AP BREADTH ASSIGNMENTS
DRAWING PORTFOLIO BREADTH ASSIGNMENTS:
Drawing:
12 slides, demonstrating a variety of concepts, media, and approaches
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Still life in black-and-white charcoal on colored paper
Cubist drawing in pencil
Surreal drawing in colored pencil, acrylic paint, watercolor, etc.
Figure drawing in pencil, charcoal, conte crayon
Genetic engineering (use parts of four animals to create an animal that will enhance life on earth)
Notan (negative/positive design in ink, paint)
Landscape drawing on location on the school campus
Watercolor abstract painting
Scratchboard
Fauvist architectural drawing in paint, markers, or colored pencil.
Realistic Still life of glasses, musical instruments, or silverware on mirror in watercolor, pastel, oil
pastel.
12. Portrait or self-portrait on collage in watercolor or acrylic (some areas should show the collage
underneath; experiment with newspaper, magazines, movie/concert ticket stubs, old photographs)
13. Work from a traditional still life setup (something like Cezanne may have used).
14. This will include wrinkled drapery over a table. It will employ a strong, well-defined light
source.
15. Crop a photograph to produce a pleasing composition. Divide the photograph into 100
squares. Replicate the image on a similarly divided larger paper or canvas. The point of this
exercise is not to copy someone else’s image mindlessly, but to learn about proportion by
careful observation. For reference, see Albrecht Durer, Jacques Louis David, and Chuck Close.
16. Produce a small series of works employing at least three drawing media. Push each medium to
the limits of its versatility.
17. Study basic scientific perspective (both one-point and two-point) and produce an imaginative
drawing by each method. Students are encourages to avoid the typical cityscape or room
interior.
18. Design your dream dwelling (not: dwelling, not house). Employ any traditional or
nontraditional drawing medium/media. Note that you are limited only by your imagination. A
dwelling refers to any location, in any configuration, from the depths of our universe to the
depths of your imagination.
19. Produce a self-portrait. Do this portrait from life, not from a photograph. A three-quarter view
works best. For reference, see Rembrandt, Van Eyck, and Durer. (Make sure you use an
unusual view point such as from below subject (sit on the floor while drawing)).
20. Chose a painting by one of the Old Masters. Produce a drawing that might have passed as its
preliminary sketch.
21. Produce a still life drawing in charcoal (on paper with pronounced “tooth”). Use a kneaded
eraser. Think in terms of positive and negative. Let the drawing be more about what is
removed than what remains.
2D DESIGN PORTFOLIO BREADTH ASSIGNMENTS
2D Design:
12 slides, demonstrating a variety of concepts, media, and approaches
1. positive-negative shapes study in color
2. linoleum block print
3. woodblock print
4. box design -- 2D front
5. redesign a current product image or logo
6. logo-symbol design
7. kaleidoscope -- radial balance design
8. cool-warm contrast
9. primary color -- RYB
10. monochromatic variations of one color, using value
11. analogous -- colors next to each other on the color wheel; e.g., Picasso's Blue Period
12. lettering and type design
13. design with literary or conceptual associations
14. poster design -- travel, country, Olympics, sports, endangered animals
15. CD or album design; e.g., for blues, jazz, classical
16. repeated pattern, possibly using linoleum print
17. collograph -- cardboard layers, then ink in white and print on black paper
18. seedpods, and forms evolving from them
19. design a deck of cards; e.g., "New Wave"
20. redesign the Tarot deck
21. graphic designs for school theater productions, yearbooks, etc.
22. self-portrait as a favorite industrial product
23. develop a modular repeat pattern for a fabric
24. work showing specific color theory, such as Fauvism, Expressionism, Color-Field painting
25. psychological use of color
26. historical use of color
27. story or poem illustration
28. game board and game pieces
29. fashion design, or costume design
30. photography; e.g., Kodalith process, nature design, building or architectural
31. digital altering or layering of photographic images
32. line properties; e.g., graffiti, Japanese calligraphy
33. environmental design
34. historical signs; e.g., pub signs
35. Cut-paper self-portraits, interiors, landscapes;
36. Distorted interiors;
37. Gridded and distorted self-portraits;
38. Illustrations of imaginary places;
39. Draw page upon page (hundreds) of quick ellipses. Review your work, noting those ellipses that
are graceful and more realistic. (Students often have difficulty in relaxing their gesture. Mark
making tends to be stiff and studies. They particularly have difficulty in drawing ellipses.
Sufficient practice often helps them learn to avoid the “football” shape, so prevalent in the ellipses
of bowls, bottles and so on.)
40. Present a cumulative portfolio with considerable representational work, including at least one
example of abstract work and one nonobjective piece. Be prepared to articulate these nuances.
41. Do some research on the tessellation designs of M.C. Escher. Create your own simple tessellation
design. Discuss the finished designs in terms of positive and negative space.
42. Visual puns; the cup is half full, design ex’s see below…
one 3D student welded a length of chain to a base so that it stood up in
such a manner as to shape the letter "A" - "Chain Letter." Another student threw a cup
on the potter's wheel and attached a handle. She then very carefully cut the cup in half
from the top down-- the result: "Half a Cup." Another student welded a large letter "D"
upon a metal plate shaped like a stop sign. The plate was then attached to a long pole
and base -- the result: "Design."
