Welcome to new semester and student teacher

Welcome to Spring 2012. This will be the best semester ever!

A big welcome to Mr. Jim Dipaolo, our student teacher from Arcadia University.

Mr. Dipaolo and Anna C.

End of semester due dates

As you know, there is precious little time left of the semester. I have been reminding you of these due dates every class period for the past 2 weeks and they are on my calendar page, but I’ll post them as an additional reminder.

Tuesday, 1.10.12: Community Connection #6 (Honors & Portfolio)

Wednesday, 1.11.12: Sketchbooks (Honors & Portfolio)

Thursday, 1.12.12: Furniture Re-Story(ation) sculpture (Honors) & Self-Assessment (Portfolio)

Tuesday, 1.17.12: WordPress sites & Artist Statement (Honors & Portfolio)

 

Sara being interviewed by Lexi

Furniture Re-Story(ation)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Furniture Re-story(ation): Honors Art

Furniture Re-story(ation)

We have been considering the idea of stories and how they are delivered, received, altered,  purposed and re-purposed (recontextualized). We have explored textual and graphic approaches to narratives related to art history, our personal history, and inanimate objects. We now turn our mind’s eye to furniture. You’ve heard of furniture restoration, but we will engage in furniture re-story(ation).

Prompts:

• What is the relationship between furniture as object and furniture as concept?
• How might the notion of function relate to furniture as object and furniture as concept?
• How might objects formerly know as furniture become re-storied?

Goals & Objectives: Explore the constructs of furniture and function and their relationships to our material and social culture.

Activity 1: Reconceptualize a piece of furniture through a process of deconstruction, reconstruction, addition and embellishment.

Activity 2: Write a fictional narrative involving your re-storied furniture and post to the “writing” page of  your WordPress site.

Writing assignments for Honors Students

I have mentioned to you on several occasions that these assignments were going to be posted. I also mentioned that I purposefully wanted them to be “after the fact” so that your memory of the event would come into play on a different, perhaps more realistic level. In school we typically do a written reflection immediately after an event (assignment), while your memory is fresh. In “real” life that isn’t usually the case. We look back after time has passed and “facts” become interpreted. Now that some time has passed I want you to reflect on two assignments. Post both of these reflections on the “Writing” page of your WordPress sites. These written pieces should be at least 250 words each.

Due Friday, 12.16.11 - History/Yourstory: Write about the things you shared when we had our verbal reflection at the end of the investigation. The four parts were:

1. Textual history – The passage you copied from E.H. Gombrich’s, The Story of Art (what was it referring to?).
2. Your personal textual history – the story you wrote on top of the erased text from the art history book (what was your story about?).
3. Graphic history – what image did you reproduce (and who was the artist) on top of your written story?
4. Graphic yourstory – what imagery did you use as the final layer and how did it represent you personally?

Due Wednesday, 12.21.11 – The Storied Object: Write the story of the object that you created a series of works from. Remember that you 1.) made many timed observational drawings from it, 2.) cut up your drawings and created 2 collages, 3.) made mixed media renderings of the collages (adding text), 4.) revisited the collages to embellish and, 5.) recycled the scraps into a final artifact. Remember to think about the relationship of your object to the story. The object might be the focus of the story or it might be a prop in the story similar to the video clip I shared with you about the tailcoat in Tails of Manhattan. You spent a lot of time with your object and I told you in the beginning to consider its placement in a fictitious narrative so I’m looking forward to the tales you’ll share.

Updated Calendar Page

I updated my calendar page. You no longer have to use a link to get to it.

Kansas City Art Institute visit: Kate Perryman

A big thanks to Kate Perryman from the Kansas City Art Institute for her inspiring presentation. We also appreciate the time she spent with Lexi, Sara and Charlie. Looking forward to Portfolio Day!

