Sketchbook Covers 2013-2014

Following the "Home Collages", students were asked to personalize their sketchbook cover using their choice of pencil, markers, collage, colored pencils and paint.  
 Before beginning their sketchbook cover, the students were introduced to the elements and principles of art.  
The elements of art are the building blocks of each art piece, and the principles of art are the way that artists use those elements to create a beautiful and/or interesting work of art. 

A student plans/sketches out their idea for a cover. 

After watching a slide show and discussing the elements and principles, students in Honors Art 1 and Honors Painting were required to choose 1 principle of art, as well as something about their identity to guide the design of their sketchbook cover. 

I did a mini-demo on using paint to cover up their sketchbook, as well as experimenting with ink and other materials. As long as they expressed a principle of art and something about their identity, they could choose any materials to create their cover to look however they wanted it to.



The students did a fantastic job with this project. Their covers are unique and thoughtful, and I really enjoyed the diversity of the results.  At the end of the project, they wrote a statement describing what principle and aspect of their identity they had expressed. 

This student was inspired by the journals of Dan Eldon.

Students share with their peers the meaning behind their sketchbook covers and the way they expressed their identity.

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.

Learning About Unity

Students in Art 1 and Art Appreciation learned first hand about Unity, which is a principle of art that artists employ to give their work a sense of togetherness, wholeness or completion. 

As a one-day exercise, each student at a table received a material/medium to work with that was different from the others at their table.  Some students received collage, some marker, some watercolors, some pencil, some colored pencils, and others ink. 

After discussing unity, each student had five minutes to work on a blank sheet of paper and make whatever they wanted to.  After five minutes, each student passed their work to the person to their right, and that person continued to work on the piece with their own medium. They added to it, but also tried to unify it at the same time.  The artwork was passed to at least 4 artists before it was complete.  The end goal was that the artwork would look like it was created by 1 artist instead of 4-5 people.  Each student needed to observe which elements and principles they might want to repeat or enhance that would tie the work together.  For example, color and shape were frequently used to create a sense of togetherness. 

 

This exercise is a lot of fun, and I believed the students enjoyed creating these collaborative works of art.

 

Sketchbook Covers

Following the "Home Collages", students were asked to personalize their sketchbook cover using their choice of pencil, markers, collage or colored pencils.  
 Before beginning their sketchbook cover, the students were introduced to 
the elements and principles of art.  
The elements of art are the building blocks of each art piece, and the principles of art are the way that artists use those elements to create a beautiful and/or interesting work of art. 



After watching a slide show and discussing the elements and principles, students in Art 1 and Art Appreciation were required to choose 1 element and 1 principle of art to guide the design of their sketchbook cover. 

I did a mini-demo on using paint to cover up their sketchbook, as well as experimenting with ink. As long as they expressed an element and a principle, they could focus on any subject for their sketchbook cover and could chose their own materials.

 

The students did a fantastic job with this project. Their covers are unique and thoughtful, and I really enjoyed the diversity of the results.