hey ya'll, here is the soft copy of my summer assignments that I gave you the last week of school. hope all is well. Please feel free to post something here and I'll be happy to respond ASAP. I'll be in Peru for most of July and be coming in the first week of August. In the mean time, your better off writing to me in June...I'll be at Texas Tech for my Master's Exhibit. Again, I look forward to teaching and guiding you all for the next couple of years. and remember, this is a group effort on both the teacher and student...so lets work hard together to build a body of artwork you can be proud of!
First-Year IB
Summer Assignment
Dear Beginning IB Visual
Art Students (Both HL & SL)
Your Official SUMMER ART
ASSIGNMENT
...guaranteed to feed those creative fires and prepare you for the
rigorous demands of the IB curriculum. If you start your artistic routine
during the summer you will have a much more successful year in IB Art. The
following is a necessary summer foundation to prepare you for the first year of
IB art class, and involves approximately 24 hours of work. It’s not hard, and
will hopefully even be enjoyable.
The first step: All of the art you make in
this course over the next one or two years will start in your sketchbook—or as
IB calls it: Investigation Workbook.
This is a requirement for IB art, and will become your
brain, your cognitive journal for inspirations, raw ideas, media experiments,
random sketches, and references in book
form.
The Investigation Workbook counts for 40% of your total grade in this course and in your final IB
assessment (Internal visual art exam in your senior year-Mar.-April). It is not for finished works of art. It is a collector for
brainstorming, experimentation, research, exploration, journaling, reflections,
and all range and manner of sketches and notes. Like your brain, the
Investigation Workbook is always a work in progress and never a finished
product, so it doesn’t have to be ―beautiful‖ or ―perfect (whatever perfect
entails!) And like your brain, you
should take your book with you wherever you go, and add to it often.
If you had Ms.Rodriguez for class, you were already practicing
this within your Developmental Workbook. If not, please buy
yourself a good quality Hardbound sketchbook. It should be a hardcover, permanently bound 8 1⁄2 x 11 (regular sheet size) sketchbook
that contains 80 – 120 sheets of good quality blank white paper. Good quality
paper ranges from 85lbs. to 120 lbs. paper…you will generally see this on the
front cover of every sketchbook lable.
Look carefully on the fine print…you might want to get a sketchbook that
says “multi-media”, meaning that the paper can take all medias like pencil,
charcoal, pen, ink, watercolor, paint, etc.
Basically, the “thicker” the paper the better. Also, Durability
is the key—pages that are perforated or designed to tear out will not last.
These are approximately $10 – $15 and are available in art stores and book
stores like Michael’s Art and Hobby Lobby.
Be smart, PRINT COUPONS from
their respective websites, they are always 30-40% off weekly with coupons. Some of the best sketchbooks can be ordered
from on-line stores like Nasco, Dick Blicks, Jerry’s Art o-rama in
Houston. You can also get really good
deals in Amazon.
If we were living in a perfect world, I
would highly and strongly suggest buying a larger sketchbook (14x18in), which
gives you more space to work freely and broad.
You can find these at the on-line stores I suggested.
Your summer project has
three parts:
1.)Looking at art 2.)Reading and thinking about artists with
whom you identify (your influences and inspirations) 3.)Recording
your ideas and experiences in an Investigation Workbook
****Your
work on these summer assignments is due at the end of the first week of school!***
The assignments will be graded as a summative
assessment and will make up a significant portion of your grade for the first
marking period (1st Qrt.)
1.
Local Museum/Gallery visit: If you
look hard, the Valley has its hotspots for museums and galleries around the
area. Some of the major galleries and
museums are found in McAllen’s art district located on old 83 and Main St. Here is a list of local galleries:
McAllen
International Museum: 1900 West Nolana, McAllen (956)
682-0123
STC
campus (library): McAllen
(Pecan campus or Weslaco campus)
McAllen
Creative
Incubator: 1001 South 16th St. McAllen, (956) 687-2787
Nuevo
Santander Gallery: 717 N.
Main. St. McAllen (956) 618-4959
University
Texas Pan American:1201
W. University Dr. Edinburg. (956) 381-3480
The
Art Village:1301-B
North Main St. McAllen (956) 687-2787
Weslaco
Museum- Texas
Ave. (historic downtown)
Brownsville
Museum
* if
your planning to travel to major cities for vacation, try going to their
respective museums. They normally have a
wider rage of fine art and major artists like Picasso, Degas, Van Gogh,
Rembrants, etc.
1.2
You also
have the option of visiting several famous virtual online galleries if you
cannot attend these local ones during the summer. Search for major cities like New York who
have several famous museums like: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim
Museum, Museum of Modern Art. Or The
Chicago Art Institute, San Francisco Museum of Art, National Museum of Art in
D.C., Dallas Museum of Art, St. Louis Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of
Art, the Louvre in Paris (highly suggested!), or any of your choice when
“surfing” the web. They all have
wonderful sites where you can tour their private collections and current
exhibits. You can also upload a few very
impressive apps on your iphone, ipad, or android phone..just go to the apple
store and click “art” then you’ll have a few apps that you can download for
cheap. They have great images and basic
information on many artist of your choice.