Lexi and Kate Perryman

Sara and Kate Perryman

Charlie and Kate Perryman

 

 

National Portfolio Day (Philadelphia), Sunday, 11.20.11

Don’t forget this Sunday (11.20.11) is the National Portfolio Day for the Philadelphia region. It will be at the Philadelphia Convention Center (1101 Arch Street) from 12 to 4pm. You can find more info at the National Portfolio Day Association site. Students in my Portfolio class are required to attend regardless of intent to study art after high school. I encourage you to show work, but if you are not pursuing art in college you can simply experience the event as there is nothing else like it. You are expected to post a reflection paper on your WordPress sites (insert it as a post). Your Portfolio Day Reflection is due Monday, 11.28.

Colleges in attendance will include:

Alfred University, School of Art and Design ( NYSCC)
Arcadia University
California College of the Arts
CalArts / California Institute of the Arts
Center for Art and Design at The College of Saint Rose
Columbus College of Art & Design
College for Creative Studies
Corcoran College of Art and Design
Delaware College of Art and Design
Emily Carr University of Art + Design
FIDM/ Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising
Hartford Art School, University of Hartford
Kansas City Art Institute
Kendall College of Art & Design of Ferris State University
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Lawrence Tech
Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts
Long Island University Brooklyn Campus
Maine College of Art
Maryland Institute College of Art
Marywood University
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Memphis College of Art
Minneapolis College of Art and Design
Montclair State University
Moore College of Art & Design
Montserrat College of Art
New Hampshire Institute of Art
New York School of Interior Design
Otis College of Art and Design
Pacific Northwest College of Art
Parsons Paris
Parsons The New School For Design
Pennsylvania Academy of The Fine Arts
Pennsylvania College of Art + Design
Pratt MWP
Pratt Institute
Purchase College, SUNY: School of Art + Design
Rhode Island School of Design
Ringling College of Art and Design
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rowan University
School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)
School of the Museum of Fine Art, Boston
School of Visual Arts
St. John’s University
SUNY  Fashion Institute of Technology
Syracuse University College of Visual & Performing Arts
The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University
The Cooper Union School of Art
The Cleveland Institute of Art
The New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University
The University of the Arts
Tyler School of Art – Temple University
University of Michigan School of Art & Design
University of Bridgeport
Washington University College of Art Washington University in St. Louis
Watkins College of Art, Design & Film

 

www.paconvention.com

How art propels Occupy Wall Street

Since we’ve been talking about the Occupy Wall Street movement I thought I would share an article from the CNN Opinion blog. Shepard Fairey, the artist who created the Obama Hope poster, has created a provocative poster that is drawing attention. This article also points out that street art from Occupy Wall Street and Occupy D.C. is being collected by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. You can read the article here: How art propels Occupy Wall Street.

The Sketchbook Project 2012

I’ve been forgetting to address this in a post. It’s not too late to get involved in this project and it totally sounds like it was tailor-made for us. You have so much experience in creating thematic sketchbooks that this should be entertainment. The themes offered this year are really good. Note: I would be willing to let you substitute this sketchbook project for my marking period sketchbook assignment providing you complete it and mail it off on time.

The Sketchbook Project allows anyone to be part of a traveling exhibition of sketchbooks. For $25 you will receive a 5.5 x 8.5 inch sketchbook. You can also purchase a t-shirt for $20 and they will scan your entire book and post it on their site for another $20. The sketchbook will join a tour of the country and then it will be cataloged at the Brooklyn Art Library. I want to strongly encourage my students to consider participating.

Important dates are:

• Oct. 31, 2011 – Sign up
• Jan. 15, 2012 – Postmark book
• April, 2012 – Tour Starts

Mic Check

I enjoyed talking to you yesterday about the communication system that has risen by necessity from the Occupy Wall Street movement. The human microphone and the 7 hand signals are revisited below. These are used to achieve consensus, which is about a process and a way of reaching decisions. You can easily find out more online. I believe this is very relative to our investigations because we have been referring to text-based and graphics-based communication systems. This adds another layer to the notion of communication systems. For those of you asking for clarification of the 99% vs the 1% discussion you can link to an article I found on the Vanity Fair site. There are many other articles online which can be found by googling the topic.

The human microphone: The speaker yells “Mic Check” and the audience responds by repeating the phrase. The speaker then speaks in short phrases which are repeated by the audience enabling all to hear without a microphone or bullhorn.

