AP® Studio Art: Drawing and 2-D Design: Home: Landing Page

AP® Studio Art: Drawing and 2-D Design

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Welcome to AP® Studio Art: Drawing and 2-D Design!

The primary purpose of the AP program is to assist the student in developing their artistic drawing skills, self-expression, and creativity by providing the knowledge and experiences to do so. The program is rigorous, and the students will be held to high expectations. The students will develop a body of work investigating a strong underlying visual idea that grows out of a coherent plan of action and investigation. The second purpose of the program is to guide the student so that he or she will have the needed skills and experiences to pass the AP examination to attain college credit. The course promotes a sustained investigation of all three aspects of portfolio development – quality, concentration, and breadth – as outlined in the Studio Art course description, https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-studio-arts-course-description.pdf

During the first week of school, the course is outlined to the students. The individual sections of each portfolio—Quality, Concentration, and Breadth—are discussed in detail. The majority of the students have taken the Honors Drawing course and are quite familiar with these requirements. I show extensive slide examples from both the College Board and past students’ work that correspond to each section of the portfolio, with special emphasis on the distinctions between the Drawing Portfolio and the 2-D Design Portfolio. Additionally, the students review the images and instructions from the AP Studio Art Poster.

Use the discussion on course questions if you need an explanation of any assignments or expectations.

Course Description

Through studio practice, application of design concepts, and informed decision making,

students will assemble a body of artwork that demonstrates a high level of quality and

growth over time of content, technique, and process. For a variety of concepts and

approaches to the Drawing or 2-D Design portfolios where students will

demonstrate a range of abilities in problem-solving of art and principles

of design, specific art mediums, art techniques, and content, look at assignments in the

Course Overview for weeks 1–36. Students will develop mastery in concept, composition,

and execution of Drawing or 2-D Design. Students will address the three components in their portfolios: quality, concentration, and breadth. Students will submit this body of work to the College Board for grading and possible college credit.

Artistic Integrity

Students are expected to use artistic integrity throughout the course. Work that

is based on published photographs or the work of other artists must move beyond

duplication to illustrate an original idea. For additional specific information, look at

Original Work, found under Student Self-Critique.

Drawing Portfolio

Students will expand their drawing and two-dimensional design skills and advance their

visual communication skills by exploring a variety of design processes and techniques,

as well as compositional and aesthetic concepts.

2-D Design Portfolio

Students will expand their two-dimensional design skills and advance their visual

communication skills by exploring a variety of design processes and techniques, as well

as compositional and aesthetic concepts.

Objectives and Goals

Develop the three aspects of the AP portfolio: Quality, Concentration, and Breadth.
Create a cohesive body of work, called a “concentration”, by investigating one strong underlying visual idea.
Explore a variety of media to develop the skills of thinking, perceiving and making.
Use research to investigate art production.
Refine the ability to draw/render by developing the use of the elements and principles of art.
Learn how to use other artists as influences without plagiarizing.
Expand individual knowledge of how personal experiences and cultures influence the creative process and content of your artwork.
Enable students to learn to analyze and discuss their artworks and those of their peers by participating in group and individual student critiques, instructional conversations with the teacher.

Through course activities students will:

Through instruction, critiques, sketches, and research, the students will develop and improve strong concepts in the artwork.
Explore mark making and different techniques of production to improve competency in drawing and creating (techniques such as pen and ink, monotype, oil painting, etc.)
Develop mastery in concept, composition, and execution.
Gain the knowledge of artistic integrity and what constitutes plagiarism. If students produce work that makes use of photographs, published images and/or other artists’ works, the course teaches students how to develop their work so that it moves beyond duplication.
Gain the skills to critique, evaluate, analyze and appreciate different types of art through discussions and research.
Make art as an ongoing process that involves the student in informed and critical decision making beyond the classroom.
Use a sketchbook to research different ideas, processes, and self-reflections.
By building skills, creating quality art and exhibiting works, the students will build self-esteem and self-worth.

Costs and Supplies

Class lab fee: $25.00

Set of pencils and pens

1- 9x12 sketch book, at least 100 pages

Brushes

Portfolio

Grades and Expectations

Student grades fall into two categories: classwork/projects (70 percent) and class participation (30 percent). Classwork/projects are self-explanatory. Class participation includes students’ participation in ongoing group critiques with the teacher and individual critiques with the teacher, preparation for final projects, taking slides of their work, etc.

