AP Studio 2014-15
The AP Studio course is for students interested in a rigorous and focused study in studio art. Throughout the course of the year you will be required to create 24 pieces of art in 2-D Design OR 3-D Design, which focuses on Quality, Concentration and Depth. You must choose your concentration before you leave for the summer. Your portfolio will be submitted to College Board for college credit.
AP Studio Art Goals and Objectives:
 To explore creative, technical and conceptual issues in art making as they apply to the AP Portfolio.
 To learn to be an independent artist by expressing your ideas through your own work, to explore different mediums and techniques, and understand
YOUR art making process.
 Investigate individual visual concerns in depth and reflect upon your own work.
 To develop a wide range of skills using a variety of media in order to solve problems.
 To express verbally and in written form and critical understanding about your work and the work of others through critiques, discussions, viewing work, and outside readings.
 To create a strong portfolio, document your work, and submit to College
Board.
Course Requirements:
 Spend a considerable amount of time outside of class to complete the required work for the AP curriculum.
 Completion of all assigned projects with the highest level of quality.
 Sketchbook: the sketchbook will be used for exploration and planning purposes. In your sketchbook, I expect to see drawings, written reflections, practicing techniques, thoughts, inspirations, collage, or anything else that you feel that you need to make you successful. I expect for you to have 2-3 quality sketchbooks filled by the end of the school year. If you choose to draw digitally, you may do so, but that can only be 50% of your sketchbook requirements. You still need to keep a traditional “pen and paper” sketchbook.
 All work is to be original. The use of photographic images and published artwork may not be used unless there are significant changes made.
 Participate in TWO field trips throughout the course of the year.

AP Studio 2014-15
 Homework: you will be required to find the time to complete your assignments outside of the traditional classroom.
 Reading and some writing assignments – working proposals for all artwork as well as an artist statement. Research works and processes of other artists.
 Active participation in class critiques and discussions. This will help you analyze and articulate ideas about art and the philosophy behind those ideas.
It will also help you make informed and critical decisions about the direction of your own work.
 Proper maintenance of studio and materials.
 Photograph and properly document your artwork digitally to submit your AP
Portfolio.
 As with any college level class, you will be required to spend a considerable amount of time outside of class to complete assignments.
Summer Assignments:
 Complete FOUR projects (see your individual concentration for details.)
 Bring in TWO of your best pieces from previous years. Rework them to be of the highest quality.
 All SIX pieces are due on September 2 nd . DO NOT WRITE YOUR NAME ON
THE FRONT OF YOUR WORK AS PER AP GUIDELINES!
 Keep a sketchbook*
 Do independent research – look at art, read about artists, read about art history and learn more about artistic movements. Visit an artists studio.
 Visit one the following: the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Art, The Barnes Foundation, The Metropolitan Museum of
Art, The Guggenheim Museum, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The
Museum of Modern Art, The National Gallery of Art, or the Hirshhorn
Museum and Sculpture Garden.
*Sketchbooks: You must do five observational drawings per week. You will have a total of 40 quality observational drawings due on September 2 nd .
You should also start developing your ideas for your Concentration. Start looking for inspiration. Look at books, magazines (art journals or even popular magazines), and web sites. Look at children’s picture books at Barnes and Noble or the library. Look at photographs. Visit the AP Central web site and look at other student work. Cut out, print out or sketch images and begin stuffing that sketchbook. Include appealing images even if the reason is not clear: maybe it’s the style, maybe it’s the color scheme, maybe it’s the use of media, maybe it’s the message. Print the images out.

AP Studio 2014-15
Insert them in your sketchbook. Draw textural forms, mass of forms and movement of forms. Sketch what is around you at home, outdoors or in the mall. Make notes about personal responses to all of these images. Draw what you see. Write what you think. Document everything!
Assessment- your grade will be based on the following:
 Follow through on the completion of work.
 Equal effort is made outside of school.
 Evidence of artistic development in your work including material exploration, technical skill, and ideation.
 Completed digital portfolio.
 Attitude, effort and degree of commitment to the artistic process.
 A self-assessment will be assigned at the end of each marking period.
 Participation in discussions and critiques.
 Maintenance of studio, materials and tools.

AP Studio 2014-15
you should demonstrate your understanding of design principals as applied to a two-dimensional surface. Any 2-D process of medium may be submitted, including, but not limited to graphic design, digital imaging, photography, collage, fabric design, weaving, illustration, painting, printmaking, etc.
 Section I: Quality – Five works that demonstrate your mastery of design,
no larger than 18” x 24”. Your mastery of design should be apparent in the composition, concept, and execution of your works. These are your five best pieces and can be pulled from your Breadth or Concentration section. These pieces will be physically submitted to College Board.
 Section II: Concentration – Twelve pieces that are part of a series or
theme. This work should show an investigation of a visual idea that interests the student. As the student progresses through the concentration the pieces should show a process of investigation and growth. In additions to submitting digital images of this work, a written commentary describing how the concentration evolved will be included.
 Section III: Breadth – Twelve pieces showing the range of the student’s
artistic development and understanding of the principles of design. You may include a wide range of pieces including perspective, still life, landscape, portrait, figure, interiors and expressive mark making. Work may be realistic, abstracted or non-objective. Consideration shod be given the elements and principles of art.
Ideas for your Concentration in 2D:
 A series of works that begins with representational interpretations and evolves into abstraction
 An exploration of patterns and designs found in nature and/or culture
 Design and execution of pages for a book or graphic novel
 Development of a series of identity products (logos, letterhead, signage, and so on) for businesses
 A series of political cartoons using current events and images
 Use of a classic standard such as the golden ratio and variations of it to produce differing compositions
 Diagrammatic overlays of mathematical principles on photographs of local architectural structures

AP Studio 2014-15
 A series of fabric designs, apparel designs or weavings used to express a particular theme
Ideas for you Breadth in 2D:
 Portrait with character
 Dissection: Do a study of an object that you have taken apart
 Draped Figure: Create a scenario where you have a person (friend or family member) draped in clothing/sheets with lots of folds or draped lines
 A self-portrait expressing a mood. How can you use color to convey that mood?
 Still life arrangement of 3 or more reflective objects. Your goal is to convey convincing representation.

