style of your favorite historical artist to use in this assignment.)
This portrait should reveal something significant about the model. Hands, torso and face are important features and should be included in the work. Try an unusual surface. The portrait may be done on any flat smooth unbreakable surface such as cardboard, mural paper, plywood, masonite, plexiglass, homasote board, etc. It’s up to you. The portrait cannot be smaller than 16”x 20” and no bigger than 22” x 28”.

Assignment #3: One large landscape (outdoor or indoor)
This is strictly a 2-D assignment! The landscape must show depth and distance (receding space or informal perspective). The landscape can be done from any angle (bird’s-eye view or worm’s-eye view). Overlapping and repetition helps to create a sense of depth and distance. NO OUTLINES PERMITTED IN NATURE! Emphasize dark and light shapes, textures and space. Be sure to obtain a strong contrast!!! The landscape must be done in color. Any medium you wish - paint, collage, mixed media. The landscape must be done on a flat, smooth, 2-dimensional surface. Minimum size: 18” x 24”. All landscapes must have a foreground, middle ground and background. Lighting is important and should be dramatic!

Assignment #4: Reinterpret a Master Painting
Choose a painting by a well known artist from before 1960 and do your own version of the same painting. You shouldn’t mimic or technique the style of the original, just the subject matter and basic elements which can be rearranged to your liking. This can be done in any media but should be proportionate to the size of the original.

Japan Society

Here are a few images from our recent trip to the Japan Society in Manhattan where we viewed their show on Zen painting entitled "The Art of One Clap Clapping" and studied painting alongside students from The Museum School in NY in a workshop with Zen Master Max Gimblett

A Thousand Paper Cranes

This week we are doing a project where we are going to create 1000 individual origami paper cranes (known as a Senbazuru, it’s a symbol of peace and good fortune- in Japanese lore if you make 1000 you are granted a wish) and we will photograph each one to make a large photo montage. I had the idea after looking at a photograph I took in Hiroshima of Sadako Sasaki's final crane- http://goo.gl/QOSsK when I had a chance to see her brother speak at her memorial site.

Each student will create and photograph their own crane and we will combine each of them into one larger piece which we would like to share with a school in Japan. Prints will be sold to raise funds for the Japan Society's relief fund and the montage will be delivered to a school near where the disaster occurred as a symbol of hope and support.

AP Alumni Visit: Jen Yu

The AP Art class had a chance to meet with some alumni who are currently in art schools to begin the year. Here's some photos of the presentation given by alumnus Jen Yu who is currently attending the Maryland Institute College of Art. She showed the class her most recent project which was a powerful collection of drawings and paintings based on her family in China.

Here are some samples of Jen's work that which was shown to the class

And here's an image of Jen in class working on a self portrait from back in 2008.

Senior Art Shows

Our Senior art shows have seen a great turnout so far this year with a eclectic group of artists, below are some images from the first semester shows.

Needles AP History Artists

Damien Hirst £50m Diamond Skull
Uploaded by emalyse. - Watch the latest news videos.

Here's this year's list of artists that we are covering as part of our modern art project, an eclectic list. Make sure you are familiar with the work visually as well as their biographical information and style notes. Our test is on Tuesday and Wednesday, bueno suerte!

Alberto Giacometti
Andrew Wyeth
Andy Goldsworthy
Annie Liebovitz
Ashley Wood
Banksy
Barry McGee
Chuck Close
Damien Hirst
David Downton
Francis Bacon
Frank Miller
Gregory Crewdson
H.R. Giger
Henri Matisse
Howard Schatz
Janet Fish
Jean Paul Basquiat
Jean-Philippe Delhomme
Jeff Koons
Jenny Saville
Joan Miro
Joel Peter Witkin
Katsushika Hokusai
Lauri Anderson
Laurie Simmons
Lucian Freud
Margaret Kilgallen
Marilyn Minter
Matthew Barney
Michelle White
Mr Brainwash
Paul Klee
Peter Beard
Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Wilson
Romare Bearden
Sally Mann
Shepard Fairey
Sket One
Starn Brothers
Takashi Murakami
Tom Wesselmann
Tommy Kane
Umberto Boccioni
Victor Vasarely
Wassily Kandinsky
Wayne Thiebaud
William Eggleston
William Kentridge

