Rhythm in the Visual Arts!

In an effort to explain the correlation between rhythm in the Visual and Musical Arts, a group of kids created a visual rhythm using symbols. I then took the visual representation to a group of musicians at the high school and had them play along with the specific rhythm that the students had drawn. Tiger, Monkey, Tiger, Tiger, Monkey, Banana!

Thanks to Steven, Aric, and Nick for designing the rhythm.  Thanks to Adam, Conner, and Zach for translating it into music!

Grade 11 ISU

I have had several requests for the Grade 11 ISU printout.  Rather than use any more paper reprinting, here is a digital copy for your perusal!

Independent Study Unit - Visual Arts Grades 11

During the ISU process, there are multiple items that need to be handed in, both over the course of the project, and on the final deadline (which for this semester will be due on Thursday, Jan. 23.)  These are the items required for a Visual Arts ISU:

Over the course of the project: 

1. ISU Concepts: This, as the title suggests, is a listing of concepts. Its purpose is to quickly sum up a list of possible ISU topics, and for grade 11, a minimum of five different topics are required. Thumbnails (small sketches) are highly recommended. (Meeting with the teacher will be ten times smoother with thumbnails.)

Teacher: “Begin by thinking of 5-7 ideas / concepts you’d like to explore for you ISU. Conduct research on each of these concepts, with a particular focus on artists who have done similar work before. Also begin thinking about how to “personalize” these concepts, so that they are meaningful to you. You will meet with the teacher to discuss your ideas, so be prepared to show thumbnail sketches and research images. It is important that you be able to justify why you want to do something, and how the work will be meaningful and original.”

2. Proposal: After a topic is chosen from the ISU Concepts, students are expected to expand on the topic. Though you may think “Oh, it’s only a proposal,” it’s a very important part of the ISU (and worth quite a bit of your final mark), so make sure to spend some good time on it. The Proposal must be written according to the following guidelines:

A. Concept
1. Rationale: What do you want to do for your ISU and why do you feel this is an important and worthwhile task to take on? What will this piece of work “add” to your portfolio?
2. Theme: What are some possible subjects/themes/concepts that you wish to address in your series of work? How did these subjects/themes/concepts come up in your “brainstorming” session? Which questions prompted you to come up with your idea?
3. Subject Matter: Explain how you will explore your subject/theme/concept in your series of work. What is the artistic problem/concerns you wish to address (content: ideas related to theme, sub-topics, different ways it can be explored. stylistic: elements/principles, composition, approaches [controlled vs. painterly, etc], and artists or artistic movements that will serve as inspiration. technical: media and techniques)

B. Media/Materials/Dimensions: What is the media (area of traditional or non-traditional arts) that you would like to work in? What are the materials that you require? Where can these materials be accessed and what are any additional costs required? What are the dimensions of your piece?

C. Timeline: How long will the work take to complete? When are your projected completion dates? Include a calendar outlining your specific daily goals.

D. Research/Mentor:
Research: Include images with names of artists/explanations of work that you may use as inspiration. You must cite all sources, so include a bibliography.
Mentor: Who can serve as a mentor to you during this process?

E. Thumbnails: Include at least 10 thumbnail sketches to illustrate your ideas.

3. ISU Process Check: This is the Visual Art’s equivalent of a Mid Point Proposal.   Essentially it’s a short meeting with the teacher in the middle of the ISU timeline. The teacher will record what’s been done (or what hasn’t been done), give suggestions, and either tell you that “You’re too slow, you need learn to work faster,” or “This is good, you’re making progress. Keep it up.” Obviously, the latter feedback is preferable.

Teacher: “The unit will be marked in its preparatory stages as well as when the work the work is completed. If the work is being carried out in a way that cannot be evaluated, you must give detailed sketches and notes regarding its process. Select materials to suit style, technique and budget. Have all materials ready for use, work should not be delayed because of unavailable materials.”

On the final deadline:
*The funky thing with Visual Arts is that there’s no single final deadline. Each of the final deadline items have individual deadlines, which is nice because it helps you organize and see when each item is priority. 

4. Final Product: This is the most important part of the ISU: the end product, the thing that’s been made as a result of the ISU learning process. The form of the final product will depend on the ISU topic.

5. Process Binder: The process binder is a comprehesive booklet of the ISU, summarizing the step-by-step process culminating to the final product. It usually includes the following, give or take a few headings: Concept (as seen in the ISU Proposal), Inspiration, Resources/Mentors, Thumbnails, Materials/Scale, Process, Final Product, Conclusion, and Works Cited. Sometimes creating the process binder can be as challenging as the actual ISU; it’s not something to be ignored until the last minute. 

6. Formal Presentation: This is a 10-15 minute presentation, made in front of the teacher and class.  The Visual Arts Formal Presentation is  an overview of the ISU.

LEVEL 4 CHECKLIST!!

- The student shows good commitment in using his or her own artistic processes. 

- The student generally demonstrates curiosity, self-motivation, initiative and a willingness to take informed risks.

- The student is generally receptive to art practices and artworks from various cultures, including his or her own.

- The student reflects critically and in depth on his or her artistic development and processes at different stages of his or her work.

- The student carries out an excellent evaluation of his or her work. This shows a considered appraisal of the quality of work produced and details of improvements that could be made.

