WELCOME TO THE ART DEPARTMENT
by Jimmie Tucek
August 27, 2011
“Count Your Blessings!” It’s a new school year with new opportunities. We have a whole new administration, highly committed to our future, and hopefully economic and budget woes will not appreciate further.
Art offerings have dropped this year due to schedule and class constraints. The loss of multiple teachers, both core and elective, have contributed to squeeze more students into certain class slots. This year I will be offering elementary art and high school art. I am also working to create resources for a new high school class, but still have some testing and state requirements to meet. Until then, we will continue to do the most we can with what we do have. It is my belief that dedicated people have always succeeded, “in spite of obstacles,” and have not failed “because of them.”
Find your niche and get involved. Support your school, your community, and work. The more you give, the more blessings you will have to count.
Below you will find a short description of each class and a powerpoint presentation for classroom procedures and rules.
Elementary Art
Students will create with two- and three dimensional artworks. Children will make art by drawing, painting, printmaking, constructing (e.g., puppets and masks), and modeling. Quality art experiences will employ creative problem solving by encouraging children to rely on their own originality, inventiveness, and imagination. Group activities offer opportunities for students to exchange ideas and work collaboratively. As students encounter works of art and produce their own works based on their personal experiences, they will begin to understand that people have different responses to similar experiences. (CEDFA.org)
No powerpoint for elementary: Classroom procedures and rules will correspond with rules established in the students’ home classrooms and augmented with additional rules and procedures as needed.
Graphic Design
Graphic Design students will generate ideas for their work by examining their environment and researching design ideas from the past, and analyzing designs of the present. Students will combine knowledge of design elements with expertise in other areas, such as typography, technology, photography, and reproduction methods. They will record ideas, sketches, and notes about innovative designers and design history in a notebook. Investigating, interpreting, and reinventing subjects by attempting multiple solutions will lead students into trying new and unexpected combinations of visual elements. Students will learn to use vocabulary specific to graphic arts, including
terminology for equipment, materials, and processes.
Creative Expression/Performance
Graphic designers are problem solvers who seek to communicate, identify, persuade, and inform in the language of predominantly non-verbal symbols. Students will solve problems in stages—understanding the problem, trying spontaneous solutions, researching information pertinent to the problem, selecting and clarifying the best idea, and refining the idea into a finished visual statement. Students will work within limitations, such as budget, size, and function, producing expressive solutions within these boundaries and, sometimes, because of them. In Graphic Design, students’ solutions to visual problems require understanding the visual elements and principles, exercising imaginative problem-solving skills, and developing technical skills. Through discussion, reading, and study trips, students will identify methods of reproduction and recognize limitations of various methods. Students will use traditional and non-traditional materials in solving design problems. Because electronic media has replaced many traditional methods of graphic design, students will learn to use image manipulation programs and traditional drawing, painting, and layout techniques. Graphic design students view the computer as an important tool for the artist and use computer programs to facilitate the design process of exploring, developing ideas, and producing finished work. Students will compare trends in graphic design by reviewing current graphic design periodicals, books and advertising from television, print, or the Internet. Students will apply their skills in their own lives, such as designing visuals for presentation or lending design expertise to school or community activities.
Historical/Cultural Heritage
Students in Graphic Design will investigate the history of design and identify cultural, historical, and political influences that have affected major design movements, such as Arts and Crafts, Art Deco, and Bauhaus. They will work independently in reviewing sources. Through selected reading or personal interviews with graphic artists, they will investigate training and career opportunities for persons who become highly skilled designers. Students’ interests in graphic design provide lifelong opportunities for self-expression and artistic growth.
Response/Evaluation
Students will practice oral and written critique of their own work, in groups and individually with the teacher. They will analyze their work at all stages: in planning, in progress, and at completion. Students will demonstrate attentiveness and respect for others’ opinions in discussion. They will collect work for a personal portfolio as a record of growth and a basis for planning. Teachers and students will collaborate to select prints for a graphic design exhibit during the annual spring art show. (CEDFA.org)
Graphic Arts/Design Powerpoint
Sculpture
Perception
Sculpture students will make visual notations from the natural environment and record
interesting visual relationships in mechanical structures as sources for their designs. By maintaining a sketchbook, students create a valuable repository for visual fragments, precise observations, the history of sculpture, characteristics of sculptural materials, and designs for future work. Students will develop vocabulary specific to the discipline of sculpture, including appropriate terminology for equipment, materials, and processes.
