Studio Art- Artist Research Project

In our next project we will be researching artists and creating works inspired by their process.  Below is the master list of artists we'll be covering that you'll need to create presentations for and we'll have a visual and short answer test on them after the presentations.  Due on Monday 2/7.

P1- A title page with a photo, name, and name of your research subject
P2- A short bulleted biography of 10 important facts with sources linked on the bottom of the page
P3-P13 Images of your research subject's major works, 1 per page

Needles- Robert Rauschenberg

Nikitha- Chuck Close

Emily- Keith Haring

Anthony- René Magritte

Sophia- Jeff Koons

Madison- Henri Matisse

Eliana- Ai Weiwei

Nicholas- Paul Klee

Felicity- Barbara Kruger

Brian- Piet Mondrian

Audrey- Joan Miró

Brandon- Shepard Fairey

Joseph- Alberto Giacometti

Matthew- Alexander Calder

Nicolette- Claude Monet

Brody- Salvador Dalí

Erin- Andrew Wyeth

Tony- David Hockney

Joseph- Jean-Michel Basquiat

Peter- Jasper Johns

Justin- Banksy

Andrew- Pablo Picasso

Gabrielle- Marilyn Minter

Sydney- Anish Kapoor

Meagan- Andy Goldsworth

Lucas- Jackson Pollock

W, Claire- Andy Warhol

AP Art: Artist Trading Cards

In AP Art we created a series of Artist Trading Cards for the upcoming ATC swap and above is a video showing off a few other the creations we made.  I love the creativity and personality everyone brought to the project, the cards look great!

Drawing: Artist Research Project

In Drawing we are currently working on our Artist Research Project. Each student is assigned an artist and has to create a short presentation on that artist including a photo of the with a short one page biography and 10 large quality images of their work. The presentation can be created on Powerpoint (saved to the public drive) or the new Google Slide (shared to my email) and is due at the beginning of class on Monday.

after the presentations there will be a quiz on the artists and you will create a work of art inspired by one of the artists you learned about for Friday October 23.

1. Kayla- David Salle
2. Shannon- David Hockney
3. Kyle- Retna & Chip Kidd
4. Anthony- Jason Jägel
5. Joseph- Roa
6. Mark- Robert Wyland
7. Alexandra- Tara McPherson
8. Zainab- Magnus Plessen
9. Emma- Alex Katz
10. Samantha- Kara Walker
11. Andrea- Yayoi Kusama
12. Nicole- Wayne White
13. Marissa- George Condo
14. Arielle- Robert Dash
15. Samantha- Wendy Macnaughton
16. Leesa- Swoon
17. Angelina- Francesco Clemente
18. Cassandra- Dal On
19. Kristen- Barry McGee
20. Amy- Daniel Danger & Raymond Pettibon
21. Ilysa- Alice Neel
22. Victoria- Brendan Monroe
23. Brandon- Tristan Eaton
24. Leann- Marilyn Minter
25. Needles- Robert Rauschenberg

Studio Art: Watercolor Portrait Painting

In Studio Art we are finishing up our first Watercolor Portrait Painting which is due at the end of class today.  The example I did above in my Sketchbook Project shows some of the tips I mentioned such as realistic skin tones using under colors, shading, and a background tone.

When we are finished you can begin this week's Illustration Friday in Watercolor, the theme is stuffed.

Digital Media: Technology Innovators Research Project

In Digital Media we are beginning our Technology Innovators Research Project while we record audio stories in class. Each student has been assigned an important person in technology and using Google Slide you should create a 5 page research paper with a title page including a photo, name, and title of your research subject, a short bulleted biography and three pages of full biography including photos and what innovations and lessons your subject has for us as listed below. This project will be due at the beginning of class on Wednesday along with your unedited audio recording of your short personal story.

P1- A title page with a photo, name, and title of your research subject
P2- A short bulleted biography of 10 important facts
P3- Full bulleted biography of 25 facts
P4- List of innovations and creations with images
P5- Advice and innovations your subject has for us.