1.3
You will
research and write/reflect about 10 works of art that you have a
connection to and like. In your Investigation
Workbook, reserve a few pages (10-15pp) to write down your
constructive analysis of works that you chose. Note: try to
understand and practice how to analyze, it will be very important for all your
DP classes. Remember, they do not have to be just
paintings…look at Printmaking, sculptures, installations, Earthworks,
conceptual works, Pop art, Pop Surrealism, Fabrics & Textiles, Jewelry,
Masks, Stoneworks, Silkscreens, Ceramics, etc. You choice of art is endless and not
constricted by just Western Art (classical art)
1.4
When
writing about your inspirational findings, try reserving space for a photograph
of the work then apply the 4 step critical method…1.) Describe 2.) Analyze 3.) Interpret 4.) Evaluate. Also, most important, ask yourself why you specifically like
this piece of art? What aspects of the
work intrigue you? What did the artist
do to make this work unique? What do
you think/feel of when viewing this work?
What medium (material) did they use?
How will these works help you with your style and theme? What themes do you notice in the works you
have chosen? How can you “mold” them
into your personal style? Why? These are just a few questions that you may
ponder on while reflecting on what to write.
Remember: all writing (not sketching!) MUST be done in BLACK or BLUE
pen. You must also number each page of
your sketchbook on the bottom right hand corner…PLEASE make your
writing Legible!! I cannot stress this
enough, so many of my students last year failed to do this simple task and lost
points because of this. Advice…when you purchase your sketchbook, you first
want to number all your pages (front and back).
This will help you document your academic progression throughout your
time with me.
Look through the entire collection of art. In your Investigation
Workbook, write about the works that make the strongest impression on you. Why do
you like them? Write down what you see in the order you see it for each work.
This will help you become aware of the different elements of design that make
up each piece. Most museums will not allow you to take photos, so sketch the
works into your books (usually only pencils are allowed). Be sure to include the artist, date, and what materials
(media) were used. Describe what each work makes you feel and think
about. (Summer expectation: 4 hours work)
2.Research
artists: Go
to your local bookstore and look in a current issue of an art magazine (Borders
and Barnes and Noble have huge sections of these. They include: Art in America, ArtForum, Juxtapoz,
Hi-Fructose, Art News, SouthWestern Art,
Drawing Mag,..) Make a list of 10-15 artists whose work really
interests you. This may take more than one magazine. Write down their names and
the titles of the artworks, and then write a brief explanation of what it is
about the work that attracts you. Think about what you are actually seeing, and
how it makes you feel. Ask yourself (and answer in your Investigation Workbook)
if you would like to make something similar, and how it would relate to your
own life or experiences. Remember to
cite your sources carefully, next to your images. (Summer expectation: 6 hours work)
3. Draw and think: In your Investigation Workbook, fill at least 15-20 pages
max. with
the images around you. Don’t worry about making these pages into “Masterworks”.
I know this sounds weird, but I encourage you to make mistakes and mistakes you
WILL make, but realize that’s how we
learn and grow in anything. Just open
your senses to shapes, lines, colors, value, composition, texture, etc. You
should draw people and objects and also collect scraps
from the world around you and clippings and images from magazines and
newspapers, etc. 60% of drawings/sketches need to be observational studies-meaning
you need to draw your objects or subjects by really looking. Again, these pages are not finished works of
art—simply collections of your impressions from the summer. Please write and
make notes directly on these drawings. I.B. requires that any object or
landscape that you draw (observations) must be recorded in you Investigation
Workbook by date, location, and time.
Don’t worry about whether or not you are good at drawing.
You are not being graded on your ability at
this point, but on your growth
and process. As you work on an
individual page, remember to step back from it and notice how the words and
images (and blank spaces/Negative space.) work together to make things look
interesting. NOTE: Please do
not create “filler” pages. These are
pages where students usually fill up with mediocre or cleche drawings of
HEARTS, NAMES, FLOWERS, BUTTERFLIES, SKULLS, ROSES, FOOTBALL NUMBERS, STARS,
RAINBOWS, SUN ON CORNER OF PAGE, HAPPY FACES, ETC. PLEASE AVOID THESE CLECHE
SYMBOLES AT ALL COST…YOU ARE developing academic WORK NOT LOW GRADE KITTY
STUFF! It will be counted against you if
you do.
The purpose of this is to
begin to notice the information and influences that surround you. In other
words, to notice what it is you notice. If you do this assignment
periodically throughout the summer, you will probably find it enjoyable and
energizing. You will most likely see your approach to how you organize your
pages change and evolve. If you do this on the night before it is due, your
work will probably not show the change and growth that makes your Investigation
Workbook an interesting reflection of yourself. (Summer
expectation: 10 hours work)
These
are the first few grades that will be accounted for when you come back from
summer break. All of you (SL/HL) will
have to meet these assignments.
Grade
1: Having your Sketchbook (hard bound) EASY 100!
Grade
2: All pages # on bottom right hand corner (front and back of each sheet) EASY
100!
Grade
3: Blue and Black pen writing throughout EASY 100!
Grade
4: Museum Visit/report 2-3 pages of your experience and work that you found of
interest.
Grade
5: 10 artists/artwork references (with 4 step critical method)
Grade
6: 15-20 pages filled with sketches/writings/reflections/quotes, etc.
·
If
you have any questions or concerns do not hesitate to contact me through e-mail
or by phone. I will be out of town all summer working on my own artwork, but
you can reach me at: (956) 225-5951 or E-mail: squire3anderson@yahoo.com Have a wonderful summer and welcome to the Visual
Arts Diploma Year Program! Remember to
have fun with it!! I will also be
uploading this summer assignment and more info at: marco-sonar-art@blogspot.com.
Marco A. Sanchez
I.B. Visual Art
Instructor
Mr.Sanchez
Visual Art Teacher.
