AP BREADTH ASSIGNMENTS
DRAWING PORTFOLIO BREADTH ASSIGNMENTS:
Drawing:
12 slides, demonstrating a variety of concepts, media, and approaches
- 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.
- 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)
- Work from a traditional still life setup (something like Cezanne may have used).
- This will include wrinkled drapery over a table. It will employ a strong, well-defined light source.
- 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.
- Produce a small series of works employing at least three drawing media. Push each medium to the limits of its versatility.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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)).
- Chose a painting by one of the Old Masters. Produce a drawing that might have passed as its preliminary sketch.
- 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
- positive-negative shapes study in color
- linoleum block print
- woodblock print
- box design -- 2D front
- redesign a current product image or logo
- logo-symbol design
- kaleidoscope -- radial balance design
- cool-warm contrast
- primary color -- RYB
- monochromatic variations of one color, using value
- analogous -- colors next to each other on the color wheel; e.g., Picasso's Blue Period
- lettering and type design
- design with literary or conceptual associations
- poster design -- travel, country, Olympics, sports, endangered animals
- CD or album design; e.g., for blues, jazz, classical
- repeated pattern, possibly using linoleum print
- collograph -- cardboard layers, then ink in white and print on black paper
- seedpods, and forms evolving from them
- design a deck of cards; e.g., "New Wave"
- redesign the Tarot deck
- graphic designs for school theater productions, yearbooks, etc.
- self-portrait as a favorite industrial product
- develop a modular repeat pattern for a fabric
- work showing specific color theory, such as Fauvism, Expressionism, Color-Field painting
- psychological use of color
- historical use of color
- story or poem illustration
- game board and game pieces
- fashion design, or costume design
- photography; e.g., Kodalith process, nature design, building or architectural
- digital altering or layering of photographic images
- line properties; e.g., graffiti, Japanese calligraphy
- environmental design
- historical signs; e.g., pub signs
- Cut-paper self-portraits, interiors, landscapes;
- Distorted interiors;
- Gridded and distorted self-portraits;
- Illustrations of imaginary places;
- 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.)
- 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.
- 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.
- 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."
- Leger- or Futurist-inspired drawing of an engine or the inside of a mechanicalobject;
- 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.
- Pop-inspired pieces working with personal symbols or words (Robert Indiana,Ed Ruscha)
- Piece that combines Xeroxed body parts (face, hands, feet) with anatomicaldrawings
- Acrylic painting using analogous or complementary color scheme;
- Piece inspired by the "fortune" from a fortune cookie;
- Metaphorical or symbolic self-portrait superimposed on top of an incisedsurface that is mounted to a backing board, resulting in a "textured" background. (I generally have the student cut away eight contour self-portraits.They decide how they will arrange the eight incised areas andwhether to bring the images out in the final piece or let them remain as phantom images/areas of underlying texture.)
- Funky portrait of classmate in environment using thick bold outlines/contours, and areas of flat color (David Bates)
- Social commentary piece (currently at work on pieces inspired by events ofSeptember, 11, 2001) -- experimentation with acetone transfers and glossmedium transfers to be further developed with text and imagery -- literal,metaphorical, or symbolic
- 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 directionand amount of erasing are left to the student. On the second panel, thestudent is instructed to cover over the text with watered-down gesso, allowingfor some of the text to show through; degree of transparency/opacity is up to the student. On top of theseprepared surfaces, the student is to superim pose imagery invokedby the story -- literal, symbolic, or metaphorical
- Compositions that involve the use of inset imagery (image withinimage/detail)
- Compositions on shaped surfaces
- Compositions arranged radially
- Color studies with torn pieces of paper (mosaic)
- Compositions that combine illusionary space with flat space
- Drawing composition that alternates from a simple contour drawinginto a fully rendered drawing at student-designated focal points
- Three-part piece inspired by work of Jim Dine: in the first piece thestudent is asked to render an ordinary object or tool, bigger thanactual size, making it the dominant aspect of the composition.The student is also directed to blur the distinction between positiveshape and negative space. In the second piece, on a larger surface,the student is to create three distinct images of the object, whilemaking the whole piece work. In the third piece, the student hasto include an actual object, though it does not have to be the objectthey have been working with. It can be a different object that isrelated to it -- literally, metaphorically, or symbolically
- A composition that denies the boundaries of surface edges – compositions that could extend indefinitely beyond edges (JacksonPollock, Vija Celmins)
- Compositions that rely on a grid as an organizing principle
- Composition in which the student uses various neutral tones oftorn papers (with a variety of textures) collaged on a surface todefine areas of a still life. The piece is further refined as thestudent superimposes a linear drawing upon the collage with black, sanguine, or white conté.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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
- Modular designs created by using paper tubes and other geometric forms constructed from matt board.
- Functional cardboard chairs
- Constructed chairs inspired by the work of another artist (i.e., Nevelson)
- Assemblages of found materials
- Figures constructed from found materials
- Nevelson inspired wall pieces
- Organic sculptures inspired by the work of Hepworth, Moore, or Naguchi
- Plaster casts
- Plaster carvings
- "Combination" pieces that involve 2D and 3D elements (Rauschenberg)
- Create a three-dimensional self-portrait - either literal or metaphorical.
- Animal effigy (memorial) vessel
- Artist-inspired sculpture
- Body extension/distortion sculpture
- Book reorganization
- Combined organic and geometric forms
- Container created completely out of scavenged material from student’s environment
- Cubist self-portraits in cardboard or paper
- Familiar object cast in a material that radically changes its impact
- Found-object insect
- Functional cardboard chairs
- Hand-built clay forms
- Jewelry cast in pewter
- Life-size, nonfigurative self-portrait
- Outdoor installations
- Plaster casting in balloons (abstraction)
- Sculptural clothing
- Sculpture designed to target a specific sense
- Surreal objects
- Teapot and cups
- Thrown vessels
- Vessel designed to hold something specific
- 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.
- 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.
- 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)
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.