1. Jak- Reed Hastings
2. Jack- Sundar Pichai
3. Jason- Palmer Luckey and Brendan Iribe
4. Alex C- Dan Pink
5. Sam- Elon Musk
6. Olivia- Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin
7. Justin- Mark Pincus
8. Katie- Jack Dorsey
9. Alex J- Chris Sacca
10. Tyler- James Park
11. Anthony- Travis Kalanick
12. Christopher M- Steve Jobs
13. Kelly- Tim Cook
14. John- Megan Smith
15. Emily- Ben Silbermann and Evan Sharp
16. Lucas- Jony Ive
17. Chris S- Kayvon Beykpour and Joseph Bernstein
18. Adam- Mark Zuckerberg
19. Joseph- Larry Page
20. Julianna- Jimmy Iovine
21. Matt- Nick Woodman
22. Mike- Evan Spiegel
23. Zach- Kazuo Hirai
24. Scott- Philippe Dauman
25. Anna- Jeff Bewkes
26. Peter- John Doerr and Mary Meeker
27. Kyle- Shantanu Narayen
28. Chrissy D- Jay Silver
29. Jessica- Bill Gurley
30. Dylan- Andrew Wilson
31. Spencer- Daniel Ek
32. Ryland- Peter Thiel
33. Grace- Danit Peleg
34. Gina- Jeff Bezos
35. Nicholas- Adam Cahan
36. Christopher- Brit Morin
37. Victoria- Shane Smith
38. Jenna- Howard Schultz
39. Kiersten- Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg
40. Christian- Warren Buffett
41. Mikenzie- Ollie Palmer
42. Alexa- Robert Iger
43. Matt S- Steve Zadesky
44. Cameron- Bre Pettis
45. Aline- Jens Begemann and Philipp Moeser
46. Matt V- Ben Rubin, Uri Haramati, Itai Danino
47. Stacy- Akio Toyoda
48. Kenneth- Bob Pittman
49. Rosalie- Kevin Systrom

Art Honor Society: Hartford School of Art visit and Hamptons Film Festival wrapup

Today the Hartford School of Art is visiting class at 11am to discuss their program.  We have a number of alumni who have attended and loved the program so it should be great learning more about it.  AP students may have the chance to have their portfolios reviewed after the class so please have your work ready.



This past weekend we had students volunteering at the Hampton's Film Festival and students had a chance to see actor Alan Alda speak about his role in Steven Spielberg's new film Bridge of Spies.  The Vine video below shows part of his talk from the Guild Hall showing.

AP Art: Young Arts, College Visits, and Artist Research Project

This week in AP Art is the last to enter the Young Arts contest which closes on Oct 16, 2015.  Enter for a chance for scholarships and a chance to be nominated for the U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts.  

We will also have the Hartford Art School visit tomorrow, Wednesday at 10:20 to discuss their program and review portfolios.  Above is a great video showing one of the school's recent pop-up shops in town.

Finally, we will begin our artist research project this week so each student will be assigned two artists that reflect their work in some way.  Create a presentation with a cover featuring the artist's image, a short 1 page bulleted biography with sources and 20 full size images of their work.  Below is the master list of artists.  After the research and presentation you should create a piece inspired by anything you learned about either or both of the artists.  We will share the presentations next week and have a short visual and written test on them afterwards.