7 Signals used by audience to provide feedback to the speaker.

Twinkles: Hands shaking, facing out with fingers pointed upward shows agreement.

Down Twinkles: Hands shaking, facing down with palms facing the body shows disagreement.

Direct Response: Hands moving back and forth, perpendicular to body by the head with palms facing inward shows that critical information is missing.

Clarifying Question: Single hand facing audience with thumb and fingers in the shape of a “C” shows that there is information that needs to be clarified before a vote can be taken.

Point of Process: Hands with fingertips touching at an angle above thumbs touching in a straight line (forming a triangle) shows that people have strayed from the process.

Wrap It Up: Hands circling each other shows that the speaker is rambling, needs to be more clear and needs to finish quickly.

Raise the Roof: Hands moving up and down on either side of the head with palms facing upward indicates the need to speak up.

End of marking period due dates

Believe it or not, the first marking period will end soon. This is always a tricky time because due dates can sneak up on you and catch you off guard if you’re not careful. The one that can really hurt you is the sketchbook due date because it is a marking period long assignment that is worth 25% of your grade.

Tuesday, Oct. 25: Community Connection #3 (all)

Friday, Oct. 28: Progress Report #4 (Portfolio students only)

Wednesday, Nov. 2: Sketchbooks (all)

Friday, Nov.4: Portfolio Self-Assessment: (Portfolio students only) Review the Portfolio page at the top of this site for details. This is a very important assignment.

School of the Art Institute of Chicago visit: Caitlin Schriner

Thanks to Caitlin Schriner for her informative presentation on the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Sarah and Caitlin Schriner (SAIC)

Charlie and Caitlin Schriner (SAIC)

Lexi and Caitlin Schriner (SAIC)

 

The Re-storied Object: Tales of…

After looking at art history and yourstory we have turned our mind’s eye to how inanimate objects can function in a narrative. We have all encountered old objects that have passed through various hands of ownership or use and wondered about the stories the objects could tell. I spoke of how stories frequently use objects to reflect on human nature. I showed you a segment from the movie, Tales of Manhattan involving the struggle of a concert composer. This film was a multi-episode affair revolving around a formal tailcoat and it’s effect on the people who wear it. I also explained the story of the movie, The Gods Must be Crazy, and the effect of a Coke bottle on a South African tribe.

Prompt: In what ways do inanimate objects become re-storied, re-presented and/or recontextualized? Describe the relationship between art and archeology?

Step 1

Goals & Objectives: Enhance your observational skills through drawing.

Activity: Use additive and subtractive mark making techniques to create a series of timed observational drawings from an object of your choice.

Step 2

Goals & Objectives: Challenge language such as “interesting”, “dynamic”, “good” and “successful” and explore alternative word usage.

Activity: 1.) Identify and delineate “interesting/dynamic” visual relationships in drawing series. 2.) Extract delineations with scissors. 3.) Compose two (2) 24″ x 36″ collages using extracted delineations. 4.) Create two (2) 24″ x 36″ drawings duplicating the collages while incorporating text addressing your object’s “story” as a design element.

Step 3

Goals & Objectives: Learn to engage a creative process by moving back and forth in a non-linear manner.

Activity: 1.) Revisit the two collages constructed from fragments of your timed drawings and embellish at will. 2.) Create/construct/build something from leftover pieces of original timed drawings.

Step 4

Goals & Objectives: Use written language to create a narrative to accompany or to tie together the graphic narrative of your object.

Activity: Write a fictional narrative that involves your object and post it to the “writing” page of your WordPress site.

2011 Art College Presentation

I just posted the college visit schedule to the page above titled Art College Visits.

Honors Art Investigation – History and Yourstory: History, Ideology & Your Life

This is what we’ve been doing in Honors Art class. As you know, I tried to share this process on a need to know basis so you wouldn’t be influenced by a perception of what the final product might look like. The point is not necessarily to make something, but to question something…

Prompt: What is the relationship between history, ideology and your life? What determines whose stories get to be considered integral to a culture? How do we recognize fact from fiction? How might stories evolve over time?

Step 1

Goals & Objectives: Demonstrate that students find their own areas of historic interest and respond in ways unique to them as individuals. Create the bottom layer of the artwork in production.