Japan Society's zen art workshop with artist Max Gimblett

Next month we'll be participating in a series of workshops that are facilitated by the Japan Society in New York City featuring: prominent New Zealand artist Max Gimblett (who is featured in the video above), and museum educators Petra Pankow and Suzanne De Vegh. We will be working with students from different schools in Manhattan as we learn about Zen Art and later create it ourselves. The results of the experience will be exhibited at the Japan Society in conjunction with the current show "The Sound of One Hand: Paintings and Calligraphy by Zen Master Hakuin" which runs through January 9, 2011.

2010 Summer Assignments

Welcome to all the incoming AP art students, below are the summer assignments for next year's class. These are general thematic assignments so they are open to interpretation, be sure to bring to it your own sense of style and creativity!

Complete the first set of assignments by August 1 and the second set of assignments are due the first week of class. If you have any questions about the assignments please email Mr. Needles and take a look at the examples on the blog that will be posted over the summer.


Part I:

1. Self Portrait Without a Face

2. Design a New Animal

3. “Man vs. Nature” Landscape

4. Antediluvian (Very, very old) Portrait



Part II

5. Ennui
–noun
A feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest; boredom: The endless lecture produced an unbearable ennui.

6. Noir
–adjective French
Black; noting the black numbers in roulette or the film noir style which incorporates deep shadows and a grim urban setting, photographed in somber tones and permeated by a feeling of disillusionment, pessimism, and despair.

7. Nouveau
–adjective
Newly or recently created, developed, or come to prominence: The sudden success of the firm created several nouveau millionaires.

8. Voix De Ville (“Voice of the City” led to the term vaudeville):
-noun
Stage entertainment offering a variety of short acts such as slapstick… Also a light comic play that often includes songs, pantomime, and dances or a popular, often satirical song.

2010 AP Art Class

Congrats to the AP art class of 2010! Fantastic job enjoy a safe and happy summer and best of luck to all of you in the future!

Completion of Smithtown's "Fundred" dollar bill program

Pictured above are leaders from the Media Art Honor Society serving as guards along with Mr. Needles and driver Tory Tepp as we deliver the money in front of Smithtown East.

After years of creating and collecting student produced "Fundred" dollars bills to raise money and awareness for the Katrina relief in Louisiana Tory Tepp stopped by the school today to collect the bills in Mel Chin's Bio-fuel driven Armored Car. If all goes to plan we should end up having raised over $360,000 thanks to the all Suffolk County students and teachers who participated.

Fashion Illustration

Congradulations! Today's the last day of this year's Fashion Illustration class. We'll have an interview the class did with an alumnus who works in the industry soon. Here's an image from earlier in the year after the class designed their own t-shirts.

Who are you?

Kelsey's solo art show resembled a dance party this week with Girl Talk blasting down the hallway and Kelsey's special brand of color in the gallery. It was one to remember for sure.

Ari-stotle Art

This week our featured art show took a spiritual turn and hit the mark with some cool design features incorperated into the gallery space to pull it all together.

Make it work!

Hey crew Happy Thanksgiving! Give some thought to your concentrations over the vacation because for the next 12 weeks you'll have a concentration piece due each week! Time to... (you know)

Queen Muppets

Here's a awesome short film that a former student, Kelli Krysh, sent me that her company, Soapbox Films, worked on to commemorates the anniversary of Queen front man, Freddy Mercury's death from AIDs. They shot it in 1 day using 79 muppets and 53 different setups- impressive!! It's great to see students graduate and do what they love!

Senior AP Shows: Amanda & The Rat

Our second senior show was a big success this week and certainly piqued the interest of more than a few students and faculty with it's promotional Rat posters. Special guest "Twilight" was a big hit as well as a great body of work from 2 years of AP art.

Breadth Madness

Happy Halloween and congratulations- you're now almost 1/4th the way to the finish line! As the 1st quarter comes to a close I'd like each student to post the Breadth piece that you are most proud of and to comment on each others work. This will help give you some direction in terms of where you are headed for your portfolio and your concentration. The important question to ask yourself is- Why is this your favorite? What about it do you respond to? Try to write a short sentance or two summing up why the piece was chosen and when commenting see if you can help give each other some more focus in terms of your direction.

