Due: 
April 12

Project Description:

1. Write a typed, one-page proposal for your Concentration, a personalized focus of artistic study on which you will be working for 4+ weeks.
2. Complete one fully realized, refined, "portfolio-worthy" piece.

Objectives:

• Review your list of concentration ideas; brainstorm other possibilities if necessary
• Think about your artistic interests and passions.
• Look through the books in class on contemporary art. Notice what’s being done in the contemporary art world.
• Be clear on what you will be learning, how you will be growing as an artist.
• Foresee and plan for problems/challenges.
• Be clear on how you will know when/if you are successful.
• Be prepared to discuss your plans and be challenged by your peers.
• PLAN so that you are successful in this series!

Grading Criteria:

• All parts are completed thoroughly, thoughtfully and clearly.
• The Concentration has a significant degree of challenge.

Parameters:

• The Concentration must be a series of artworks that can be displayed together.
• The proposal must include:
  • Media
  • Content
  • Timeline for completion of parts
  • Work schedule on project outside of class (The Concentration will not be your only homework during the month, but you will be expected to work on it regularly outside of class.)
  • Learning Objectives! -- What will you be learning by completing this series?
  • Other explanatory information as necessary
• The proposal must be typed.

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Sample Proposal

Content:
Portraits (self and family members) from ID photographs (driver’s license, old and new passports, school and work IDs)

Media:

• ​At home – water soluble oils on canvas
• In class – oils on canvas or panel; acrylic on canvas

Supports:

• At home – larger canvas sizes
• In class – small (8 x 10”) to medium (18 x 24”)

Quantity:

• Six paintings completed in class
• Three larger paintings at home

Schedule

• Sunday mornings (or Saturday mornings on weekends w/ previous obligations) – 3 hours
• Tuesday nights (or another weeknight on weeks w/ previous obligations) – 2+ hours 

Primary Objectives:

• Be a conscious, thoughtful, focused painter.
• Complete a cohesive series of paintings.
• Be willing to experiment and explore.
• Study techniques of master painters. Try out some of those techniques.
• Experiment with different palettes – a different color scheme for each painting.
• Experiment with different ways of working – a different method for each painting.
• Be aware of the importance and effect of each brush stroke.
• Develop a refined awareness and use of color.
• Have a better idea of what direction I want to go in as an artist.

In a few words, this will be what I focus on:

• Commitment
• Openness
• Consciousness
• Skill
• Sensitivity
• Impactful color
• Formal considerations
• Effective paint handling
• Experimentation
• Academic study
• Cohesion
• Confidence

Rationale

I have experimented with many artistic disciplines over the year, and I would like to return to a focus on painting. My main interest is in translating light’s effect on observed forms, specifically the mass of big, solid forms.

Using heads as my subject allowed will assist me in meditating on my identity, my heritage and my legacy. 

Using small photographs (from picture IDs and cropped snapshots) as my main reference, I will challenge myself to consider how much visual information I could retrieve from these images, and how much I must make up. With that fabrication, what myths will I create around the men (me) in the transition from photograph to painted portrait? How far will that veer from their actuality, their truth?

Due: One week

Assignment: Drawing of at least two hands and at least two feet, drawn with different gestures and from different viewpoints, in a composition. Line and value (Color is optional.).

Medium: Any

Size: At least sketchbook size ( 11 x 14")

Due:
2 weeks


Project:
Using pencil and various other drawing media, create a series of observational figure drawings.

We will start with quick gesture drawings of one or two minutes each, focusing on the action lines and the energy of the pose. With gradually longer poses, we will learn to block in the basic shapes of the complex form that is the human body, focusing on accurate placement and proportion and noticing the relationships of parts. In the final drawing(s), we will refine the contours and include the details of the observed figure, add a range of tonal value, and suggest the figure's relationship to its environment.