A drawing of an unusual interior, for example, look inside a closet or cabinet, in the refrigerator, under the car’s hood or inside the medicine cabinet.
 A still life arrangement of objects representing members of your family a favorite pair of shoes, a toy etc. You must have at least 3 objects and use an unusual viewpoint or angle. Put the objects on the floor and stand up looking down at them.
 A close up of a bicycle/tricycle from and unusual angle with strong light/shadow. Do NOT draw the bicycle from the side view.
 Expressive landscape this can be near your home, a place you visit on vacation.
 Action portrait/figure drawing: have a friend or family member pose for you doing some sort of movement (jumping rope, riding a bike, walking down stairs etc.) Capture the entire sequence of their action in one work or art or a series of photos.
 Café Drawing go to a coffee shop to sit and sketch. In your drawing capture the essence of the place by capturing the people you see.

AP Studio 2014-15
For this portfolio, students are asked to demonstrate understanding of
3-D design through any three-dimensional approach, including, but not limited to, figurative or nonfigurative sculpture, architectural models, metal work, ceramics, glass work, installation, performance, assemblage and 3-D fabric/fiber arts. There is no preferred (or unacceptable) style or content.
Section I: Quality - (selected work): Quality refers to the understanding of 3-D design issues that should be apparent in the concept, form, and execution of the works, whether they are simple or complex.
Section II: Concentration (Sustained Investigation): A concentration is a body of related works that demonstrate a student’s sustained and thoughtful investigation of a specific visual idea. It is NOT a selection of a variety of works produced as solutions to class projects or a collection of works with differing intents. The concentration should grow out of the student’s idea and demonstrate growth and discovery through a number of conceptually related works.
Section III: Breadth (Range of Approaches): The student’s work in this section should demonstrate understanding of the principles of design, including unity/variety, balance, emphasis, contrast, rhythm, repetition, proportion/scale and occupied/unoccupied space. The work should show evidence of conceptual, perceptual, and expressive development, as well as technical skill. The student should be introduced to problems in concept, form and materials as they pertain to three-dimensional design.
The best demonstrations of breadth clearly show experimentation and a range of conceptual approaches to the work. It is possible to do this in a single medium or in a variety of media. When a student chooses to use a single medium — for example, if a Breadth (Range of Approaches) section consists entirely of collage — the images must show a variety of applications of design principles.
Ideas for your Concentration in 3D:
 A series of kinetic sculptures based on simple crank toys that share a common concept or theme
 A series of figures exploring aspects of power and authority
 A series of sculptures and documented performance pieces centered around converging cultures
 A series of sculptures based on interacting with plant life

AP Studio 2014-15
 A series of sculptures addressing a specific environmental issue or concern
 A series of shelters for a specific life form
 A series of wind-driven sculptures
 A series of sculptures, installations, and performance works addressing interactions of the individual and society
 A series of three-dimensional objects that recall a historical event or period
 A collection of architectural constructions that contrast public and private space
 A series of three-dimensional forms that incorporate text to address multiple perspectives of a social issue
 A group of conceptual, ephemeral pieces that deals with life cycles
Ideas for your Breadth in 3D:
 Animal effigy vessel designed as a totem, clay
 Sculpture inspired by a specific artistic movement or style from global artistic
 Traditions/history, including an element that contradicts the style, carved from plaster, wood, or stone
 Body extension/distortion sculpture that depicts a specific event or emotional state
 Book reorganization emphasizing a certain character or idea within the book
 Combined organic and geometric forms to illustrate an intersection of nature and technology, slab and coil constructions using clay
 Controversial container created completely out of scavenged material from student’s environment
 Abstract self-portraits that cryptically reveal a secret, in cardboard, paper, foam core
 Familiar object cast in a material that radically changes audiences’ response to it, wax, bronze
 Found-object insect deity, constructed
 Functional cardboard chairs for alien creatures
 Hand-built clay forms representing scientific knowledge, potter’s wheel, slabconstructed forms, coil additions
 Jewelry with a purpose beyond ornamentation cast in pewter, carved from wax, based on natural forms
 Life-size, nonfigurative self-portrait declaring a strong belief, constructed from clay, plaster, mixed materials
 Outdoor installations communicating an inner vision
 Plaster casting in balloons to be used in a ritual (abstraction)

AP Studio 2014-15
 Sculptural clothing designed to also house flora/fauna
 Sculpture designed to target a specific sense
 Surreal objects focused on the element of water
 Teapot and cups that are impossible to use, formed from clay on the potter’s wheel and modified
 Thrown vessels combined with found objects to communicate a sense of movement and play, stoneware clay bottle forms
 Vessel designed to hold something dangerous
 Wire figure or animal forms illustrating sequential movement, constructed from various kinds of wire