This week we'll go over the basics of blogging and working on the web!

Senior AP Shows: Chelsea mouse City mouse

This week we had our first AP Senior Artshow with Chelsea's work and the work was equally as popular as the amazing cupcakes that she brought in!

From memory?

Here's a clip showing autistic artist Stephen Wiltshire who is able to draw detailed cityscapes from life- amazing stuff!

Sketchbook Week!!!

Now that we've all had a chance to get to know each other and put a few breadth pieces together it's time for SKETCHBOOK week! Eash class this week we will have a different assignment to be completed in your sketchbook with whatever materials you'd like. Be sure to use the whole page wether it's literally covering the page or activating the space via line or form in some way. Below are a few links for inspiration- have fun!

Monday: Draw from life in class including at least one person

Drawn!

Urban Sketchers

The Drawing Studio

Tuesday: Make your doodles into art

Needles

Doodlers Anonymous

Mattias Adolfsson

Wednesday: Illustrate the story in class

Nadja Andrasev

Sugar Frosted Goodness!

Sumarine Submarine

Thursday: Draw a portrait of someone you dont know well

Michelle White

Tommy Kane

Chris Wahl

Octavio Diaz

Friday: Illustration Friday

Illustration Friday

2009 AP Studio Art Summer Assignments

Below are the assignments for students who are enrolled in the 2009-2010 AP Art class. We'll be meeting as a group on June 4 to go over the assignments and I'll be posting a few examples from the current AP art students shortly. If you have any questions dont hestitate to email me ans ask.


Due August 1
2 Completed Breadth pieces: Self Portrait Collage & Black & White "Grid"
2 Thematic works: Fabulous & Juxtaposition

Due September 7
20 complete sketchbook pages
2 Thematic works: Resonance, & Where I'm At

The nature of design

As we have been discussing the nature of design in class, I thought I would share this TED talk from Niels Diffrient with you for inspiration. Below are some addition links to some great design inspiration for the web and school based architecture to aid you with your current assignments.
Cool Design Ideas Blog
Innovative School Architectural Design

Concentration Examples

Here's a few examples of concentration portfolios along with the writing samples:

2D Exam

Drawing Exam

LACMA's 11

AP Studio Art Digital Submission

Here's a link to the Studio Art Digital Submission webpage. Please be sure to get online and begin uploading you're work this week so that you don't fall behind. On Monday next week we'll have a session in class going over more of the details but most of the important information can be found via the link above.

Strictly Students Film Festival Call for Entries 2009

It's time for this year's Call for Entries for the 5th Anniversary Strictly Students Film Festival and the deadline for films is April 3 and it's free to enter so check out the website for more information: www.strictlystudentsfest.com.

Shepard Fairey lawsuit

This week there came news of a lawsuit between one of the artists we spoke about in class, Shepard Fairey (of OBEY), and the Associated Press. Fairey's poster was based on a photograph taken by AP photographer Mannie Garcia. The question at hand is whether or not Fairey altered the image enough to (in a sense) make it an original piece of work.

Sometime this week take a moment to read the following 2 articles so that we can discuss it in class when we return from vacation.

NY Times Article and PRINT magazine

Scott McCloud

Here's an interesting video from Scott McCloud who is a terrific animator and author discussing art, life, and cartooning.

Two important things to note:

first: how Scott gives some of his personal background and how that relates to his concepts and art (remember pulling from your own experience generally results in the most original and interesting work you have to offer)

second: how Scott's "out of the box" narrative style of presentation reflects the "out of the box" variations in cartooning that he discusses (like he mentions this is just his nature- getting in touch with your own instincts and nature will inform your art and in a larger sense your choices and views in life)

As an extra credit assignment try to create an "out of the box" comic that uses space and direction in an interesting way (due when we return from break)

Barack Obama's Inauguration Day

Having an opportunity to watch the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama in class on our SMARTboard today was really a sign of how far technology has come (and I suppose having the signal drop out so often was a sign of where technology needs to go).