43. Leger- or Futurist-inspired drawing of an engine or the inside of a mechanical object;
44. Crop a photograph to produce a pleasing composition. Divide the photograph into 100 squares.
Replicate the image on a similarly divided larger paper or canvas. The point of this exercise is not
to copy someone else’s image mindlessly, but to learn about proportion by careful observation.
For reference, see Albrecht Durer, Jacques Louis David, and Chuck Close.
45. Pop-inspired pieces working with personal symbols or words (Robert Indiana,Ed Ruscha)
46. Piece that combines Xeroxed body parts (face, hands, feet) with anatomical drawings
47. Acrylic painting using analogous or complementary color scheme;
48. Piece inspired by the "fortune" from a fortune cookie;
49. Metaphorical or symbolic self-portrait superimposed on top of an incised surface that is mounted to a
backing board, resulting in a "textured" back ground. (I generally have the student cut away eight
contour self-portraits. They decide how they will arrange the eight incised areas and whether to bring
the images out in the final piece or let them remain as phantom images/areas of underlying texture.)
50. Funky portrait of classmate in environment using thick bold outlines/con tours, and areas of flat
color (David Bates)
51. Social commentary piece (currently at work on pieces inspired by events of September, 11, 2001) -experimentation with acetone transfers and gloss medium transfers to be further developed with text
and imagery -- literal, metaphorical, or symbolic
52. Two-panel piece in which student is asked to physically write across the surfaces an excerpt from an
account of a most memorable moment -- good, bad, horrific, terrifying. The direction and spacing of
the text are up to the student. On one panel, the student is instructed to erase through the text; the
direction and amount of erasing are left to the student. On the second panel, the student is instructed
to cover over the text with watered-down gesso, allowing for some of the text to show through;
degree of transparency/opacity is up to the student. On top of these prepared surfaces, the student is
to superim pose imagery invoked by the story -- literal, symbolic, or metaphorical
53. Compositions that involve the use of inset imagery (image within image/detail)
54. Compositions on shaped surfaces
55. Compositions arranged radially
56. Color studies with torn pieces of paper (mosaic)
57. Compositions that combine illusionary space with flat space
58. Drawing composition that alternates from a simple contour drawing into a fully rendered drawing at
student-designated focal points
59. Three-part piece inspired by work of Jim Dine: in the first piece the student is asked to render an
ordinary object or tool, bigger than actual size, making it the dominant aspect of the composition. The
student is also directed to blur the distinction between positive shape and negative space. In the
second piece, on a larger surface, the student is to create three distinct images of the object, while
making the whole piece work. In the third piece, the student has to include an actual object, though it
does not have to be the object they have been working with. It can be a different object that is related
to it -- literally, metaphorically, or symbolically
60. A composition that denies the boundaries of surface edges – compositions that could extend
indefinitely beyond edges (Jackson Pollock, Vija Celmins)
61. Compositions that rely on a grid as an organizing principle
62. Composition in which the student uses various neutral tones of torn papers (with a variety of textures)
collaged on a surface to define areas of a still life. The piece is further refined as the student
superimposes a linear drawing upon the collage with black, sanguine, or white conté.
63. Convince a friend to pose in the style of an action hero, in the manner of Marvel Comics. Have
your model wear tight clothing that emphasizes musculature. Draw the person in pencil. Create a
“carbon,” by covering another sheet heavily with pencil marks. Trace the original drawing onto a
new sheet by placing the “carbon” in between. Go over the faint pencil marks with ink. You
should now have an image that somewhat resembles those in action comics. You should also have
attained a respect for comic book artists’ knowledge of anatomy.
64. Design your dream dwelling (not: dwelling, not house). Employ any traditional or nontraditional
drawing medium/media. Note that you are limited only by your imagination. A dwelling refers to
any location, in any configuration, from the depths of our universe to the depths of your
imagination.
65. Study basic scientific perspective (both one-point and two-point) and produce an imaginative
drawing by each method. Students are encourages to avoid the typical cityscape or room interior.
Additionally, students may bring in work from previous classes such as photography, printmaking, fibers, and
computer graphics that will fit in this 2D Design Breadth category. Pages from "deconstructionist books" and
visual journals are often used as examples in 2D Breadth. (The "deconstructionist book" involves the student
working in the pages of an old printed book. As the white page of the sketchbook is often intimidating, the
students seem less afraid to experiment when working over the text and images within a book.
Students are encouraged to gesso over areas, collage, write, and draw to recreate the book.)
