Level One Projects
Name_________________________
A project is due the Monday before the end of the 1st, 2rd, and 4th quarters. A proposal
form for that project will be due approximately six weeks prior to that date. In the
proposal, you will describe what you are doing and will be specific as to what the project
will entail. Your proposal must be approved before you begin work, and you must stick
to your proposal. You will turn in your signed proposal sheet with your project, so don’t
lose it! In addition, you will always present your level one project in class informally.
Level Ones are not middle school dioramas. They should reflect time, challenge, and
effort.
Choice type A
 You will create or perform. This creation of performance may be 2D or 3D art,
dance, architecture, or music. Look around to see some samples.
 If you choose to create, you cannot just copy an original piece of art. You can
use its style, form, or ideas in an original fashion (a Grecian urn of your own
design, a Van Gogh style portrait of your mom). Or, you may choose to combine
two styles or ideas (a Warhol Mona Lisa). Music and dance performances must
be live. You must actually do the skill you are attempting; for example, if you say
you are going to make a quilt, you can’t glue the fabric together.
 Along with the performance or creation, you will turn in a paper (two-page
minimum) explaining your work. It will include:
a bibliography for research
an explanation of what you produced
the style/artist/idea you studied
the aspects of the style or artist you tried to exemplify
a brief critique of your work
 Things kids have done: Carved in stone, made stained glass, imitated modern art,
created jewelry based on art, made a political statement through art, made a
mosaic, learned a new piece of music, created an illuminated manuscript, painted
ceiling tiles, created an architectural model, performed a ceremony, sculpted a
family pet, made a parody of a well-known piece of art, made a film based on the
film of a famous director, made a dollhouse in an architectural style,
photographed in the style of a well-known photographer.
 The paper, 20 points, is graded on content and mechanics. The project, 80 points,
is graded on effort, challenge, and its reflection of the ideas. If you do not turn in
a paper but still create a project, you will only receive a 60%.
Choice type B
 You will write a research paper or creative story of five pages or more.
 If you choose a research paper, it must be governed by a question that you will
seek to answer in your paper. Sample questions: “Why is it that Schnabel’s
artwork is less acclaimed than his movies?” or “What influence did the Romantic
poets have on Romantic painters?” Mechanics and usage are worth 20 points.
Research, ideas in your own words, style, and, of course, answering the question
make up the other 80 points. Your bibliography will use MLA guidelines, and
any research directly quoted will be correctly cited within the body of the paper.
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If you choose a creative paper, it cannot be completely fictional. It might be the
story of a Greek man seeing a tragedy that teaches him about his life, the story of
Wagner’s first visit to the castle inspired by his operas, or the artist Goya
witnessing executions which he later depicts on canvas. Research that you do
should be photocopied or printed out and the parts you used highlighted or
marked in some way. This will not include a bibliography or citations, but just
like a real historical fiction writer, your piece will have many connections to your
research.
You should also include as a preface to your story how you became interested in
writing on this subject and one or two of the most interesting facts you learned
while researching.
Kids have written stories about artists' models, diaries of composers, deaths of
artists, eye-witness accounts of the Fall of Rome, the Bonfire of the Vanities, etc.
Mechanics and usage are worth 20 points. The paper's connection to research,
ideas, creativity, and style make up the other 80 points.
Choice type C
 You may do a Humanities book report. This is a project that everyone will do in
the third marking period. The format is online.
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Some topics that we do not study in-depth but students find interesting:
Many writers, poets
Asian art
Greek and Roman myth
Native American art
Celtic myth
Art as resistance
William Shakespeare
Art restoration
Charles Dickens
Communist art
Fairy Tales
Upcycling art
Nursery Rhymes
Contemporary art
Political cartoons
MC Escher
Interior design
Tintoretto
Contemporary choreography
Titian
Contemporary music
Canaletto
John Cage
Benvenuto Cellini
Faberge Eggs
Winslow Homer
Antonio Vivaldi
John Singleton Copley
Carl Orff
Rene Magritte
Construction Technology
Louise Nevelson
Byzantine architecture in Russia
Auguste Rodin
Frank Furness
Photorealism
Frank Gehry
Ansel Adams/ other photographers
Antonio Gaudi
Gilbert and George
Homes of stars or royalty and more. . .