Seventh & Eighth Grade Art

• Due Mon 8/25- Get for just this class either a spiral notebook or a sketchbook, whichever- which you will be able to use as an Art Journal or "Smashbook" (combined notes, sketches & scrapbook). 
• Due Fri 8/22 for 7th and Mon 8/25 for 8th- "Four Questions," either in your Art Journal, or on your own paper, answer the following (include doodles or illustrations):

1. What's the most powerful aroma you've ever been exposed to?
2. What's your favorite noun to look at?
3. What do you care most about?
4. What can you do well?

• Due Mon 8/25 (Just 7th Grade)- Notes/Diagram on/of the Four Art Disciplines discussed on Wed 8/20

Remember to turn Art assignments in to the yellow-box on the island, & don't forget to put your name on it! Thanks

7thGradeArt: Complements/Neutrals

7th Grade Art; 4 Phase Portrait

ASSIGNMENT: 7th Graders discussed the different uses/purposes for making art, then they were asked to create a 4-Phase Self-Portrait illustrating each of the four main uses. Commercial art and graphic design communicates directly. Some art emphasizes the manipulation of the elements and principles of design. Much of art centers around creativity and personal expression. And, of course, most of us think that artists are skilled if they are capable of creating something that "looks real."

EXEMPLARS:

• Utility- corporate logos and trademarks like the McDonald's "golden arches" and the Nike "swoosh."
• Composition- nonobjective artists like Piet Mondrian, Ellsworth Kelly, or Joseph Elbers and cubists like Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso
• Depiction- Realists and Super-Realists from Michellangelo and Rembrant, to Chuck Close and Ralph Goings.
• Expression- Artists with distinct and emotional styles like August Rodin, Vincent Van Gogh, or Edvard Munch

Grace's

 

David's

Here is a simple one I did in my sketchbook, and below is a more involved one which I did recently that shows how you could create a project which is just one picture with four parts instead of four separate pictures.

8th Grade Art this week

This week, we'll begin learning about Early 20th Century Art.
BUT, EXPECT A "POP" QUIZ OVER THE ELEMENTS & PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN THIS WEEK, AT ANY TIME...

When in doubt, see what we're doing and if/what is due & when at http://planbook.com/student?t=928417&k=maldog

• Mon.-Examining Your Work p.13,
• Early 20th Century- pp.241-245
• Tues- Finish discussing 241-245,
• Read Directions (pp.246-247)/Begin Cubist Chalk Drawing
• Wed-Thur- Continue working on Cubist Chalk Drawing
• DUE THURS!- Check Your Understanding questions 1-6 p.245

7th Grade Art this week

Remember, you can always see what we'll be doing in Art and what's due and when by checking out http://planbook.com/student?t=928417&k=maldog

This week we'll continue learning about the elements of design. We'll finish our notes on Monday and begin a "scavenger hunt" in magazines for examples of the elements on Wednesday.

Thursday we'll make a decision. Either we'll start learning about the principles of design, like we did the elements- or we'll explore at least one of the elements a little deeper, like using lines to describe contours.

Social Activist Art

8th graders- Juxtapose image(s) & text together in order to make a statement or comment that makes people think- like American artist Barbara Kruger.

Consider what associations you can evoke and/or what thought, discussion or debate you can provoke.

MS8 ART Aug 20-24

Chapt 17, Art of Today pp.257-273
Dadaism, Synectics & Automatic Drawing
Check your Understanding 1-5 p.261 due Wed 8/22

MS7 ART Aug 20-24

4-Phase Self Portrait
based on 4 Art Uses

Raise your standards

Painting Notes

Four Important Painting Terms-

• Media: vehicle that carries pigment (color), such as linseed oil, acrylic, tempera, or watercolor
• Genre: general classification for subject matters, such as landscape, portrait, still-life, etc.
• Idiom: The "isms" in Art History, Impressionism, Expressionism. Modernism, Cubism, Surrealism, etc.
• Exemplar: Artist or Painter used as an example of someone who painted in a given idiom. Claude Monet might be an exemplar for Impressionism, whereas Rene Magritte would be for Surrealism.

MS Art- Assignment

4 Uses of Art Self-Portraits

1. COMPOSITIONAL- create a nonobjective image of yourself without words or a realistic picture of a face. Try using the elements/principles of Art to make an interesting design
2. UTILITARIAN- design an abstract symbol or personal logo/brand/trademark for yourself.

