Answering Essential Questions

"And Then What?"

Our latest unit, Artists Answer Essential Questions asked our students to first consider a word and then ask questions about the word. For example, the word "Cute". What are the characteristics that make something cute? When is something not cute? Can something be cute and creepy ant the same time?

Once students developed their questions, they were tasked with responding to their own question by creating a work of art. Media determined by the artists. Here are a few works, some still in progress...

Why Are You Fake?

What Seems so Big Seems so Small?

How it Would Look to Live Meraki?

Can You Hear Me Now?

Can I Face My Fears?

Can Light Create Darkness?

Welcome to Tantamount!

I stole this idea from Diane Jaquith who did a similar project she titled Tantalize. She stole the idea from a NYC group who did a project called Tantamounter. The basic concept the group came up with.. there is a slot in a door. You enter an item into the door and a little while later you get your item back along with a work of art that is tantamount to the original piece. Here's how we did it...

I stopped by the english teacher's class last week and told him about the idea. I asked if he would collect things from his class. He fulfilled his end of the bargain...

When the Art One class enter today, I explained the rules. You have one class period to create a tantamount piece. ... So I guess I mean I explained the rule. OK go!

They dove in head first. It was a lot of fun and at the end of class we had completed all the pieces. We're excited to hand this all back over to the english class.

What's in your Locker?

After an entire unit exploring space (perspective, forced perspective, positive and negative space, stencils, etc) we decided to close out the unit wit ha look at installation art. What do installation artists do? Well, they take a pre-existing space and change it using their artist abilities. 

As crowded as Apex has been, there are some spaces that are simply underutilized. In particular the lockers. In a school as large as ours, it's just not practical for students to stash their books in a locker. Not when their other classes are on the other side of campus. So the lockers remain empty. empty, until this week.

Assignment: You have a locker and it is a space. Change the space. Create an installation in a locker. here are some of the results...

Disney

the theme is Meme!

Above: Close up of the Nightmare

The Nightmare: Person in bed below dreams of nightmare above.

In progress, the Balloon Ride

The Asylum

The bottom scene of a two part locker: Heaven and Hell

the Volcano

A take on the short clip: the Maker

Emphasizing the Elements Part 2

Here are some examples from our first project, Emphasize the Element. Since this was a first piece, we decided to keep it simple. The only requirement was to pick an element to emphasize. Beyond that, the subject and media was open. We did suggest the artists select a media that they were familiar with. 

Emphasis on value, Audry Hepburn in charcoal pencil

Emphasis on color and movement using dance. 

The dancers dipped their hands and feet in paint as they danced

watch the video below

Video projected on the sheet that the dancers created

Color and shape. Cut paint color samples.

Shape with particular interest how spontaneous shapes can resemble representational one.

Line and value using chalk pastels on wood

Color and shape using watercolor

Color and text to emphasize meaning

Originally line but later evolved into using color. Pastel on wood.

Line. Watercolor and pen and ink.

The Locker Project: Part 1

What's in Your Locker?

Our first unit in Art One is Artists Explore Space. We made a few trips to the hall and learned about 1 and 2 point linear perspective. We took to the streets with our cameras in hand for a little forced perspective action. next, we explore positive and negative space by creating stencils.. here are some in the process...

For our final space project, we took another field trip to the hall. There we peeked inside the space of the empty lockers. We talked a bit about installation art had how artists change the space of an area. We looked at the work of artists like Tara Donavan and even Banksy's Dismaland.

We wondered what we might do if we could change the inside space of the lockers? Create our own installations behind the metal doors? Let's do it!

Messurign the lockers to see how much material will be necessary for the background.

This locker is going to be Heaven.. can you guess what the locker directly below will be?

Creating props for this locker project includes plaster casts of hands.

Creating props for the skateboard locker.

That cute little bunny is about to become creepy.