Authentic Assessment (Artwork Exam)

In an effort to design an authentic assessment of what students learned this quarter, I asked students my freshman Art 1 and Art Appreciation students to make a list of each concept, technique and vocabulary word they learned so far. 
From there, each student selected 4 of the things they felt they had learned the best, and that they could demonstrate in a new work of art.

Osman expresses unity, value, movement, and a good composition.

 I then asked each student to create a work of art that demonstrated their understanding of these 4 things. 
Most students created a sketch in their sketchbook in order to envision what their quarter exam might look like- how to arrange the concepts into a new work of art.

Dianell created a work expressing the principle of unity, the elements of value and color,  the technique of contour line drawing and the studio habit of engaging and persisting. She also showed the correct proportions of the human head.

 Students could focus on any subject matter they wanted, and could use any of the materials we covered thus far except clay (we ran out!).  They could still express clay concepts and techniques they learned, but they had to use other materials. Victoria did a good job of expressing slipping and scoring (below).

Victoria D. made an artwork demonstrating her knowledge of human facial proportions, using a viewfinder, slipping and scoring (clay), and value.

Looking over what they created, I am extremely proud of my students' ability to express what they learned in class while at the same time creating something personal to them.  I love how unique everyone's work is, and how each student made a lot of complex choices along the way, independently.

Madeline created a mixed media piece demonstrating value, contour line drawing, and two more concepts.

Students also had to write a justification statement that shared HOW they expressed the four techniques or vocabulary and the definitions of the things they learned. 
Here are some more examples of the final exams. 

Beatriz expresses color, gesture drawing, proportion of the human head, and a good composition.

Brennan expresses unity, color, contour line drawing and using a viewfinder.

Cynthia expresses proportions of the human face, value, emphasis, and the studio habit of envision.

Demonstrating emphasis and value, unity and developing craft

Shawn expresses emphasis, value, contour line drawing, and envisioning

Othmane expresses contour line drawing, using a viewfinder, value, and creating a good composition.

Monika expresses contour line drawing, value, unity, and the studio habit of envisioning

demonstrating proportions of the human face, gesture drawing, value and pattern.