- The student intentionally uses feedback in his or her artistic development, which shows an appropriate consideration of his or her artistic processes.

- The student is able to elaborate an idea, a theme or a personal interpretation to a point of realization. There is evidence of purposeful expression and effective communication of artistic intentions.

- Skills and techniques are applied at a high level of proficiency. The student shows an excellent ability to apply the artistic processes involved in creating art.

- The student is able to demonstrate excellent knowledge and understanding of the art form studied in relation to societal or cultural or historical or personal contexts.

- The student is able to demonstrate excellent knowledge and understanding of the elements of the art form studied.

- The student is able to communicate a well-developed critical understanding of the art form studied, in the context of his or her own work.

ISU work coming in!

Olivia's ISU is about repurposing materials into something new, useful, and artistic.  She created this piece which she will use as a headboard.  Nice work!

Exemplary work!

Congratulations to Erica for doing an absolutely stellar job of drawing the "Petit Palais"! Erica believes that she put 80 hours of work into this drawing for the AVI4M course.  Way to go!

Collaboration!

Our projects keep getting more complicated with the 3D printer and students keep collaborating to arrive at new exciting projects to print.  We have printed a Camaro and a Bugatti for  the students interested in automobile design.  Here's some students waiting on the Camaro:

Speaking of collaboration, some of the Grade 10s came to me with an idea a while ago.  They wanted to collaborate on a painting of a lion.  There were three students involved -- Lily, Sophia, and Caitlyn -- so we divided a square of MDF board into 9 pieces.  The students then used a transition of value from left to right.  It was quite a project...great job! I noted that each of the students' strengths was visible in each vertical band.  Look for it at the Blyth student art show in the spring.

Numeracy and Art Find a Common Ground

Hello students!

Today we have taken another step with the 3D printer.  We worked as a class to figure out what our builds are costing us, depending on where we source our filament.  ABS filament from our Canadian supplier costs us roughly $70 a kilogram after taxes and delivery.  PLA filament (Plant-based and biodegradable) from Asia costs us $33.50 per kilogram delivered.  Because we can order in values less than $70, duty and taxes are not applied at the border...BONUS!

Here is a picture of our equations!

In the example, a 20 gram print (see the Pacific Rim robot below) with the Canadian sourced filament cost $1.40 to print.  Naturally, this excludes the cost of the purchase of the Makerbot and any ongoing maintenance.  In the second example, the Alexander the Great print that we did came out to be 46 grams.  If we had made the Alexander with the Asia sourced PLA filament, it would have cost us $1.54.  What this equation allows us to do is recoup the costs associated with prints that students would like to make for personal purposes.

Here is Ben's robot:

It is exciting to know that we can get biodegradable filament for the Makerbot!  What a great way to be environmentally conscious in our creating.  "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors.  We borrow it from our children."

Alexander the Great!

In the British Museum, a marble portrait of Alexander the Great is on display.  It looks like this:

The following is an excerpt from the British Museum's website, www.britishmuseum.org:

Marble portrait of Alexander the Great

Hellenistic Greek, 2nd-1st century BC
Said to be from Alexandria, Egypt

Youthful image of the conqueror king

Literary sources tell us, though perhaps not reliably, that Alexander (reigned 336-323 BC) chose only a few artists to produce his image, and famous names such as the sculptor Lysippos and the painter Apelles were associated with his portraiture. Though none of the famous images have been recovered, many sculptures in different materials, as well as portraits on gemstones and coins, survive. These were mostly produced long after Alexander's death and while the portraits follow similar general characteristics, they also vary in style.

Alexander was always shown clean-shaven, which was an innovation: all previous portraits of Greek statesmen or rulers had beards. This royal fashion lasted for almost five hundred years and almost all of the Hellenistic kings and Roman emperors until Hadrian were portrayed beardless. Alexander was the first king to wear the all-important royal diadem, a band of cloth tied around the hair that was to become the symbol of Hellenistic kingship.

Earlier portraits of Alexander, in heroic style, look more mature than the portraits made after his death, such as this example. These show a more youthful, though perhaps more god-like character. He has longer hair, a more dynamic tilt of the head and an upward gaze, resembling his description in literary sources.

This head was acquired in Alexandria, the city founded by Alexander in 331 BC, and the location of his tomb. Alexandria was also the capital of the longest surviving Hellenistic dynasty, the Ptolemies. From the time of the reign of Ptolemy I Soter ('Saviour') (305-282 BC), Alexander was worshipped as a god and the forefather of the dynasty.

The 3D printer was used to try to bring this to life for the students, and this was the result:

The original sculpture that this portrait was taken from may have been created by Lysippos.  

Lysippos "...was a Greek sculptor of the 4th century BCE. Together with Scopas and Praxiteles, he is considered one of the three greatest sculptors of the Classical Greek era, bringing transition into the Hellenistic period. Problems confront the study of Lysippos because of the difficulty of identifying his style amongst the copies which survive. Not only did he have a large workshop and a large number of disciples in his immediate circle,^[2] but also there is understood to have been a market for replicas of his work which was supplied also from outside his circle already in his own lifetime and also later in the Hellenistic and Roman periods" (source: wikipedia).

Here are a couple pieces thought to have been created by Lyssipos:

 Hermes of Atalante

Socrates