Advanced Placement Art
Summer Artwork
Contact me for questions: [email protected]
- All works of art must be created after June 13th 2010
- All works of art must be complete, well-worked pieces. They are due on the 2nd day of classes, at which time there will be a class critique.
- All works of art will be graded.
- Students are expected to take their own photographs for all of the painting and drawing assignments listed.
Please use your time wisely with the NEW AP requirements for 2020.
1. Self-Portrait as a Triptych
Depict parts of yourself close-up on three separate pieces of canvas, paper, or other surface. Minimum size is 9” x 12”, please feel free to go much larger! Each one can be the same size, or they can vary. As long as they work together as a Triptych when they are hung on a wall.
Medium: Open, anything you would like!
Please use photographs for references. Have a friend help you take photographs of yourself, if necessary. Think, “zoomed in” and “cropped”. Show parts of you, not your whole face or body at once. Make sure whoever photographs you uses strong lighting and has a good sense of composition.
Medium: Open, anything you would like!
Please use photographs for references. Have a friend help you take photographs of yourself, if necessary. Think, “zoomed in” and “cropped”. Show parts of you, not your whole face or body at once. Make sure whoever photographs you uses strong lighting and has a good sense of composition.
2. large-scale self portrait "artistically left unfinished"
Create a large-scale self-portrait on a surface no smaller than 18” x 24”.
Leave the self-portrait partially un-finished. This must be done in a way that “works”. The work should come across as unfinished on purpose. You may leave canvas or paper for a background, or before you start you may paint the entire paper/canvas one color, either textured/shaded/atmospheric OR flat.
Medium: Open
Size: Open (Keep it to 18" x 24" if you think that this could be one of your strongest pieces... remember we have to mail 5 of your best works to the AP College Board and anything larger than 18" x 24" will not fit in the folder)
Artists to look at: Egon Schiele (20th century painter) & Michael Long (contemporary painter)
3. portrait in water
You have 2 options:
Number 1:
Step 1: Wait until the light is right! Take photographs of someone in a pool or at the beach, but wait until the sun is lower in the sky (preferably early evening in the summer). Noon never works well!
Step 2: Zoom in on the person’s face. Get low to the water with the camera, (without dropping it in the water!). The lower the lens is to the water, the more the surface of the water will make beautiful shapes. If you have an underwater camera, you may experiment with underwater photographs also.
Step 3: Work with close –ups, even possibly cropping the persons face slightly. Arms, legs, etc. are good as well, but this must primarily be a “portrait” of a face. Do not take old vacation photographs! Set out on a photo-shoot specifically for this painting.
Step 4: Create a work of art in color from the photograph of your choice!
Artist to look at: Laura Sanders, see below.
Medium: Open
Number 1:
Step 1: Wait until the light is right! Take photographs of someone in a pool or at the beach, but wait until the sun is lower in the sky (preferably early evening in the summer). Noon never works well!
Step 2: Zoom in on the person’s face. Get low to the water with the camera, (without dropping it in the water!). The lower the lens is to the water, the more the surface of the water will make beautiful shapes. If you have an underwater camera, you may experiment with underwater photographs also.
Step 3: Work with close –ups, even possibly cropping the persons face slightly. Arms, legs, etc. are good as well, but this must primarily be a “portrait” of a face. Do not take old vacation photographs! Set out on a photo-shoot specifically for this painting.
Step 4: Create a work of art in color from the photograph of your choice!
Artist to look at: Laura Sanders, see below.
Medium: Open
Number 2:
1. Photograph under the water or incorporate full body!
Medium: Open
Artist to look at: Eric Zener
1. Photograph under the water or incorporate full body!
Medium: Open
Artist to look at: Eric Zener
4. Interpretive or emotional landscape
Create a landscape that is both “atmospheric” and emotional. This type of landscape should evoke a mood or a feeling, rather than just depict what you see. Use photographs … but incorporate memory. Choose a location of meaning and visually describe it to us.
Artists to look at: Georgia O’Keefe (1887 –1986), Arthur Dove (1899 - 1979), Lynne Campbell (contemporary painter, see below)
Medium: Open
Artists to look at: Georgia O’Keefe (1887 –1986), Arthur Dove (1899 - 1979), Lynne Campbell (contemporary painter, see below)
Medium: Open
5. Urban or suburban landscape
Create a realistic landscape from your everyday surroundings in Bellmore or Merrick. What does suburbia look like? Do you see beauty in the way light falls across houses in the morning? Do the telephone wires at the intersections create dynamic or striking compositions? Are deteriorating commercial buildings actually beautiful? Focus on the familiar, but find what you may take for granted on a daily basis. OR travel into NYC! Photograph bridges, buildings, rooftops...
Artists to look at: Edward Hopper (20th Century Painter), Andrew Haines (contemporary painter), Courtney Jordan (contemporary painter), Horace Panter (Contemporary Painter)
Medium: Open
Artists to look at: Edward Hopper (20th Century Painter), Andrew Haines (contemporary painter), Courtney Jordan (contemporary painter), Horace Panter (Contemporary Painter)
Medium: Open
Andrew Haines:
Courtney Jordan:
Horace Panter:
6. Surreal landscape
Create a dream-like landscape from your imagination. You may use reference images, sketchbook doodles, anything goes! Could be mixed-media and/or collage, but materials are up to you.
See the collage work of Mary Anne Kluth, the acrylic paintings of Seonna Hong, and the oil paintings of Paco Pomet...