Emily A- Alex Katz & William Kentridge

Emily B- Marjane Satrapi & Walt Kelly/Jeff Smith

Sam- Robert Rauschenberg & Starn Brothers

Kyle- Jasper Johns & José Parlá

Alana- Swoon & Judith Supine

Luke- Will Eisner & Farel Dalrymple

Kayla- Chuck Close & Gustav Klimt

Alix- Sebastião Salgado & Raymond Pettibon

Maria- Yayoi Kusama & Banksy

Rachel- Yoshitomo Nara & Takashi Murakami

Natalie- Jenny Saville & Lucian Freud

Nicole- Shepard Fairey & MCEscher

Jamie- Alphonse Mucha & William Klein

Rosalie- Gregory Crewdson & Marilyn Minter

Chrissy D- Sigmar Polke & Donald Baechler

Mikenzie- Nam June Paik & Valerie Hegarty

Isabella- Lauren Greenfield & Erwin Wurm

Digital Media: Audio

In Digital Media class we will begin working with audio aka sound today and we will start by taking a look at our new LittleBits/ KORG circuit set and learning about the basics of how sound works.  The example above by artist Reggie Watts gives you a sense of some of the cool things that can be done with Little Bits of sound.  We will also be introduced to sound editing with the Audacity freeware program and learn the basics of sound editing.  Finally we'll look at our first sound project from the Sarahs and make some decisions about what our project will look like then we'll record and edit it next week.  Below is a great example of an audio story that takes place in school from one of my favorite radio/tv shows, This American Life.

Digital Media: The Artist Code Series

In Digital Media class we are finishing our first coding unit with The Artist Code Series on code.org in class today.  Students should be signed in and complete The Artist 1-3 and save the images at the end of each in the public drive.  Spend a bit of time experimenting with the design of the final stage of the Artist Code 3 like I did in the Vine below- it's a particularly creative piece of geometric coding art!

Studio Art: Artist Trading Cards

We are creating Artist Trading Cards this week to participated in @MiniMatisse's 1st Annual Artist Trading Card swap with other schools across the world.  Above are a few examples created by artists and teachers such as myself from a trade I arranged this summer.

Each student in Studio Art, Drawing, and AP Art will create 6 Artist Trading Cards that are 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" based on a theme of their choice (and the media will depend on the class).  We'll measure out the paper and create the ATC's then cut them at the end because it's easier to keep track of them.

When they are finished well critique and photograph then prepare them to be mailed out.  On the back make sure to write your name, school, state, teacher, age, grade, date, and the title and medium used.  Above are a few more professional examples from contemporary artists for the art hustle collection.  When we receive our ATC's later in the year we'll have a gallery show of the art cards we created and the cards we received.

Extra Credit: “Why Does Art Matter?” Poster Design Contest

October's Extra credit for fine studio art, drawing, and AP art classes is to create a poster design for the School Arts “Why Does Art Matter?” Poster Design Contest:

Objective: Design and create an 18 x 24" (46 x 61 cm) advocacy poster that addresses the question,“Why Does Art Matter?”

Deadline: November 2, 2015

Prizes: First, second, and third-place winners will receive gift certificates from Nasco Arts & Crafts ($300 for first place, $150 for second place, and $50 for third place).

The first-place winner’s poster will be reproduced and distributed to more than 3,000 attendees at the 2016 National Art Education Association Conference in Chicago, Illinois. The supervising art teacher of each winner will receive a 1-year subscription to Davis Digital Images. Winning posters will also be featured in the March 2016 issue of SchoolArts.

	Rules and Eligibility:
*	Students should create an 18 x 24" poster (vertical or horizontal) and may be done in any media that communicates the importance of art education in K–12 schools by answering the question, “Why Does Art Matter?”
*	Posters may only be submitted by the entrant’s art teacher. Art teacher must “like” SchoolArts on Facebook.
*	No more than two finalists may be submitted from each teacher.
*	Posters should not contain any copyrighted content or content that could be perceived as offensive, such as nudity and profanity.
*	Each submission must contain the student’s name, home address, grade level, and age, as well as the name, school, school address, teaching, and contact information of the supervising art teacher. A signed artwork reproduction permission form must also accompany each submission. You can download one here.

Drawing: Illustration Friday

In Drawing class we will be working on Illustration Friday today and the theme is "INK".  Above is an example from class done by Luke.  Remember today's schedule is abbreviated due to the pep rally so we have a little less time than normal!

