First day of Internship at Rondout Valley High School

Last Tuesday was my first day at my field placement at Rondout Valley High School. While looking around the classroom, I noticed a poster which listed the principals and elements of art. I also noticed a  poster explaining how to critique a work of art. This coincided with a reading that we had last semester in Curriculum and Instruction. The school operates on "block scheduling." This means that each period is a hour and twenty minutes long. This is great for the art department, especially since my teacher teaches ceramics. There is also a 30 minute period called "the skinny". During this time, my teacher has a 2D portfolio development class for students who are interested in pursuing art in college.

The students in the portfolio development class were working on portraits. The teacher explained that since these students have not had a consistent studio art teacher, they are behind in their development. Students in this class looked in a mirror and drew a contour self portrait. They used three sharpies of different thicknesses for line variations and then added watercolors. The students in this class were at all different levels of skill. One student chose to draw the back of her head, saying that she did not know how to draw a good face.

The students in the ceramics class were working on a project called "whimsical fish". To make the body of the fish, students scored two pinch pots together. Students then got to decorate the fish any way that they wanted to. Some students chose to give their fish a top hat and cane. One student made a mexican fish equipped with a mustache, sombrero, and a taco. The only requirement in this project was to add texture to the fish. Some students accomplished this by scratching into the body of the fish, while others added texture by attaching pieces of clay.

Overall, my first day of my internship at Rondout Valley High School was successful. My teacher was very organized and I enjoyed observing the lessons. I feel less intimidated about teaching at the high school level, and I am looking forward to teaching a lesson on portraits to the portfolio development class.

Principles and Elements Panorama Abstract Art Book

Principles and Elements Panorama Abstract Art Book

Materials:  Colored sulphite construction paper

                     Masking tape

                     Scissors

                     Tempera paint

                     Oil pastels

Step 1: Choose a single shape. This will bring unity to the piece. Make 3 of these. Unity is created because the same basic shape is repeated throughout the composition; unity is often created by repetition of art elements.

Step 2: Make 5 more of your chosen shape. Make these with variations of size or form. Vary the proportions of the sides of the shapes. Make some of the variations as dramatic as possible. Create contrast. Variety and interest are attained by making variety of the basic shape.

Step 3: Discuss how the arrangement of shapes can create a feeling of movement and rhythm in the composition. After experimenting with possible combinations, tape the shapes into place. Try to create a sense of movement along the long horizontal page of the accordion book.

Step 4: Create emphasis and contrast by adding a new kind of shape in the same or a different color.

Step 5: Using oil pastels, add lines which will enhance the sense of movement in your piece.

Step 6: Using oil pastels, enhance the composition by creating areas of pattern and texture through repetition of points, lines, or shapes. Choose a color that contrasts the color used to create the original shapes (step 1).

Step 7: Using tempera paint, choose a color that contrasts the color used to create areas of pattern and texture, and paint a layer over the entire long horizontal page of the accordion book.

Step 8: Use masking tape to mask off a pattern which extends from the start of the horizontal page of the accordion book to the end of the horizontal page.

Step 9: Using tempera paint, choose a color that contrasts the color chosen in step 7. Paint a layer over the entire long horizontal page of the accordion book.

Step 10: Peel the masking tape off. You may also choose to peel off some of the shapes. This creates contrast.

Step 11: Select two contrasting colors of construction paper. Cut paper into strips and add weaved areas of paper to the composition.

Consider the entire composition. Does it have a symmetrical or an asymmetrical balance? Add shapes or lines to complete the composition.

Finish book by making an “About the Author” page and a cover which displays your knowledge of layering techniques.

Self Portrait Manipulation Project

 Self Portrait Manipulation Project

Artist Statement

This portrait was inspired by the conversation that we had in class about how Photoshop is often used to erase people’s imperfections and to make people appear younger. This made me think of the concept of beauty in relation to aging. As people get older, more flaws begin to appear. Women are constantly buying anti-age beauty products to try to prevent the inevitable. Nobody wants to think about how they will look when they are old and decrepit, with wrinkly flesh that eventually decays after death. I wanted to show the aging process by combining the stages of life into a single portrait.

Compositing Big Ideas Project

Compositing Big Ideas: The Cyborg

Artist Statement

This digital composite was inspired from the big idea of cyborgs in Robert Sweeny’s “Lines of Sight in the Network Society.” In his article, Sweeny discusses how humans and computers are merging. People create alter egos on the Internet and computers take on human characteristics as technology advances. In this picture, I have a cyborg rising from a graveyard of old computers. This is supposed to show obsolete technology of the past in contrast to the technology of the future, being the cyborg. In Japan, holographic pop stars called vocaloids are all the rage. This to me is the definition of humans and computers merging into one being. In my composite image, I have an image of a holographic performance art which takes the shape of a halo on the cyborg’s head. There is also a woman on the top left of the image who is being engulfed by a green light, which symbolizes technology. The woman is reaching towards the matrix as she is being transformed into binary. This symbolizes mankind’s constant searching for new technological advances as we become more connected to computers. I find this process very unnatural and a bit scary, which is why the background of my image is apocalyptic. 

Magazine Cover: The Gaze

Internship at Anderson Center for Autism

This past Tuesday was my first day of my special education internship. I am working in the art room at the Anderson Center for Autism. This is a school for kids age 6 to 21 who are diagnosed with autism or other developmental disabilities. On Tuesday I worked with 5 classes with students ages 14 to 21. These students were all low functioning and nonverbal. A reoccurring topic in our art education class is writing a curriculum which centers on big ideas. I asked the art teacher how he writes his curriculum for students who do not have the cognitive ability to understand big ideas. He told me that he focuses on creating projects that will allow students to learn different skills and techniques. I noticed that while the projects being done in the classroom were not conceptual, they all contained the "principles and elements" of art. I found that many projects focused on layering and repetition. In one project, students started off coloring a white piece of paper with crayons, any way that they wanted to. Next, they used one color of paint, and added a layer of paint on top of the crayon. This reminded me of how Eric Carl creates his paper. Finally, they used a stencil of an animal to add a black layer of paint on top. Looking at the finished products, it is apparent that although there is not a cognitive aspect of the lesson, students are learning and actively using art elements such as unity, repetition, contrast, pattern, and texture.

Emme and Kirova - Photoshop Semiotics: Research in the Age of Digital Manipulation

This article discusses digital art and the advancements in digital manipulation. Manipulating an image allows for the impossible to be seen as possible. In one part of the article, the authors make an interesting comparison while talking about a digitally manipulated picture, which can serve as an ideal type of image. They compare a manipulated image to a diagram of a cell in a science textbook, which is the ideal image for its purpose since a picture of an actual cell would distract from the information in the diagram.

Programs such as Photoshop allow artists to take an image and alter it for a specific purpose or to make it more ideal. For example, a photograph of a model can be altered to not only enhance qualities of the model, but to give the photograph  a certain feeling that changes the relationship between the viewer and the photograph. Here is a manipulated photograph which I feel is an example of this. I found this image here.