Emphasize the Elements

We're back in the swing of it. For this first project, we are taking a look at the elements of art and how different artists emphasize different elements in their work. Each student selected an element that they wanted to emphasize and is creating a piece that well, emphasizes it.

The choice of medium was open though I suggested they consider selecting one they were familiar with for this first project. Don't worry, we'll be working outside out comfort zone soon enough :)

Above, emphasis on line using charcoal on wood.

So remember when I said they might want to start with a medium in their comfort zone? Well, that didn't last so long. Bailey is trying out oil pastel on canvas using baby oil and also baby powder. Her art smells really good.

TAB Institute at MassArt Boston 2015

Ian just spent a week teaching Track Two students at the TAB Institute at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. This one-week Teaching for Artistic Behavior course offered intensive inquiry into the practice of choice-based art education and students could earn graduate credit, so how fun is that? So here is a look into some of the stuff we did...

Day One: Introducing The panel. These are the folks I worked with, from left to right: Katherine Douglas, Diane Jaquith, Clyde Gaw, and Julie Toole.

These are some of the students listening to the people on the panel above. I would list their names but as you can see, it was day one and they were wearing name tags. So you can just read their names.

One day, George Szekely came and spoke. Do you know George? He is the president elect for the NAEA.

Besides all the great presentations and break out session, we did take some time to explore the city a bit. Here we were visiting Fenway Studios and some of the local artists including Mae Chevrette.

We also had a docent led tour of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. They had a Tara Donavan piece. That was fun.

It's summer, y'all must be sitting round the pool

Sure, it's summer and that gives everyone a chance to kick back and relax a bit. While we at Apex Art don't mind spending a day at the beach, we aren't about to dedicate our entire summer to slacking off. Instead, here are just a few of the summer events we are taking part in..


Southeast TAB Retreat
Ian Sands was asked to present at the Southeast Teaching for Artistic Behaviors Retreat in the mountains of NC. In June, Ian joined the group and presented, What is Assessment? It's Not What We Think. This was a great time to share ideas with this spontaneous professional development setting.


Art of Education Summer 2015 Conference
On July 16, Melissa Purtee and Ian will be presenting at the AOE Summer Conference. Our topic, “How to Share a Room and Collaborate Without Going Crazy!” is an in-depth look at the difficulties as well as the advantages of sharing a space and working together. We will explore the four stages of team work, (forming, storming, norming, performing) and provide real life examples of how two teachers that are paired together, can go from storming to performing.

Writing for AOE
From the Art of Education website, July 7th: Today we welcome AOE’s newest writer, Melissa Purtee. Melissa is a phenomenal writer that is passionate about student choice in the art room. Melissa will contribute three articles a month. Look for her articles here.

#AOELive
Speaking of AOE, did you catch Ian on AOE LIVE EP. 9 "Envisioning the Future of Art Education". You can listen to the podcast on iTunes or view the video on youTube.

TAB Institute at Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Ian will spend a week teaching Track Two students at the TAB Institute at Mass Art in Boston. This one-week Teaching for Artistic Behavior course offers intensive inquiry into the practice of choice-based art education for beginning and experienced TAB teachers. This is the only course exclusively offered by the founders of Teaching for Artistic Behavior. This course is available for graduate credit.

A Vision for Art Education Part One:

This month, After two years and almost 100 articles, I will be stepping down as a contributing writer for the Art of Education. For my send off articles, we thought it would be interesting to run a three part series on a Vision for the Future of Art Ed.

The first part in the series was posted today. It covers a look at where the future of the physical space in the art room should be as well as the way we teach materials and display art. Below are a few excerpts. For the full article click here!

Separation of Studio and Classroom Space

The traditional art room is designed for one function to take place at a time. For example, in the conventional configuration, it would be difficult to teach a lesson to one group of students while other students were walking around the room or working on projects.

Many shop classes have overcome this issue by separating the lesson area from the workspace. Auto tech classes will often have the garage to work on cars and a separate classroom setting for book work.

Stocking the 21st Century Art Room

The art room of the future will need to stock the storage room with materials that go beyond those items listed in the fine art supply catalogues. While the room will still be fully equipped with traditional art supplies such as paint, pastels, and pencils, we need to save room on the other side of the supply closet for materials that will spark the creative imagination of the 21st century artist.

The Future of Art Displays

While the display case and the bulletin board have long been staples of the art class gallery space, the future art teacher needs to consider any space as display space. We need to train our students, as well as ourselves, to break free of the gallery mentality. 

Stay tuned for Part Two and Three...

The 2015 Dada Exhibit

We had an excellent turn out for the opening of our second, non-annual, Dada Exhibit!  Works by Dada Artists currently enrolled in  the Art History class are prominently displayed in the Media Center.

I'll let the work speak for itself but will include the titles below. The show will run till the end of the year which is Friday so see it before it's gone!

Unwanted Nozzle

Rocky

The Stick of Truth

 

I Hate My Mom

Jar

Stairway to Heaven

My Hopes and Dreams

Two Steps Back

Shoelace in Pckle Jar

 

The Jessica. 

Medium: Jessica

More Art Three Happenings

 Down to the last two weeks of school, Art Three students are knocking out their last pieces of art for the year. From the subject to the media, all of the decisions for these works were made by the students.

 Above: acrylic on canvas.

Sculptamold on canvas and watercolor. Exploring texture and color

Charcoal and chalk pastel, exploring perspective and color

Printing. One quarter image repeated and aligned to complete the pattern

Story and illustration for original comic page. Pen and ink on illustration board

Exploring the concept of woman and classical sculptures contrasted with non-flattering poses 

One of a set of original greeting cards. Pen and ink and watercolor

Abstract acrylic on canvas

Working in the Streets

The weather was beautiful last week so instead of drawing in a stuffy trailer, we decided to take our art to the street. We formed two groups and selected two images the students had been using for a Computer Art project. Out came the chalks and away they went.

 Of course this only lasted a day as it rained that night. Hope you had a chance to see it live. If not, here are a few pictures of us in action...

Sugar Hill Wave : in Bottle Caps!

Several weeks ago, environmental artist Bryant Holsenbeck  worked with our Art History class to recreate a work of art using recycled materials. The class chose Magritte's Son of Man as our image.They only had one day to complete this project. afterwards, the bottle caps were placed back in storage. Check out that image here!

Today, we attempt a much larger, more complex image. It's a mix of the Wave and the Sugar Hill Gang logo. This image was 10' x 16' large, and spread out over 8 tables. I use the past tense "was" when describing the mural because we only had one class period to complete it and when we were done, it was entirely dismantled.

Of course working on a project like this can raise many questions. We pondered one question all class long. The question was, "What is Wonder Mike waiting for?" See answer below.

I said a hip hop,
Hippie to the hippie,
The hip, hip a hop, and you don't stop, a rock it
To the bang bang boogie, say, up jump the boogie,
To the rhythm of the boogie, the beat.

In the Video: You have one class to assemble and then dismantle a 10' x 16' mural mashup between the Sugar Hill Gang Logo an The Great Wave off Kanagawa.... using only bottle caps. Go!

the answer to the question, "What is Wonder Mike waiting for?" can be found in the songs fifth verse when Wonder Mike raps the followign lines.. 

"I said, I can't wait 'til the end of the week
When I'm rappin' to the rhythm of a groovy beat."