Objectives:

• Improve observational accuracy
• Establish accurate gesture, proportion and tonal value
• See the figure as a unified whole, and not separate parts
• Establish figure/ground relationship

Terms / Concepts:

• Gesture
• Action Line
• Blocking in ("The Envelope")
• Foreshortening
• Proportion
• Contour

Materials:

• Model
• Drawing board
• Drawing paper (sketchbook size to 18 x 24")
• Variety of drawing media

Grading Criteria:

• Accuracy of gesture
• Accuracy of proportion
• Quality of line
• (In some) Sense of form through value
• (In some) Composition using figure/ground relationship; sense of space

List of Concentration Ideas

Due:
Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Project Description:

Type a list of five (5) great ideas for a personal concentration. A concentration, also called a "Sustained Investigation",  is a series of artworks that focus on the exploration and development of a single idea or theme, and/or on the development of technical skills in a particular medium or combination of media or of particular design concerns. Your concentration should be something that would excite you to be able to do for a considerable period of time. You will be creating AT LEAST 8 pieces in this series, and more depending on the concentration.

Examples of what concentrations might look like can be found here:
http://studioartportfolios.collegeboard.org/
Click on the year in the upper left of the screen, then on the 2D Design, 3D Design, or Drawing; then click on student examples for the Sustained Investigation section of the AP portfolio.

TYPE your list (It will not be accepted if it isn't typed.), and include a scrapbook page of inspirational art for each idea (1 or 2 inspirational photos for each idea). Note that you are listing different ideas for five different series, not five ideas for the images in a single series. Here's what you're list might look like (There are nineteen series listed here; you are only responsible for writing five.):

My Concentration Ideas

1. Eight portraits of everyone in the class. I will try to use as many different media as I can, experiment with mark-making, and capture their personalities through style.

2. Eight scenes of music affecting people (from reference and imagination), and musical instruments with dynamic angles (from life).

3. Eight oil pastel portraits of my friends, based on distorted photos I take using my iPad and iPad filters. I am concerned with exaggeration and distortion.

4. Eight paintings illustrating Loss. Trying to give a sense the different ways people may experience loss. Loss of friendship, of loved ones, etc. Trying to capture the feeling itself through facial expression, body language, style, color, etc.

5. Eight picture book spreads illustrating one of Aesop's fables, but placed in the modern day with modern dress and a city environment. I will focus on figure-figure relationships, figure-ground relationships, composition and clear visual narrative (storytelling with pictures).

6. A series of twenty logos for non-profit corporations, using Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.

7. A series of eight collages in the style of the artist Romare Bearden, focusing on the joy of people's everyday lives (after work, at dinner, etc.)

8. Eight close-up drawings of vegetables, in fine detail, done photorealistically, drawn in color pencil. I will focus on positive and negative relationships and great composition, as well as accurate value, form and texture.

9. Eight movie posters for made-up movies. Each poster will have stylistic similarities with the others in the series, but each will also be unique, distinctive. I will make one for a romantic comedy, a western, and action movie, a documentary, a science-fiction movie, etc. I will pay particular attention to the visual impact of the design, and really apply my understanding of design principles (contrast, positive and negative space, visual movement, etc.).

10. A series of eight graphic designs centered around the number 13, as a carrier of many ideas. The number thirteen was far more than a date on a calendar. Thirteen can be a part of a number base, has historic roots in architecture, time, and United States history, and is the basis of some pretty impressive words.

11. A series of eight three-dimensional works, each representing one of the Seven Deadly Sins and how it manifests itself in modern times.

12. A series of eight artistic campaign posters for each of the people currently running for US President.

13. A series of eight radial designs, in the style of either Art Nouveau or Art Deco, but using motifs related to modern (21st Century) technology.

14. Eight 2-page spreads of a comic book about ________, refined, inked and in full color (i.e. suitable for publishing).

15. A series of sixteen model sheets for characters, all refined, inked, in full color, and with detailed informational text (suitable for professional presentation). Each model sheet will show multiple views of the character and show a range of facial expressions and different body language.

16. A series of eight dresses that address the theme of the seven deadly sins.

17. A series of eight masks (using cardboard, papier mache, acrylic paint, and other found materials) that are stylized representations of animals, that will fit my head, and that will each symbolize a different emotion or personality characteristic.

18. A series of eight illustrations of figures from Greek mythology. Each will focus on an individual character, but will include elements of an appropriate environment and consider figure/ground relationships. The illustrations will be first drawn in pencil, then inked with copic markers.

19. A series of eight "abstract" designs based on my studies of cell biology and microscopic organisms.