PRE AP ART 1 Syllabus 2015-2016
Each studio project is due on the assigned due date. Late work will be assessed a 10pt. per school day late penalty, down
to a low of 50 for a completed work. Studio projects will comprise 50% of your six weeks grade.
Sketchbooks are a must! Thumbnails will be required for all major works and should be drawn in your sketchbook. You
are expected to do research for your pieces! This should also be in your sketchbook. Thumbnails, Sketchbook
assignments, Critiques, and Participation grades will comprise 50% of your six weeks grades.
Ice Breaker: Review/Analyze Elements and Principles – 8/24
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Design, Elements & Principles
Technical Skills
Media & Disciplines
Content & Purpose
5C’s – Composition, Center of Interest, Contrast, Craftsmanship, Completion
Analyze E&P in an artwork:
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Basic Design and Composition
Rules of thumb (1/3)
Problem Solving
Studio Project – Art Element Trading Cards – 8/26-9/1
Create a series of 7 miniature artworks (3.5”x2.5”) to represent the Elements and Principles.
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Use successful design skills
Clear evidence of each Element and Principle
Mixed Media, Collage techniques
Sketchbook: minimum 7 thumbnail design ideas – 9/1
Studio Project – Prisma Leaves – 9/3-9/16
Show a progression of development leading to depth of color, light, and shade. Leaves should appear full and threedimensional rather than flat.
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Beginning Color Theory
Colored Pencil Techniques
Basic Skills, Problem Solving
Shape Placement, Depth, and Organization of Picture Plane
Positive and Negative Space, Foreground/Background
Sketchbook: Prisma layering – creating neutrals with color. – 9/16
Drawing Exercises (Participation) 9/18-9/22:
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Candy Bar Contours – blind, modified, upside down
Stick Drawings – line quality, expressive line
Studio Project – Boxes and Styrofoam – 9/24-10/6
Create a drawing based on a basic still life formation and set up. Render the piece in pastel chalks.
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Hatching, Scribble
Line Placement
Value Techniques
Light and Shadow, Cast Shadow, Line Quality as affected by light
Development of Realistic Form
Sketchbook: Facial Template – 10/6
Studio Project – Value Self Portrait – 10/8-10/23
Create an expressive self-portrait showing a full range of values. Choose a monochromatic color scheme. Think about:
Semi-transparent areas to create interest and show the collage beneath, weaving in an old work to create emphasis in
one or more areas, gesso over ground to “push it back” and create a sense of space.
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Incorporate contour line and value
Rendered value from extreme lighting, chiaroscuro
Shading techniques, value as texture
Emotional/psychological impact
Color symbolism
Transparency in mark making
Under collage: “taking off the mask”, altered ground
Gesture Drawing: (Participation) – 10/27-10/29
Sketchbook: Sculpture vocabulary definitions – 10/29
Studio Project – Screamer Self Portrait – 11/2-11/20
Create a three dimensional self-portrait out of paper mache’ or fabric. Think about the use of exaggerated features to
show physical and psychological likeness. You may create an assemblage sculpture base that also defines and informs. It
must accentuate your portrait sculpture.
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Figural proportion
Gestural line
Edges and comparisons
Assemblage sculpture
Additive sculpture
Sketchbook: Texture/Pattern Value Scale – 11/20
HOMEWORK: Bring in “recycled objects that tell us something about you. These can be articles of clothing, shoes,
accessories, or even food wrappers. 12/1
Studio Project – The Power of Shoes Social Commentary – 12/1-12/17
Create a still life from objects that reflect you. You may combine your things (homework assignment) with classroom
objects for a more interesting still life. Make a drawing that tells your story. Think about the use of social commentary
through the objects that you choose. What do these objects describe or define about you?
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Texture as pattern, simulated texture
Combine line, shape, value, space
Crowded picture plane
Depth of field, foreground/background
Varied line quality
Sketchbook: Ceramic vocabulary definitions – 12/17
Studio Project – Ceramics – 1/5-1/28
Create a clay vessel that illustrates a story or theme. Combine additive and subtractive sculpture techniques.
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Ceramics history and vocabulary
Slab construction, relief design, additive coil and pinch technique
Tools and techniques
Whistle
Narrative passages for idea development
Glazing basics
Application, dry foot, etc.
Sketchbook: Painting vocabulary and definitions – 1/28
HOMEWORK: bring in personal landscape photos or drawings to work from 2/1
Studio Project – Watermedia Landscape – 2/1-2/29
Create a complicated interior or exterior landscape based on a place that you have personal experience with. This will be
a mixed media art work. Bring in reference photos and sketches of landscape elements. Look at: Surrealism by Max
Ernst, Salvador Dali, Jerry Ullsman, Maggie Taylor; Impressionism by Monet, Seurat, Cezanne, Degas; Expressionism by
Van Gogh, Franz Marc, Kandinsky
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1, 2pt linear perspective
Atmospheric/aerial perspective
Positive and negative space
Sighting techniques
Color theory
Collage techniques
Surrealistic, impressionistic, and expressionist art
Sketchbook: Printmaking vocabulary and definitions – 2/29
Studio Project – Linoleum Print – 3/2-4/1
Create a series of Linoleum prints based on a cubist self-portrait
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Printmaking basics, history, tools, techniques
Influence of printmaking as a social media
Various art styles
Studio Project – Building Breadth – 4/5-4/28
Re-work any of the projects from this school year in preparation for the AP Portfolio class.
Sketchbook: 20 Mini-concentration thumbnails
Studio Project – Mini-Concentration Tryptic – 5/2-5/26
Create a Tryptic of works (9x12”) that follow a theme you may be interested in pursuing for your Concentration.