Critiques are an integral part of all classes. All students are brought together for critiques at regular intervals, generally when they have major assignments due. Each student must show his or her work and briefly discuss his or her intent. The class is then expected to provide positive feedback and offer suggestions for improvement.All students participate. The vocabulary of art is introduced through the foundation classes and is reinforced through the verbal and written critique and show reviews. We have class critiques on the days' work is due. These often take the entire class to complete, sometimes more than one class period. I do very little of the talking during these sessions, other than beginning the process with a recapping of the criteria for the project and a reminder to students to address the criteria as part of their discussion. I will only interject when I feel that there is something that has not been addressed or have an idea about a possible solution or suggestion for a next piece.In many instances, after I take the work up to grade it, I provide the student with brief written commentary. For grading purposes, I use a simplified rubric based on the actual AP Scoring Guidelines for Studio Art. I think it is important for AP students to be familiar with the rubric that will be used to score the work in their portfolios. Additionally, there is an ongoing dialogue with students on an individual basis during class time. Also, the students dialogue with each other about their work.

Students should expect to spend at least four to eight hours per week outside of class on projects and sketches. Each term 10 projects will be due. Half of these will be independent works with three class projects, and one large take home project.

Two projects will be due every two weeks along with sketchbooks. We will have a class critique on these projects and sketches to determine if development has been made and if the three sections of the AP portfolio are being met. We will also photograph these works for the digital portfolio on the due date.

Included in the AP studio art test are 24 digital images of the student’s original artwork and 5 actual pieces to be submitted for the quality portion of the exam. 12 digital images will be devoted to the concentration section to show a strong underlying visual idea. The other 12 digital images will show the student’s skill and use of a variety of media and content. The student will need to submit a short commentary about the works he/she is submitting in the portfolio.

Copyright

During ongoing activities throughout the course, students are made aware of the need
to create original work from direct observation, fantasy, the imagination, and photo-
graphs they have taken. They are not allowed to work from published photographs or
other works created by others, found in books, and/or on the Internet. Artistic integ-
rity is essential in creating their works. College foundation drawing and design courses
are based on drawing and working from direct observation and the personal life of the
student. Some students may come into the program with the idea that there is noth-
ing wrong with drawing from photographs or works created by others, and many of
them are quite accomplished at it. Nonetheless, it is a practice that we do not allow
in any class and strongly discourage out of class. Students may work from their own
photographs, yet they are made aware that the resultant image might have a dis-
tinctly flat and stiff look about it. Copyright issues are discussed with the students
throughout the course—they are made aware of the legal issues involved with working
from someone’s published work. If a student uses the work of someone else, which is
discouraged, the student knows that the work must be significantly altered and only
be a small component of his or her individual creation. Again, in these instances the
students thoroughly understand that the image must become part of their larger indi-
vidual expression, and move beyond duplication.

Textbooks

Textbooks are not required.

Course Content Details

Course Schedule

Block scheduling is used. Classes meet every other day for 90 minutes. The course focuses on both sections of the portfolio (Breadth and Concentration) throughout the year, with the best art work selected for use in the Quality section of the AP Studio Art portfolio. The Breadth work is generally teacher driven. Concentration work is student designed and executed. Students come up with a theme and create 12 different works that all relate to a singular theme. Works may vary by materials and mediums. The students are expected to complete some in-class work out of class, depending on the schedule of projects.

Breadth pieces and Concentration pieces may vary from year to year depending on the amount of time spent on specific Breadth assignments. If the students were successful in all the work they produced for their summer work, they would have enough work to complete the Breadth section by the end of the first semester. In that (rare) case, the students might not be expected to do any additional assignments for Breadth and may be allowed to focus on their Concentration

Quarter 1

Week 1

Introduction- We go over the syllabus and course details. We discuss the three sections of the portfolio in detail and begin brainstorming concentration ideas.

Individual Portfolio Review — sign up for a time to meet with me to discuss previous work that may be used for the AP portfolio

Homework: Use old photos, text from old books or magazines, and/or parts of advertisements or barcodes

Week 2

Begin researching artists and movements. Compare and contrast past art to contemporary art and find inspiration

Discuss the concentration, look at different themes and series

Class critique on sketches and completed homework project from week 1

Week 3

Begin experimenting with different mark making strategies and work on image development to ignite passion and help encourage invention and creativity

Talk about what plagiarism is and how to avoid it and have artistic integrity

Homework: use numbers, stencils, stickers

Class project: Recreate a famous piece in your way, use the famous piece as inspiration, but do not duplicate it.

Week 4

Review the art elements and principles along with composition

Explore the use of line; look at Albrecht Durer, Francisco Goya, Rembrandt, Katsushika Hokusai, Ma Yuan and Toulouse-Lautrec

Talk about simplification of the form, fragmentation, and representation

Class project: Contour line drawing from life using different colors and line making tools

Projects due

Class Critique of projects and sketches on Friday, take photos of finished pieces

Week 5 and 6

Talk about abstractions; artists Henri Matisse, Duchamp, Kandinsky, De Kooning

Class Project: architectural abstractions, abstraction, and reinvention of the human form

Homework: puzzles, tools, geometric shapes