Course Description

In the AP Art class students will study a wide range of topics that they as an individual artist will choose to explore. The AP Art class is two semesters and is designed to allow students who are wishing to major in art or receive art appreciation credit to explore their artistic abilities and create a portfolio on a concentration of their choice. In this class students investigate all three sections of the AP Portfolio which are Quality, Concentration, and Breadth. The creating of these portfolios is an ongoing process in which students are expected to use critical decision making to develop their artwork. Students are encouraged to push the media in creating dynamic compositions to advance their learning experience and submit in their portfolio. In studio classes students are encouraged to explore and develop their personal interests and ideas in order to develop an individual artistic voice. Students are allowed to explore a variety of concepts and approaches to demonstrate their abilities and versatility with their art making. For more information you can visit the AP site:

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_studioart.html

AP Art Blog Summer Assignment

Participate in blog sessions by posting artwork and help each other by commenting on artwork and suggesting ideas. Students will also post an exhibit review. You need to register on the blog site and upload your artwork on the site for a participation grade. Art work posts will be due by JUNE 24th and JULY 29th. Each time you post art you should post 1 or 2 original works for drawing and 5 for photography you completed this summer. Please add at least one comment about each person’s art work the following days JUNE 25th and JULY 30th. Exhibit reviews should be posted with links to the museum or gallery website by AUGUST 3rd.

Summer Art Review

Visit a museum or gallery this summer. It can be anywhere in the world that you may find yourself this summer. Bring back a ticket or a brochure from the exhibit and write 2 strong paragraphs about your experience at the exhibit (either good or bad). The first paragraph should be OBJECTIVE- simply describe the work (style, time period, 2-D, 3-D, etc.), without adding your opinion. The second paragraph should be SUBJECTIVE- this is where you will write how you felt about the exhibit. Did you love it? Hate it? Your opinion matters only in this 2nd paragraph. Post the website of your exhibit along with your review on the blog site. Brochures or tickets from the exhibit will be turned in first day of school for a grade.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Friday, August 3, 2012

Art Exhibit Review

Today my father and I went to an exhibit by Ashley Holt at the Chapman Cultural Center. It was was presented by The Artist's Guild of Spartanburg and was in a room right in the front room of the biulding. Down the halls, which lead to two other exhibits in a larger back room, were covered with large portraits of foster children. The two exhibits in the back room were an exhibit on local printmakers and an exhibit by a woodworker named Michael McDunn.
     I really liked Ashley Holt's style. Many of his pieces were humorous or had a very comic book look to them. He had many pieces that were about his memories, like a scene of a cashier with a gumball-machine head and quarters everywhere, which was influenced by his many previous jobs at stores. I thought the foster-children portraits were a very good way to spread the word about these needy kids. In the last room I visited, the prints were what immediately caught my eye. They were all very detailed and many looked like drawings. My favorite was a screenprint by Andrew Blanchard called Dixie Totem I. I thought it was really interesting how he caught the "American Gothic" style he described in the caption of his pictures. I really think looking at how he focuses on the "American Gothic" in all of his pieces gave me an idea of what our theme for the 12 pieces we will create this year is supposed to be. The last exhibit by the woodworker was very interesting because it was a bunch of tables. Some of them were made out of scrap wood, and some had very intricate details. I liked how this exhibit gave a very different idea of what art is.