As a homework assignment this week I'd like all of you to think about what you heard in class (and the issues that surround it) and create a work in any media that reflects your feelings on it. Here's a link to the New York Times which has a transcription of the speech along with every presidential inauguration speech (it also has the words that were used repeatedly tagged with the amount of times it was used)- 2009 Inauguration Day Speech

We have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly." -Barack Obama

It's also important to note that President Obama made an interesting choice in using the artist we spoke about earlier in the year- Shepard Fairey, a modern graffiti artist (and creator of OBEY), to create his signature icon shown above. What do you think about that choice? What does that say to the art world?

Andrew Wyeth 1917-2009

Painter Andrew Wyeth died today in his home in Chadds Ford, Pa. at the age of 91. He is a monumental figure in American art best known for his 1948 painting "Christina's World". Ironically, he was an anti-establishment artist who became the establishment.

There's nothing else quite like Andrew's gritty, gorgeous brushwork and desolate, haunting imagery. I grew up with "Christina's World" hanging on my parents bedroom wall so as an artist and art educator it was one of my first influences. If you enjoy his work I strongly suggest visiting the Brandywine River Museum in Pennsylvania and the Wyeth Center in Rockland, Maine.

“What you have to do is break all the rules.”
Andrew Wyeth, July 12, 1917 – January 16, 2009

Modern Art Film Clips

Now that we are wrapping up our discussion about modern art history I wanted to share a few interesting film clips that we spoke about but didn't have time to see in class.


This clip is the commercial Marilyn Minter produced for her art show 100 Food Porn, a revolutionary idea at the time and I'm not just saying that because she was my teacher.


This is an interesting clip with Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat showing some of their collaborations and the two artists speaking about their work.


Here's a story about Damien Hirst's Shark at the Metropolitan Museum.


Finally, here's a story that actually shows graffiti artist Bansky working as he stencils the wall separating Israel from Palestine (which may be even more relevant lately due to the recent increased fighting).

Summer Assignments: Part I

Hey APs! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and relaxing! Remember the first half of the Summer assignments will be due posted up on this blog sometime next week. If you forgot which are which the assignments that are due are listed below:

Assignment #1: Create 10 sketchbook pages based on themes that you are interested in pursuing. The works should all be thematically united but can be in different media. Feel free to experiment with the theme with in the 10 works.

Assignment #2: Create 10 sketchbook pages based on observation from life. These must direct observations from life (not from photographs). Try to be creative angles or media if you like.

Assignment #4: A Self-portrait WITHOUT Showing Your Likeness
This can be done in monochrome (black, white, gray) or in color using any medium, technique and style you desire. The important thing here is to reveal something about yourself without using your face. In fact, you need not use any part of your body at all in this assignment. Instead, you are challenged to portray who you are in some alternative way. What image can you create or invent that would tell us something about you - your personality, your interests, your character, your inclinations, your talents, your passions, your obsessions, your desires, your needs, your likes and dislikes, your essence? This should be a 2-D work (flat) not 3-D.

Assignment #5: A Self-portrait WITH Showing Your Likeness
In this assignment create a more traditional self portrait but find a creative way of showing your personality in the work. You may want to include a background that reflects who you are or an interesting reflective surface to work from. Feel free to work in any media but again no 3-D works.

Welcome New AP Artists!

Hello, I just wanted to welcome all the new AP artists to our blog. Once you set up an account please just post a hello with a sample of your work(and please dont use your first and last name or mention any specifics about where you live, et.- try to keep it either your first name or make up a name for yourself). You can use this program to post work via the little picture icon or a different program such as photobucket or flickr- it's up to you. Remember to put fear behind you and have fun creating work this summer. I look forward to working with all of you and best of luck in your art!

Macgritte

This is for my "famous art piece done in my style" thingy.
I'd just like to say, that shading on the Apple logo was all me. The rest was mostly inverting colors, obviously. This was just for the hell of it, it doesn't mean anything, my feelings toward Apple aren't super-strong either way.

Old Masters Painting Re-done

Hey Mr. Needles,
For the assignment that we have to do our own rendition of an artist's piece, when's that due?

Keith Haring website

http://www.haring.com/ - Keith Haring website