AP Studio Summer Assignment

The AP Studio Art course is designed to provide students with an experience as enriching as a college level studio course. While it has a rigorous schedule and makes high demands on art students, it also provides the rich reward of artistic discovery and learning as evidenced in a final portfolio of 24 superior artworks.
I have placed a link, located on the left to the College Board's description and scoring guidelines for the AP Studio Art course. You should take some time this summer to familiarize yourself with the requirements and scoring guidleines found at the link in order to be fully prepared when the school year begins. Our first critique, which will begin with a review of your summer work will use the Quality criteria for its rubric. I have also included a number of web sites, both museum and artist websites featuring sketchbooks for you to review and be familiar with.

Also, over the summer, each student enrolled in the AP Studio Art course must complete the following 2 assignments:

1. Sketchbook Guidelines
Begin a sketchbook, or continue with one in progress, and record a minimum of 10 observations throughout the summer. The sketchbook is a critical tool in advancing your skills, both drawing and design, and its importance cannot be overstated at this point. The sketches should be visual notetaking, but may also combine words, collage and various media. They ARE NOT required to be finished drawings, but should record ideas that you may work with as your concentration develops.
Sketchbooks are like visual diaries for artists.
Your sketchbbook should be a comprehensive document that illustrates your artistic development and research. The purpose of your sketchbook is to encourage and record personally driven research and discovery that function interactively with independent and assigned artwork. you should also include a combination of writing, drawing, clippings, and collage.
Your sketchbook should include:

 Drawings from observation analytical research
 Thumbnail sketches for future projects
 Drawings of artwork or sculpture from a museum
 Studio idea development for major projects
 Written critiques of your work and art historical work
 Documentation of discoveries, media experiments
 Personal reflections, musings, future directions

Museums and Galleries
http://www.gis.net/~scatt/sketchbook/links.html
http://www.gis.net/~scatt/sketchbook/links.html
http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/sketchbooks/
http://www.aaa.si.edu/guides/site-visual/index.cfm

Individual Artists
http://www.waynejiang.com/sketchbooks/
http://www.jamesjean.com/travelbookmenu.html
http://www.tomwood-painter.com/Sketchbooks/sketchbooks.html
http://www.eyecandy.co.uk/Rebecca%20Bradley/index.htm
http://www.johncopeland.com/index.html
http://www.sabrinawardharrison.com/
http://www.sketchbooks.org/mikelkrumins/
http://www.jennifernew.com/ http://www.johnclapp.com/artw_pages/sketch_pages/sketch_main.html
http://www.andersonkenny.com/
http://www.daneldon.org/
http://www.dannygregory.com/


2. Still Life Drawing
One finished still-life drawing of any collection of objects you choose. The drawing must be a minimum of 14" x 17" in size and 18" x 24" maximum. This drawing will be used in our first week critique and will be graded using the scoring guidelines located at the College Board link.

College Board Scoring Guidelines

There are several factors you should keep in mind when starting this drawing:

a. Choose an interesting point-of-view.
b. Pay special attention to the use of perspective.
c. Think carefully about what objects you choose to include in the composition. Think about unusual objects that reflect some aspect of you as an artist.
d. Be prepared to discuss the elements in the drawing including value, texture, and form.

In addition, students should begin to formulate ideas for their Concentration series. The College Board site has links to Concentration examples from past years for you to review, and you may find these helpful in developing your own theme. While we will be working on developing our Breadth portfolios as the new school year begins, the sooner you can begin work on your Concentration series, the better.

Have a great summer!!

April Schedule

AP Studio Timeline: April

As we use this last month to prepare our final portfolios, we should also make sure to revisit past works and improve what we can within those earlier pieces. Do not fall victim to the one piece, next piece mentality at this critical time. Consistently look over your entire portfolio, particularly your Concentration series, and work with the visual ideas you’ve been exploring over the past several months. Continue to innovate, edit and create with both passion and objectivity.

April 4^th: Artist Statements due
April 6^th: All Breadth Artworks uploaded to College Board portfolio site
April 6^th: Concentration Critique: Artwork #10
April 16^th: Minimum of 9 Concentration Artworks uploaded to College Board portfolio site
April 16^th: Concentration Critique: Artwork #11
April 26^th: Concentration Critique: Artwork #12

Third Marking Period Dates

This marking period is our crucial time slot for bringing our portfolios close to finished and preparing them for the College Board uploads. I've listed some dates below that will be important for each of us to keep in mind as we move forward in building those portfolios and for each of you as you work on your Concentration pieces.