Art Honor Society: Patriots Day Meeting

Today the Art Honor society will meet and make a few important decisions about the events we'll be doing in the next few months along with taking a patriotic group photo.  The Hamptons Film Festival is coming up in two weeks so anyone interested in volunteering can visit the Hamptons Film Festival Volunteer page.

Well also be planning some of the collaborative projects we will be working on for the next few weeks such as the Sketchbook Project, our new t-shirt design, and the Wyland mural.  We will be starting both next week at our meeting on Wednesday.

Drawing: Portraits from Life

In Drawing and Studio Art class we will be working in our sketchbook drawing portraits of students in class from life.  We'll start with a full page portrait of someone in class and then we'll fill a page with smaller drawings of other students at different angles like the demonstration I created in my sketchbook above.  The finished drawings will be due on Thursday at the beginning of class.

Here are some of the drawing tips for portraits from Craftsy we talked about yesterday in case you forget.  Remember start from the interior, make sure your proportions are correct, and draw a sketch before you make the lines dark and more permanent!

Digital Media: Drawing with Code Zombies

We will continue our computer coding art workshop today using the Zombie Drawing Code.  Now that we've learned some of the basics it's time to get creative and be original.  Play with the code and use any of the variables to create your own art piece.  Your welcome to use Adobe Photoshop or apps such as Over and Vine in conjunction with the code but make sure it's a completely original work. The final digital artwork will be due at the end of class on Wednesday so Thursday and Friday we'll meet back downstairs in the classroom to critique and reflect on the work and what we learned.

The examples above and below that I made in class give you a sense of some of the variations that you can work with.  Above all: experiment, play, and have fun!

Studio Art: Drawing Terms

In Studio Art we began our Drawing unit and are beginning to review the drawing terminology.  The videos above and below show the basic elements and principles or art and design that we are working with and you can also reference my Quizlet study guide to review all the terms you'll be responsible for.  We'll have a short quiz Friday on the drawing terms.

Digital Media: Drawing Code

In Digital Media we are going to start on a more advanced tutorial to learn some mathematical Drawing Code featuring the characters from Disney's Frozen.

Art Honor Society: Planning Meeting

Today the Art Honor Society will meet after school in room 161 to plan some of our upcoming events such as the October field trip, possible walk in the homecoming parade, volunteering at the Hampton's Film Festival, and  possible Haunted House for Spooky Hallways.

Digital Media: Coding Basics

In Digital Media we are going to start learning the basics of coding with a very simple tutorial for the game Flappy Birds.  We'll be learning a bit of coding once a month, each month as the school year progresses in order to have the skills to create some of our more complicated future projects.

Studio Art: Sketchbook Week

Each day this week in Studio Art class we will be working on a short 15-20 minute drawings in our sketchbooks and sharing them, all 4 will count together for a grade on Friday.  The pieces can be created in any media as long as it uses the full page.  Below are the week's themes with links to specifics and examples:

Monday: Observational Drawing
Tuesday: Doodle
Thursday: Words
Friday: Fills

Extra Credit: September

This month's extra credit assignment comes courtesy of the Studio 360 radio show and actor Nick Offerman best know for playing Ron on Park's and Rec.  It's a popsicle stick sculpture creative challenge the rules are below- be creative!:

The Challenge: Build a popsicle stick sculpture for Nick Offerman based on one (or more) of his favorite things:

• Bratwurst
• Fishing
• Masonry
• Wilco (the band)
• The Hoover Dam
• Puzzles
• America

Deadline: September 28th by the end of class

Drawing: Illustration Friday

Today in Studio Art and Drawing class we'll be drawing the Illustration Friday theme which is: Mermaid.  Be original, be creative, and make your mermaid- they will be shared, critiqued, and graded at the end of class!

When you are finished you can return to work on sketching out your Wyland "climate and coast" mural design for Monday!

Inspired by my morning @Starbucks #coffee while drawing today's @ifri #mermaid theme as a demonstration for my class! pic.twitter.com/x8S4HKaZUK

— Tim Needles (@timneedles) September 18, 2015