"Keep the Art Room Beautiful" ~Roy G. Biv

3 Purposes of Expression

INVOKE - to use the Technical and/or Design qualities of an artwork to create a mood or frame of mind for your viewers, or a setting within your artwork. An INVOCATION is a prayer or ritual seeking to invite the presence or participation of a divine or higher power.

1 : to call forth by incantation : conjure
2 : to put into effect or operation : implement
3 : bring about, cause


EVOKE - when the elements or principles of design you employ, or your subject matter or technique seem to trigger associations or memories in your viewer. Photos, Drawings, Paintings, and Designs can be very EVOCATIVE if they make you nostalgic or give you a sense of déjà vu.
.
1 : to bring to mind or recollection s memories>
2 : to re-create imaginatively


PROVOKE - when your artwork stimulates a reaction, discussion or debate. Often this is done by shocking or presenting an image that is inconsistent with conventional experience. To be PROVOCATIVE may mean being controversial, or at least causing cognitive dissonance.
1 a : to arouse to a feeling or action b : to incite to anger
2 a : to stir up purposely b : to provide the needed stimulus for

— pro·vok·er noun

synonyms provoke, excite, stimulate, pique, quicken mean to arouse as if by pricking. provoke directs attention to the response called forth provoke laughter>. excite implies a stirring up or moving profoundly excited anger and frustration>. stimulate suggests a rousing out of lethargy, quiescence, or indifference <stimulating conversation>. pique suggests stimulating by mild irritation or challenge piqued my interest>

Clay Terms

Expect a quiz by or before Friday, September 4

• Clay
• Maquette
• Medium
• Plastic
• Plasticine
  

Packaging contest

http://www.udipsweepstakes.com/gm_packagedesign.php

Redesign the Marzetti caramel apple dip package and you can win a 20 inch iMac computer!
You can draw on an existing package or download a template online. Deadline: November 30

MS Art Vocab

• Clay
• Medium
• Plastic
• Plasticine
  
• Maquette
  

Inkscape tutorial: Elements

Inkscape tutorial: Elements & Principles

This tutorial will demonstrate the elements and principles of design which are normally taught to early art students in order to understand various properties used in art making. This is not an exhaustive list, so please add, subtract, and combine to make this tutorial more comprehensive.

Difference between conceptual & perceptual

I don't usually like seeing pictures of myself, but I caught a yearbook staffer trying to shoot me during 7th Grade Art and it occurred to me that I may as well be using this blog as part of my teaching portfolio that the State requires. Also a chance to share some stuff with elementary teachers for their professional development and to reinforce stuff that high school drawing students are learning.

To introduce junior high students to the element of design, line and to drawing, we talked about how to accurately draw what you see in real life, you have to overcome the prior knowledge you already have of the subject matter. In other words, to avoid making mistakes, you have to avoid letting your fast working, logical brain from superimposing concepts about things and using over-simplified "clip art."
For example. Our brains "know" that a stool has a circle for a top, and four legs that are all the same length and all on a flat level. Ah, but knowing is not seeing. What we see, is an elliptical top that is way to narrow to ever sit on, and each of the legs is a different length and even a different width. Kids often make mistakes in drawing because they "know" too much about what they are looking at, resulting in distorted perspectives and overly simplified images. Ironically, Cubists like Picasso drew that way on purpose, because they were visually analyzing and abstracting the basic concepts and geometric shapes of things from multiple perspectives simultaneously.

Is this getting a little deep? Maybe the next picture will make more sense.

We "know" that adult humans have 32 teeth. But if you draw a smile with exactly 32 teeth in it, it's going to look ridiculous, because even Jack Nicholson as the Joker in the Batman movie doesn't have a broad enough jaw to show all 32 teeth! Gums and lips and tongue and the natural curve (the "arch" as dentists call it) all conspire to hide most of them. The best way to draw teeth is not to. by focusing on the negative-space around the teeth and the shared edge between the teeth and the darkness of the inside of your mouth, you're much more likely to record accurate perceptions where the size and placement relationships are more correct.

MS Art; Mosaic Collages

Middle School Art; Anstract

Here is an old example by a student a few years ago of the assignment that 7th graders had to work on today. First, they had to find a photograph in a magazine then they had to draw it in 4 steps-

1. As realistically as they can manage
2. In a somewhat abstract manor; simplified and stylized
3. Finally as abstracted as possible- to the point that it appears to be non-objective.