We will need to begin the preparation and uploading process within the next two weeks. Currently, all artwork that has been photographed will belocated in folders labeled with your names and placed on the Student drive within the AP Studio folder.

On February 12, we will be meeting in the 501 Computer Lab to register with the College Board and begin preparing our images for uplaod.

Our Class critique schedule (pending no more school closings) is as follows:

• Friday, Feb. 8: Concentration #6
• Monday, Feb. 25th: Concentration #7
• Friday, March 8th: Concentration #8
• Monday, March 25th: Concentration #9
• Friday, April 5th: Concentration #10
• Friday, April 12th: Concentration #11
• Friday, April 26th: Concentration #12

Concentration Deadlines

Second marking Period deadlines for finished Concentration works.

• Monday, Jan 7th – Artwork #3
• Friday, Jan. 18th – Artwork #4
• January 22 – Artwork #5

Concentration Critique Schedule for Second Marking Period

AP Studio Art: Marking Period 2 Critique Schedule The second marking period will mark our move to a strong emphasis on your individual Concentrations. In order to ensure the highest quality work being completed, we will be following a schedule of critiques that should help you in reaching your AP portfolio goal. We will also continue to work on the Breadth section of our portfolio with a series of in-class assignments revolving around a variety of issues in the visual arts. Your Concentration work is expected to be completed at home and will comprise the majority of your out-of-class studio time. You should commit a minimum of 4 – 5 hours per week on your Concentration artworks. There are no shortcuts to building the AP portfolio. Concentration Critiques: • Friday, November 16 - Concentration Proposals • Friday, December 7th – One finished artwork • Thursday, December 20th – Artwork #2 • Monday, Jan 7th – Artwork #3 • Friday, Jan. 18th – Artwork #4 • January 22 – Artwork #5

AP Studio Homework

Sketchbook Assignment #3
Tell the story of an object's life.

In this sketchbook assignment, you will be using your sketchbook to make a series of studies of one specific object. You will choose the object, and in addition the setting, tone, mood, and point-of-view will all be determined by you as the artist.
The goal of this assignment is to have you create a narrative of the many facets of the object’s life based on your own imaginative and creative powers.

A total of 12 different scenarios must be completed by Monday, November 26.

For example: a mug in brown wrapping tied with string; Steaming on a cosy table with a beloved's teacup alongside; sitting alone on a draining board; sitting on a desk full of pencils, with a torn photograph; broken in pieces in the wastebasket. You might tell the story of a beloved teddy, a bunch of flowers, a bottle of wine, or a dollar bill. Need a challenge? Look for the most mundane object you can think of! Contemporary objects - such as a mobile phone - can be difficult, because we have no artistic tradition to refer to when representing them.

First Sketchbook Check: Monday, November 19(4 scenarios minimum)

Breadth Portfolio Preparation

As we near the end of October, each student should now be thinking about possible Concentration ideas for their AP Portfolio. Beginning next week, we'll be photographing and preparing our Breadth section as we begin this transaction.
On November 1 we will review and photograph each student's portfolio in its current stage.In order to ensure a proper Breadth portfolio, each student should gather all work they feel is pertinent to be reviewed for inclusion in this section of the test.
This would include all work assigned in class including the summer work:

• Self portrait
• Still Life
• Photo Still Life
• 30 Drawings in 30 Days
• Landscape Sketches
• Final Landscape Drawing

This should also include sketchbooks, work from previous classes that may be appropriate and work done on your own.

Your Breadth Portfolio will be assessed under the following criteria: Works demonstrating understanding of a variety of drawing issues. Look for engagement with a range of the following:

• Form
• Depth
• Content
• Pattern
• Tonal Values
• Means of Representation and Abstraction
• Line Quality Materials
• Perspective and Other Spatial Systems
• Composition
• Drawing Surface Techniques Styles

Key Scoring Descriptors
A. Investigation of a Broad Range of Visual Concepts and Composition
B. Decision Making in Terms of Experimentation, Risk Taking or Both
C. Originality, Imagination, and Invention in Using the Elements and Principles of Design in Drawing Composition
D. Intention, Purpose, and Direction
E. Confident, Evocative Work That Engages the Viewer
F. Technical Competence and Skill with Drawing Materials and Media
G. Understanding the Use of Digital or Photographic Sources
H. Appropriation and the Student “Voice”
I. Image Quality (for Weak and Poor Breadth Sections Only)
J. Overall Accomplishment and Quality In applying these descriptors, consider the content, style, mark making, and use of media in the work.