3D DESIGN PORTFOLIO BREADTH ASSIGNMENTS:
3D Design:
16 slides—two strong views of eight pieces, demonstrating a variety of concepts, media, and
approaches. Make sure you work the piece from ALL viewpoints
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modular development
transition, such as organic to mechanical
assemblage
forms evolving from seedpods
ancestral dolls -- open up and they contain biographical information
make a religion and invent an altar for it
wheel-thrown piece, then alter it
mask from your own culture, e.g., French = Marie Antoinette
wax poured into created clay molds, then assembled into sculpture
construct from wood scraps
clay figure torso, or seated figure, but use armature if standing
stylized animal form in clay
bas-relief
foam core shapes, airbrushed and glue-gunned together, using basic geometric shapes
assemblage of found objects or wood pieces, possibly painted
plaster bandage casting
soapstone
alabaster
ceramic pieces that are sculptural, such as decorated vases, teapots, deconstructed pieces
wire
cardboard
plaster of Paris mixed with vermiculite, cast in milk carton, then carve negative space, or insert
water-filled small balloons into wet plaster mold to create negative spaces; and can also be
colored
with powdered tempera pigment
stage set
animal teapot; e.g., fish form with tail as handle
repeated series, such as several small heads mounted on small rods and bases
drawings or painted designs on a series of tubes, then assembled together
prototype model of produce
In response to the Social Commentary assignment, I have two students who have constructed
welded metal monuments to the destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in
New York. Another student created a very sophisticated piece reminiscent of the work of
Joseph Cornell.
Earrings and pendants fashioned in jewelry - including wire and cast pieces.
Cups, bowls, and plates thrown on the potter's wheel and altered with other hand-built pieces
of clay to become more sculptural in nature.
Hand-built ceramic vessels - coil and slab.
Hand-built ceramic bird houses.
Portrait heads, busts and entire figures sculpted in clay.
Hats and bags that were constructed from woven fibers
Figures and animals constructed from welded metal
37. Modular designs created by using paper tubes and other geometric forms constructed from
matt board.
38. Functional cardboard chairs
39. Constructed chairs inspired by the work of another artist (i.e., Nevelson)
40. Assemblages of found materials
41. Figures constructed from found materials
42. Nevelson inspired wall pieces
43. Organic sculptures inspired by the work of Hepworth, Moore, or Naguchi
44. Plaster casts
45. Plaster carvings
46. "Combination" pieces that involve 2D and 3D elements (Rauschenberg)
47. Create a three-dimensional self-portrait - either literal or metaphorical.
48. Animal effigy (memorial) vessel
49. Artist-inspired sculpture
50. Body extension/distortion sculpture
51. Book reorganization
52. Combined organic and geometric forms
53. Container created completely out of scavenged material from student’s
environment
54. Cubist self-portraits in cardboard or paper
55. Familiar object cast in a material that radically changes its impact
56. Found-object insect
57. Functional cardboard chairs
58. Hand-built clay forms
59. Jewelry cast in pewter
60. Life-size, nonfigurative self-portrait
61. Outdoor installations
62. Plaster casting in balloons (abstraction)
63. Sculptural clothing
64. Sculpture designed to target a specific sense
65. Surreal objects
66. Teapot and cups
67. Thrown vessels
68. Vessel designed to hold something specific
69. Wire figure or animal forms (not just the armature, but looks like a gesture
drawing) – Make sure you cover the wire with plaster gauze or paper
mache, because wire photographs DO NOT turn out well.
70. Design your dream dwelling (not: dwelling, not house). Employ any traditional or
nontraditional drawing medium/media. Note that you are limited only by your imagination.
A dwelling refers to any location, in any configuration, from the depths of our universe to
the depths of your imagination.
71. Human Bust
Build an armature with wood to support the additive materials for a human bust. Papier
Mache is recommended for basic construction. Refine the details of the features after you
have chosen a model. (ethnic features and strong profiles are best) Expression can be
modified with surface treatment materials. 10 inch height minimum (including the base)
72. Mechanical imitation of Nature
Create and item from nature using very constructive, manmade materials. Examples:
flowers made with metal bolts and nails, an animal constructed with computer parts, a
human figure made of glass bottles. It may be your desire to combine several small items
to create an ensemble of sculptures 10 inch height minimum
73. Architechtural Model
Re-establish a new community of buildings on a site of nine square blocks. Make the entire
area as a unified community of buildings which relate to each other (sort of like the
buildings going up where the twin towers fell). Use a formula of community in color,
shape, texture and style the buildings. Construct with matt board and other materials.
Scale: total project no larger than 18 inches squared.
74. The Vessel
Make a container with a lid. Pay close attention to form and surface treatment. Use any
material that facilitates the formation of the vessel (clay, plaster, broken glass, etc) Strive
for a unique shape. The vessel must allow for the enclosure of space as volume. Height
should be at least 8 inches.
75. Plaster as a Medium.
Create a plaster sculpture. It can be totally non-objective or realistic but it must evolve
around principles of volume and space usage. The key issue is to use plaster as the
medium. Carve it, pour it into a self-form mold, construct an armature as a frame to wrap
in plaster strips, combine the methods, etc. The final product should be all white as natural
plaster. Minimum height 8 inches.
76. Wax as a Medium
The medium of wax can be used as a carving material or as hot liquid surface material over
a fabric armature. Human figures on a wire armature can serve as a unique structure when
smoothed in wax. Carved blocks of wax can also be an interesting tableaux for abstract and
non-objective sculpture. Research Rodin, Michelangelo, Giacometti, Brancusi, and Arp.
Minimum height 8 inches.