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| Olivia, grade 12, shows off her award winning mixed media piece at the art show! |
Art II/III at Heritage Christian Academy serves those students who have completed a prerequisite visual art class, including Art I or Art II.
Skills covered in this class include but are not limited to: Visual Communication, Digital Design, Photography, Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture.
April/May 2018
Students participated in Open Studio for most of the last 9 weeks of school. They were encouraged to experiment with materials while practicing their skills in a variety of media. Some students chose to practice drawing, while others worked with watercolor or oil paints.
The last week of school, students participated in a variety of art challenges! We had fun with modeling clay "Sculptionary," paint mixing color puzzles, and "Make It" challenges where students worked in teams to create something using only random items in a paper bag!
February 2018
During the month of February, advanced art students practiced their digital design skills as they worked with a variety of online presentation formats. First, they created an original flier for our theater production and then they designed their own website! The website designs ranged from informative platforms about cooking or outdoor sports to more personal pages with photos of friends, travel, and hobbies. Students were allowed to take the websites down after assessments, but they were very well done!
Here is the assignment for our playbill and below are pictured a few of the finished designs:
January 2018
For the month of January, advanced art students practiced using a variety of linear perspective techniques, starting with one vanishing point and then learning how to use two or even three vanishing points in a drawing. This is a relatively new technique, codified during the Renaissance by Italian architect Filippo Brunelleschi, since used by everyone from Michelangelo to Leonardo da Vinci in drawings and paintings. Before this time period (1400's - 1500's), artists did not understand how to create consistent angles which followed the rules of perspective. After discussing the history of perspective, we looked at a variety of ways 20th century and contemporary artists (even comic book artists!) use the technique.
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| student drawings in progress (photos by Olivia and Alexandria) |
Street Art of Julian Beever; julianbeever.net (sidewalk chalk drawings using anamorphic perspective techniques)
After completing a variety of practice drawings using 1, 2, and 3-point perspective and drawing an interior space from observation, students chose subject matter for their final drawings. Some imagined a fantastic, surreal place, others were more inspired by their own personal photographs of city streets from trips abroad.
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| Seniors Olivia and Alexandria observe personal photographs of city streets. Olivia's drawing is based on a German town, while Alexandria's drawing is based on a street in Vienna, Austria. Both students wanted to preserve their memories in an original drawing. (photos by Olivia and Alexandria) |
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| Juniors Skyler and Riley work on putting the finishing touches to their imaginary perspective drawings. Linear perspective is a fun technique to play around with, coming up with interesting places and scenes! (photos by Olivia and Alexandria) |
During the last few class periods of this perspective unit, we looked at student drawings from the past and worked together in small groups to evaluate them based on specific criteria such as creativity, accuracy, visual complexity, shading, and craftsmanship. Finally, students practiced giving each other feedback during an informal group critique. They pointed out strengths in each others' drawings as well as areas in need of growth. They also completed a self-evaluation and reflection about their drawings, contemplating ways to revise and edit their work before turning the pieces in on Friday. (A few students wanted to take their drawings home to finish; photos of completed drawings are coming soon!)
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| Students apply shading and color to their perspective drawings. (photos by Olivia and Alexandria) |
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| by Olivia, grade 12 |
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| by Alexandria, grade 12 |
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| by Riley, grade 11 |
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| by 10th grader D. |
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| by Skyler, grade 11 |
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| by Wade, grade 11 |
December 2018
"THE BOX"
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| "Memories of Playing Peter Pan," by Olivia |
Assignment:
1. This is an exercise in problem solving, formal design principles, and visual communication. We will apply all design principles in this art piece:
*UNITY
*VARIETY
*REPETITION
*MOVEMENT
*BALANCE
*EMPHASIS
*CONTRAST
2. Theme; OPEN ENDED, but with an emphasis on communicating an *abstract idea
You can create your mixed media art piece about a story, a memory, your future career, a personality, a hobby, etc.
THESE TOPICS ARE NOT ALLOWED:
*Alabama/Auburn football, unless it is a minor part of the piece about a personality. Choose something original!
*any inappropriate subject matter, such as:
violence: people/animals being hurt or killed... hunting is okay, as long as no scenes of violence/blood are included
*copyrighted material, such as Disney characters, etc. unless they are 33% altered
*words/writing... the assignment is to communicate an idea VISUALLY, with pictures, colors, etc.