Medium: Open
See the collage work of Mary Anne Kluth, the acrylic paintings of Seonna Hong, and the oil paintings of Paco Pomet...
Medium: Open
7. simple yet dramatic still life
Set up a simple still life of one to three objects on a simple background. Use extremely dramatic lighting. Create a painting or drawing from this photograph.
Artists to look at: Gregory Poulin & Daniel Jackson (both contemporary painters…
Artists to look at: Gregory Poulin & Daniel Jackson (both contemporary painters…
8. "Seating" Study
You may set up your own interesting chair in front of a background that compliments the chair in some way. For example, if the chair is simple, maybe add a wallpaper pattern for the background.
Or find a chair or seat... there is a garbage day in which towns will pick up large items... Pay attention to your surroundings for random yet beautiful compositions on the curb!
You may also think of more unique "seating"... barber shop chairs, for example.
LIGHTING IS A MUST! Create architectural shadows with beautiful colors...
DYNAMIC COMPOSITION IS A MUST
See artists samples below by Kelly Reemsten & Holly Farrel
Medium is open. Size is open.
Or find a chair or seat... there is a garbage day in which towns will pick up large items... Pay attention to your surroundings for random yet beautiful compositions on the curb!
You may also think of more unique "seating"... barber shop chairs, for example.
LIGHTING IS A MUST! Create architectural shadows with beautiful colors...
DYNAMIC COMPOSITION IS A MUST
See artists samples below by Kelly Reemsten & Holly Farrel
Medium is open. Size is open.
9. CLOTHING (FABRIC) STUDY
Find a unique article of clothing and hang it on a wall. The lighting should be noticeable, and the background should be taken into consideration, (just like the chair study above)
If you are detail oriented... crop!!!
Create a painting or drawing of the fabric.
Medium open.
Size open.
Artwork below by Wayne Thiebaud & Holly Farrell. Third painting by former student Jamie Goldstein.
If you are detail oriented... crop!!!
Create a painting or drawing of the fabric.
Medium open.
Size open.
Artwork below by Wayne Thiebaud & Holly Farrell. Third painting by former student Jamie Goldstein.
10. using repetition
This one is VERY open to interpretation. Use repetition in an almost obsessive way in order to make a personal, social, or political statement. Use the artist’s Jeff Gillette and Lee Price for inspiration!
Medium open. Size open.
Medium open. Size open.
JEFF GILLETTE:
LEE PRICE:
11. finding beauty in the ugly or the defaced...
Taking inspiration from the paintings of Kevin Cyr or Rachel Maxi (seen below)… find a car, a dumpster, old rusted objects, the side of a building, etc. and create a beautiful work of art as if you are creating a portrait.
THIS IS ALL ABOUT LIGHTING AND COMPOSITION! Think close-up... look for beautiful shadows...
THIS IS ALL ABOUT LIGHTING AND COMPOSITION! Think close-up... look for beautiful shadows...
Kevin Cyr:
Rachel Maxi:
12. human & animal study
Take a photograph of a human torso. Use dramatic lighting in order to get plenty of contrast.
Next, find an animal head… this can be a live animal or a skull.
Create a drawing in pen/ink using lines (hatching) and/or crosshatching to create the illusion of a “print”. (See examples from a MICA student below) OR create a painting or drawing in color... Medium is open
Next, find an animal head… this can be a live animal or a skull.
Create a drawing in pen/ink using lines (hatching) and/or crosshatching to create the illusion of a “print”. (See examples from a MICA student below) OR create a painting or drawing in color... Medium is open
13. Juxtaposition
Juxtaposition: Create a statement by combining two or more images that might not typically belong together. Artist Inspiration… Kate MacDowell, Jason Seeley, Kelly Reemsten, & former student Emily Feigelman.
MEDIUM: OPEN
MEDIUM: OPEN
KATE MACDOWELL:
JASON SEELEY:
KELLY REEMSTEN:
EMILY FEIGELMAN (GRADUATE OF JFK 2015)
EMILY FEIGELMAN ARTIST STATEMENT:
In recent years, I have come to really enjoy observing gender. In my concentration, I have decided to explore the idea of masculinity and femininity, and how the two can intertwine. I don't believe girls are strictly feminine, or that men are strictly masculine. I use androgyny in certain pieces to point out the way that some people jump to perceive something or someone as male or female, when in fact, it may very well be the opposite. Being involved with the feminist community, I really try to parallel femininity with power because more often than not, women are portrayed in a submissive or weak light. As a woman myself, I like to paint my subjects the way I see myself. That is why the focus is often bold, big, and centered.
In recent years, I have come to really enjoy observing gender. In my concentration, I have decided to explore the idea of masculinity and femininity, and how the two can intertwine. I don't believe girls are strictly feminine, or that men are strictly masculine. I use androgyny in certain pieces to point out the way that some people jump to perceive something or someone as male or female, when in fact, it may very well be the opposite. Being involved with the feminist community, I really try to parallel femininity with power because more often than not, women are portrayed in a submissive or weak light. As a woman myself, I like to paint my subjects the way I see myself. That is why the focus is often bold, big, and centered.
14. THREAD
WHO SAYS PAINTING AND DRAWING MUST BE DONE WITH TRADITIONAL MATERIALS LIKE PEN AND PAINT? A number of emerging contemporary artists are using thread and sewing as part or all of their work. Use it to help exaggerate concept or use it for aesthetics. Choose canvas cloth or paper... subject matter is completely open.
15. one Concentration piece
If you have an idea for a concentration you may create one piece. Obviously your ideas might change and that is ok! Good luck!