Creative Expression/Performance
Through observation of teacher demonstration and guided practice, students will gain the skills needed to construct original realistic or nonobjective sculptures, using additive or subtractive methods in paper, cardboard, wire, found object, clay, plaster, wood, or
metal. They will select materials and explore appropriate methods of joining, such as gluing, nailing, binding, riveting, and soldering. Students carefully consider the amount and type of surface textures and make appropriate selections for additional surface treatments from materials, such as paints, stains, glazes, or patinas. Students will analyze and compare trends in sculpture by viewing selected contemporary art and sculpture periodicals. Design skills will be used in making decisions about their own sculptures and in helping plan installations of sculpture exhibits in the classroom and other display areas.
Historical/Cultural Heritage
Students in Sculpture will select an historical period to investigate independently by
viewing reproductions, prints, videos, periodicals, books, or original works in museums, in galleries, or on the Internet. They will compare sculpture from other cultures, gaining insight into the many ways that people from other cultures have used sculpture. Through selected readings, students will investigate training and career opportunities available to persons who become highly skilled in sculpture as an art form. Students’ interest in sculpture provides lifelong opportunities for self-expression and artistic growth.
Response/Evaluation
Sculpture students will critique their own work in discussion and in writing. They will analyze their own pieces in the planning stage, in progress, and upon completion. They
will critique their work in small groups and with the teacher. Learners will demonstrate
attentiveness and respect for others’ opinions in discussions. Advanced students will create a portfolio of their sculpture by documenting their works as they are completed. The portfolio will serve as a record of growth, an entry for competitions, and an application for college entrance. (CEDFA.org)
Drawing
Drawing students will search for parallels between visual structures in their natural and human-made environments. They will then incorporate their findings in visual themes. Students will use concise vocabulary to evaluate and compare the suitability of drawing materials for expressing visual themes in their own work.
Creative Expression/Performance
Drawing students will create original works using pencils, charcoal, soft pastels, oil
pastels, pen or brush and ink, markers, and electronic and mixed media. Learners will experiment with various types of papers and grounds. Students plan and execute complex works, such as perspectives, landscapes, portraits, self-portraits, and
abstractions from sketchbooks, still lifes, and models. Students will develop their own
artistic interests and themes by making several drawings with similar intent and subjects but with changes in technique, format, and/or media. Students will apply drawing skills in their own lives, such as using drawing to illustrate their writing.
Historical/Cultural Heritage
Students in Drawing will investigate selected historical periods and styles by viewing
drawings from the accomplished artists. They select an historical period or style to research independently. They select and compare drawings from many cultures to gain insight into ways that similar ideas can be expressed differently.
Response/Evaluation
Drawing students will critique, evaluate, and interpret their own drawings and the drawings of others. Students will collect work for a personal portfolio as a record of growth and as the basis of future planning. Students will participate in the annual spring art show to demonstrate their academic and artistic growth. (CEDFA.org)
Painting
Painting students will use a notebook for visual notation and planning original paintings. They will search for parallels between the visual structures in their natural and human-made environments and incorporate their findings in their own visual themes. They will use precise vocabulary to evaluate and compare suitability of painting materials for expressing personal themes and visual investigations.
Creative Expression/Performance
Students will create original paintings with various techniques and media. They will investigate color schemes, including monochromatic, analogous, complementary, and original color schemes. They use inks, watercolors, acrylics, oils, and mixed media. Painting students will experiment with different types of paper and other grounds, such as canvas, masonite, and cardboard. They will create paintings from sketchbook ideas, still lifes, models, perspectives, landscapes, portraits, self-portraits, and abstractions. Students will develop their own interests and artistic themes by making multiple paintings with similar intent and subject, but with changes in technique, format, media, or style. Painting students will analyze and compare trends in contemporary painting from contemporary art periodicals. They apply design, drawing, and painting in their own lives.
Historical/Cultural Heritage
Students in Painting will investigate selected historical periods and styles by viewing
paintings from accomplished historic and contemporary painters. They select an historical period or style to research independently and view reproductions, prints, videos, periodical, books, or original works in museums, galleries, or on the Internet.
Students will select and compare paintings from many cultures, gaining insight into the
ways that people from different cultures express similar ideas. Through selected readings, learners become aware of career opportunities available for persons who become highly skilled painters. Students’ interest in painting provides lifelong opportunities for self-expression and artistic growth.
Response/Evaluation
Students will critique their own paintings and paintings from selected periods. They will analyze their paintings in the planning stage, in progress, and upon completion. Students will interpret their own paintings and those of others in thoughtful discussion and speculation about intent, process, and result. Students will collect work for a personal portfolio as a record of growth and basis for planning future pieces. Teachers and students will collaborate to select paintings to be part of a painting exhibit. (CEDFA.org)