Activity: Randomly select passages from E.H. Gombrich’s, The Story of Art and copy with Ebony pencil on to a 22” x 28” substrate.

Step 2

Goals & Objectives: Create a physical and symbolic erasure of an “official” text. Replace with a story of personal relevance. Create the second layer of the artwork in production.

Activity: Erase text copied from E.H. Gombrich’s, The Story of Art to obtain palimpsestic markings and write about your own life (Yourstory) as a layer covering your erasures.

Step 3

Goals & Objectives: Question why certain paintings/artworks hold more cultural capitol than others. Create the third layer of the artwork in production.

Activity: Copy a “famous” painting from art history on to a piece of transparent tracing paper. Use gel medium or white glue (dries clear) layer on to your substrate.

Step 4

Goals & Objectives: Create the fourth layer of the artwork in production. Bring the layers of expression and exploration to a cohesive conclusion.

Activity: Add graphic/pictorial embellishments of your choice to personalize your work.

Summative Activity

Goals & Objectives: Demonstrate how textual and graphic elements influence “reading”. Demonstrate how contextual and ideological positions influence representation and understanding.

Activity: Class critique. Also post a reflective response (200 words) to the Writing page on your WordPress sites. Share reflective response and critique during class discussion.

Study Guide/Vocabulary: These and other terms can be found on the tab at the top of this page titled Hip Lingo.

Aesthetics: The branch of philosophy concerned with beliefs & theories about the value, meaning and interpretations of art and beauty.

Agency: The capacity to make choices and meaning.

Context: Experience or information that influences the perspective (point of view) of the artist or viewer.

Hegemony: Refers to the idea that dominant ideological meanings are objects of struggle and tension with other ideologies.

Ideology: Shared beliefs, values and opinions that determine the way an individual or group thinks, acts and understands the world. Refers to how various concepts and beliefs appear to be natural, inevitable aspects of everyday life.

Linear: Ordered in a single line progression. One stage must come before or after another in an established hierarchy.

Non-linear: No set hierarchy or order. Web-like in nature. Any experience can lead to another valid experience.

Modernism: (1860’s – 1970’s) Not a movement, but an aesthetic. Artists rejected the idea that they should be painting representations of historical events as opposed to portraying contemporary life. Embraced the idea of the avant-garde and the “new” as being progressive and desirable. Strived for originality and purity. Tended to be ethnocentric and based on linear patterns of thought. Faith in technological progress. Form was often stressed over content.

Postmodernism: (1970’s – the present) An aesthetic that embraces the traditional, formal, even classical approaches to art making as well as going beyond art, form, and meaning altogether into the anarchic, outrageous or transitory. In opposition to ethnocentrism and elitism. Tends to blur the lines between “high art” and “low art”. Based on non-linear thinking patterns where things are not hierarchical. Life consists of differences, not binary polarities. Open to multiple interpretations and meanings for works of art. Pastiche and appropriation are not out of the ordinary. Content and dialogue are often celebrated.

Palimpsestic: A manuscript or piece of writing material on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing but of which traces remain. Figurative: something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form.

Semiotics: Study of signs. Concerned with ways things (objects, words, gestures) produce/communicate meaning. Content is determined by the context of the sender and receiver of the message.

Sous Rature: (under-erasure) In which the written word is crossed out rather than erased.

Visual Culture: All manifestations of cultural life that are significant for their visual features. Includes concepts such as representation, ideology, social power & constructed knowledge. Think high art + low art + ethnography.

Controversies surrounding 9/11 art

Here is an interesting article titled 7 Controversies That Shaped the Debate About 9/11 Art. It is found on the blog, Art Info. A very good book to read addressing art controversies is Visual Shock: A History of Art Controversies in American Culture, by Michael Kammen

Cool Science Experiment – Color Changing Milk

1st day of the 2011/2012 school year

I enjoyed meeting my new students and welcoming back my returning students today! You are an awesome group and I can’t wait to see the wonderful things you are going to do this year.

Please become very familiar with this site.

Have your sketchbooks in class tomorrow.