Monday, February 15, 2010

Progress on Honduran Heritage Village


Grade 8A and grade 9 students started work on the storage containers to transform them with Faux Finish techniques to resemble traditional village huts. Some of their “artists concepts” are on display in the reception area of the administration building. We are using oil paint glazes with rags to get the effect of the adobe walls.

Students studied the pictures and drawings in the book, Arquitectura de los grupos etnicos de Honduras by Milady Salinas to get ideas and to check for authenticity. Their challenge was to draw the two containers in two point perspective.

Look for the “Caution Students at Work” sign and watch our progress.

Grade Nine Pasta Still Life - Sketchbooks Arrive

Pasta Still Life

Grade nine students have completed their introductory Visual Arts exercises and have been working on a tonal rendering of a still life made of pasta shapes. Their challenge is to enlarge the shapes and make them look three dimensional. This involves careful observations and good control of the pencil to layer graphite onto the paper and create the many “values” needed. They lifted out highlights and added accent lines to complete their compositions.

On Friday they had their first Sketchbook Day. Their hardbound artist’s books had arrived and they spent the period moving information and sketches from their temporary books to their hardbound book. They will use these books in both ninth and tenth grade art.

The purpose of the research workbook or sketchbook is to encourage your student’s personal research and discovery, which functions interactively with our work in the studio. The sketchbooks will include: analytical research, discovery, interpretation, media experiments.

The sketchbooks will contain visual and written information, including your student’s own original works such as sketches and diagrams, and should function as a working journal. The sketchbook reflects your student’s personal interests and may show a wide-range of personal investigation into many fields. There should be a balance between analytical research and open-ended inquiry, illustrating your student’s creative processes.

A sketchbook or workbook of this kind is a requirement for the Advanced Placement (AP) portfolio. Even if your student is not planning to submit an AP portfolio the sketchbook process is an important part of the Visual Arts program.

Thanks to parents for providing this quality tool for your student to use.