4. Materials:
diluted glue
magazine scraps (pictures/colors/textures)
fabric scraps
wallpaper scraps
beads/buttons/game pieces/old toys/etc.
cardboard or mat board scraps
hot glue
for drawing images on top of the surface decoration, you can use Sharpies or permanent markers
anything you can find that will work! Bring objects from home!
5. Procedures:
...Completely cover your wooden box (inside and outside) with images and colors. We will not likely be using paint, so you will need to find appropriate colors/textures in magazine pages or fabric/wallpaper samples. We will use diluted glue and paper mache techniques to attach materials such as fabric and paper.
... You will be assessed on craftsmanship, so apply the surface decoration NEATLY.
... Add 3-dimensional objects to the art piece that will help communicate your idea. These can be old toys, game pieces, or structures built with cardboard or mat board, etc. You can even use salt dough (see Mrs. Nichols for recipe) if you would like to model something out of homemade clay. We will be using hot glue to attach 3-d objects.
6. Grading:
25% Design
25% Visual Communication/Originality
25% Craftsmanship
25% Effort/Work Habits
7. Due Date: December 15
*The word "abstract" means "existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concrete existence." The word abstract is the opposite of "concrete," or "existing in a material or physical form; real or solid."
...examples of abstract ideas would be: a memory, a personality, an emotion, a story, etc. Abstract ideas do not exist in the physical realm, they are of the mind only. How will you communicate an abstract idea visually?
Example #1: Using the theme of "football" is not an abstract idea because you can see a football, it is concrete. However, if your theme is, "Memories of football with my brother," or, "Memories of playing football as a child," would be more abstract.
Example #2: Using a theme of "the beach" is not abstract because you can see the beach, it is concrete. However, if your theme is, "Peace," you could incorporate scenes of the beach to communicate that feeling inside you.
Example #3: Using a theme of "antique cars" would not work as an abstract idea, but "My hobby, renovating antique cars" or, "Memories of repairing antique cars with grandpa" would work better. It isn't exactly abstract, but it tells a story about you a bit better than just doing an homage to antique cars.
Example #4:
Here is a short list of abstract ideas if you are stumped:
knowledge happiness education
cowardice freedom self expression
peace of mind beauty ugliness
truth deception
Love Anger Hate
Peace Loyalty Integrity
Pride Courage Deceit
Honesty Trust Compassion
Bravery Misery Childhood
Patriotism Friendship
Brilliance Justice Faith Kindness
Pleasure Liberty Freedom
Delight Despair Hope
Awe Calm Joy
Reality Wisdom
PAINTING UNIT
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| Olivia plans her final painting by creating miniature color studies |
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| Olivia's final painting on canvas board, acrylic |
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| Wade and Riley work out their ideas for the final painting. |
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| Riley's final painting on canvas board |
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| painting on canvas board by Alexandria |
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| acrylic painting on canvas board by Skyler |
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| acrylic painting on canvas board by Wade |
Week Eight: (Click on this link for more information about what we learned!)
We are finished with the self portrait! To take things a step further and challenge students to think more deeply, they were given an assignment to incorporate a scripture into their designs. How can you represent an abstract idea such as "freedom from fear" or "spiritual strength" with a picture? How can art help us communicate better? I am proud of these students and their hard work. Our juniors and seniors are incredible!
Week Seven:
Below are pictures of the "before instruction" self portraits and the "after instruction" self portraits. These students have been learning by leaps and bounds! Hard work definitely pays off. I am proud of their effort!
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| Skyler, Grade 11 |
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| Riley, grade 11 |
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| Wade, Grade 11 |
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| Alexandria, Grade 12 |
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| Olivia, Grade 12 |
Week Six: Walt Disney World Trip - we missed you all!
Week Five:
Students are building a highly realistic self-portrait drawing this week and next week. Mrs. Nichols demonstrated common mistakes when drawing various features of the face as well as the "right" way to model the nose, mouth, teeth, and hair. We are also using an artist's trick, a mathematical grid, to place every part of the face exactly where it goes. These students are doing amazing work! Wow!
Psalm 139:14
I will give thanks and praise to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.
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| Olivia works on the geometric still life drawing, practicing drawing skills. |
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| Riley and Wade carefully observe the still life as they work on their observational drawing skills. |
Pre-Instruction Self-Portraits: these were done the second week of school as a diagnostic. Students will compare these drawings to finished portraits later this year to see how much they have learned!
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| 11th Grade |
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| 12th grade |
CREATIVE NAME DESIGNS:
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