Assignments and Homework

Art I:

HOMEWORK - You should bring three pictures to class of Downtown and/or Riverwalk Architecture. I will help you decide which image will be the most successful for our Scratch Paper project. These will be used for the Draw Montgomery Competition in April. Here is what the Draw Montgomery website says about what to use for the contest:

Entrants are encouraged to use the wealth of historic buildings and architectural styles found in and around the Montgomery Downtown and Riverfront areas. We encourage participants to look carefully at our city and creatively interpret what they see, while conveying awareness of good design and its impact.

YOU NEED A MINIMUM OF 3 PHOTOS FOR YOUR HOMEWORK GRADE.

We will make the scratch paper ourselves and we will transfer your drawing of the building to the scratch paper. You will then scratch away the black surface of the Scratch Paper to reveal the white poster board underneath.

Art 1 students will use 11x14" paper.

Art 2 students (Zach and Adrianna) can chose to use 16x20" or 18x24" paper.

Draw Montgomery Contest - Click Here.

ART 3

Homework- students are required to find 3 pictures of the wildlife option of their choice. Remember that we talked about three possible contests this year which will use Alabama wildlife.

Here are the various contests:

1) William R. Ireland Youth Wildlife Art Contest - Click Here

2) Federal Duck Stamp Contest - Click Here

3) National State-Fish Art Contest - Click Here

You should decide which of these that you'd like to enter and then choose the appropriate photo references (3 minimum) and then you must choose 3 habitat images to use in the final project. These habitats must be appropriate for the species that you elected to paint/draw. So no bullfrogs in the Himalayan Mountains.

2009-10 School Year

I'm glad to have the new school year on its way. I look forward to seeing great artworks this year. I welcome back the art students of last year and look forward to teaching our newest art students. I have high hopes for you this year with a greater focus on art competitions and events.

I want everyone to remember that your syllabus includes a list of initial supplies which you will need for class each week. The most important of these is your sketchbook and pencils. Many times in class I will ask you to work on sketches for projects and if you do not have your sketchbook to do so it will negatively affect your grade.

Also - remember that I need the bottom portion of your syllabus signed by you and your parent(s) along with an email address which can be used on this class website. This information will be counted as a Minor grade.

Art 1 - you are working on the hatching, cross-hatching, stippling, and blending exercise. This is due Sep.16th.
To see the blog post for this exercise click here.

Art 2&3 - We will be starting on our first project Wednesday so HAVE YOUR SKETCHBOOKS! We will also finalize our project ideas for the rest of the year.

See you all in class - Mr. Kelley

Wire Sculpture Figurines

Wire Gesture Sculptures

Objectives: Students will:
*Learn about Human proportion
*Discuss the Principle- Balance- in relation to 3-dimensional forms
*Learn about gesture sketching, as well as action poses.

Materials:
*18 gauge aluminum wire
*2x4’s cut into squares, or other object for bases. (We will use a heavy duty stapler to attach figures to base)
*Wire cutters
*Twist-eez colored wire, or telephone/cable wires (optional)

Motivation:
*Students will draw from life - then turn one of their sketches into a three dimensional work of art.

Procedure
*Begin by discussing proportion in the human body- how long the arms and legs are, how wide is the torso, how many heads are in a body, etc. Also discuss the joints- neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, hips, ankles.
*Talk about movement and action within a person. What are interesting actions, or movement? Bring up dancing, sports, etc.
*Have students think of several different ideas for an action pose, to use for their sculpture.
Get students warmed up by discussing and practicing gesture sketches- so they get the basic ideas of the body.

*To begin, the students start with the body part touching the base (the foot - if the figure is standing).
*From the foot the student’s need to create a “bone.”
*The bone will go up to the hip, and then the students will create “muscle” (wrapping the wire down the bone, and back up to end at the hip).
*Students then create a hip to go to the other leg, create a bone, foot and then muscle. *Create a spine, then wrap the muscle down the spine, and backup to end at the neck. Remember to compare your figure's proportions; the torso should be wider in size than the legs, as it is in real life.
*This continues for the whole body, and then the students make the head last.
*Tuck the end of the wire into the body.

Critique work - discuss work of Alexander Calder and contemporary wire sculpture - Compare and contrast student work to the work of Calder and others.

This will be the last project due before summer break. I will post the exact deadline later.

Talk to me if there are any problems. DON'T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE!!!!

-Mr. Kelley

New DUE DATE for the Self Portraits:

April 16th.

Self-Portraits : Color Emphasis

Color Emphasis Self-Portraits

This new project will teach you to focus on color as a tool for rendering your subject matter while creating more interest by using unexpected hues. You all have recieved your photo references which have been pixelized to aid you in your use of the grid. You will notice that much of the detail in your photograph has been lost after the pixelization - which most of you will be excited about! This loss of detail will force you to concentrated on matching the color in the photograph.

STEP 1 : You will get a sheet of 18x24" white paper. Cut this paper down to 18x18" square. DON'T DAMAGE YOUR WHITE PAPER - YOU WILL LOSE POINTS FOR POOR CRAFTSMANSHIP!!

STEP 2: Next, lightly draw a 3/4" grid over the entire sheet of paper. LIGHTLY DRAW THE GRID! This will give you exactly 24 squares on all sides of your paper, matching your photograph which also has 24 pixels on all sides of the photo.

STEP 3: Before coloring your white sheet of paper you should complete 2-3 practice color scales. You should draw a rectangle that fills up the length of your sketchbook page . Inside this rectangle begin coloring following this pattern: ROY G. BIV, which is an acronym that stands for Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo and Violet. Be careful to blend the colors into one and another while focusing on keeping the colors bold and thick (meaning no white paper showing through each color).

STEP 4: Begin shading your grid squares! Remember that most of your colors will require you to mix multiple colored pencil shades together. Chances are good that you won't have the exact color you need already pre-mixed in your colored pencil set. KEEP COLORS INSIDE THE LINES OF THE APPROPIATE SQUARES. Don't get sloppy!

Here are your pixelated photo references. If you lose your pictures you can click on your image and reprint a color copy. I won't reprint it for you!! Good luck - I can't wait to see your work.

PROJECTS DUE APRIL 16, 2009

New DUE DATE for Recycled Object Project is

Feb. 19th!!

Pop Quiz #3

Here are the words for the next quiz which will be given before you finish your sculpture project.

Achromatic - Having no color. Most blacks, whites, grays and browns are achromatic.

Addition - a sculptural term that means building up, assembling, or putting on material.

Armature - A rigid framework serving as an inner support for soft sculpting materials such as
clay.

Assemblage - Sculpture using preexisting, sometimes "found" objects.

Atectonic - a sculpture containing considerable amounts of open space; not completely solid or
dense.

Installations - a sculptural set up meant to transform the interior or exterior space in which it
is housed.

Mass - The physical bulk of a solid body of material.

Mixed Media - Works of art made with more than one meduim. (Ex. a piece of art made
with charcoal, watercolor and pastels.)

Mobile - a three dimensional moving sculpture.

Modeling - the sculptural technique of shaping a pliable material.

Relief sculpture - an artwork utilizing relatively shallow depth to establish images. It is meant

to be viewed frontally, not from all sides.

Sculpture - An expression of an idea through three-dimensional form.

Silhouette - The shape of an object determined by its contours or edges.

Tectonic - The quality of massiveness; lacking any significant extrusions or intrusions.

Void - an area lacking positive substance and consisting of negative space.

Volume - a measurable area of defined or occupied space.