Artists make statements; WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SAY?

OBJECTIVES
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This project will serve to teach/review/improve upon your understanding of :

• Color and color theory. Review what you learned in Art I and through the color-matching exercises with colored pencil and paint. Use color in a more sophisticated manner than before, considering not only color theory but color symbolism as well.
• Composition. Always critical to a good work of art, composition is especially key as it affects and supports the artist's intent/content. YOU are the artist, YOU are trying to say something, YOU have control over the composition.... choose it carefully and with purpose.
• Acrylic painting techniques. There are many different ways to paint. This project will require you to use a variety of styles, both direct and indirect. You have already developed some of the skills needed for painting through drawing practice (observation, value) and by studying color theory and basic painting in Art I (hue, value, saturation, local, optical,  arbitrary color, counterchange, etc).  Take this opportunity to practice and elevate your painting skills. You'll be so glad you did and you'll be prepped and ready for oil painting in Art 3.
• Art History. Artists have always been "saying things" - that's what art IS.... for this project, you will look at specific styles of art, the reasons why they developed, and some of the major artists associated with those styles. Learn from them - and use their work to support and inspire your own.

DIRECTIONS

1. Create a well-composed collage that juxtaposes disparate, appropriated, photographic, and other images/patterns (including those that you create yourself) AND communicates a message of personal/historical/social importance, etc. Consider doing as Audrey Flack did by creating a self-portrait using re-contextualized art history! You've already done some brainstorming in your sketchbook about that - maybe you want to push the idea further and complete it for this project??
2. Transfer the collage to the painting paper using mechanical and other means, just as the Photorealists, Pop, and Neo-Pop artists did (and still do):  grid,  projection, trace, stencil, print, etc. (free-hand it when you need to!).
3. Begin painting! Remember that one element of your work must accurately match the local colors of the collage, while the rest of the colors can be arbitrary. 

• DO NOT FORGET the REQUIRED COMPONENTS:
  • Appropriated imagery (what already exists that can support your content?)(consider how pastiche is a type of appropriation...)
  • Disparate images (it’s the juxtaposition that makes the statement)
  • A painted, photorealistic element (which part? think smart)
  • Text, numbers, and/or symbols (how will this/these be applied?)
  • Layers (what kind?)
  • Mixed media, including at least one form of printmaking/image transfer (choices!)
  • Counterchange (what will this look like? consider the overlap)

ARTISTS TO KNOW

Rosenquist, Jeff Koons, Jaune Quick-To-See-Smith, David Salle, Takashi Murakami, Ryan McGinness 

RESOURCES

What is Neo-Pop?
What is postmodernism?
8 Artists Who Harness the Power of Art

This is a technique that we will learn and that you might want to incorporate into your final work:

OBJECTIVES:

1. Review color theory 
2. Learn and practice a variety of colored pencil techniques
3. Learn about the American art movement, Photorealism, and artists who work in this style.
4. Recreate an image in a Photorealistic manner, using knowledge of color theory and colored pencil techniques.
5. Prepare for a painting/mixed media project in Q4, which will require you to paint one element of the work (just one!)  in a Photorealistic manner.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Complete the Colored Pencil Worksheet to gain a comfort level with mixing, layering, and texturizing colors.
2. Select a 2" x 2" magazine square that has a variety of unique colors AND textures.
3. Copy the image with exacting detail by using the best colored pencil techniques coupled with a clear focus on COLOR (hue, value, intensity).
4. Mount the magazine square with the finished drawing; squint to compare the two and make needed adjustments.

GOALS OF THIS PROJECT:

1. Understand the importance of the tea ceremony (CHANOYU) and the reverence of CHAWAN to the Japanese culture.
2. Understand and recognize the "JAPANESE AESTHETIC and how it differs from that of Western cultures.
3. Throw a tea bowl on the wheel - in so doing, get a feel for the focus and mental clarity needed to "center" the clay. 
4. Understand the main steps in wheel-throwing, including the importance of clean-up procedures and use of specific tools and equipment.
5. Learn how to trim your tea bowl to give it a "foot" and a finished feel, which supports the overall aesthetic; sign the bottom.
6. Consider how your tea bowl can be decorated before the bisque firing - add underglaze? incising/sgraffito? impression/texture (sand, rice, etc.)?  appliqué? (if not, do not worry, you can do beautiful things with the underglazes/glazes/masking after the bisque firing....but your color, texture, pattern choices should support the overall theme of your work).
7. Understand how clay turns to a ceramic material (pay close attention to that handout you were given) and the RAKU firing process.
8. Additionally, hand built chawan and other forms will be created, using a variety of clay techniques and the open-ended possibilities for experimentation and personal expression as inspired by both traditional and contemporary Japanese ceramics.

Here is a video of a chawan being thrown on the wheel. Notice the steps in the process, including trimming the foot. Why are they called "singing tea bowls"?

Traditionally, chawan were NOT made on the potter's wheel, they were modeled by hand. You will do both, so watch these videos as well. Do you know what the wheel they are working on is called?

Look at TAKURA KUWATA's contemporary take on the chawan. Does his work give you any ideas?

You can also experiment with building other vessels similar to those used in the tea ceremony. Look at images here:

• Mizusashi - a lidded jar used to hold water for pouring into the tea kettle
• Natsume - a container used to hold powdered tea

You will be making tea bowls (chawan) both on the wheel and by hand.

Guest artist, David Camden, will help with the specifics of wheel throwing. This is a difficult skill that can take years to master but with David's help - and focused effort and lots of practice on your end - you will have the opportunity for success.

Watch the following videos about wheel throwing. You won't really understand how to do this until you actually try it yourself (over and over and over) but this is a good first step in the process.

The still life is a traditional art class project - and with good reason. A quick walk through art history (as you will do through Artist Spotlights) will prove this genre's varied past and enduring legacy. Further, this experience will reinforce your skills in:

• Observational drawing
• Practice in application of the Elements of Art and the Principles of Design
• Creating an interesting and purposeful composition
• Enhancing the illusion of form through the application of value with varied media
• Considering how texture can help to further illustrate the still life objects while adding interest
• Using expressive mark-making to illustrate your artistic voice

FIRST: Practice creating and manipulating art's most basic elements using a variety of media on different paper types: 

• Pen and ink, ink wash, and other ink-based techniques 
• Watercolor, watercolor pencils
• Mixed media - experiment!

NEXT: Use a view finder and consider compositional guidelines to select a purposeful composition from within the presented still life options (or set up a still life of your own).

THEN: Sketch the objects as they appear in your selected composition, concentrating on creating the illusion of realistic, three-dimensional form on a two-dimensional surface (your goal is to work faster and with more facility than you would have in Art 1).

ALSO: Do some drawings that push beyond mimetic solutions - work like a Modernist!

FINALLY: Apply your choice of practiced media to finish at least ONE drawing that exhibits your ability to render the objects realistically (mimesis, naturalism, verisimilitude, the illusion of 3D form via value v. outlines) and at least ONE drawing that exhibits your ability to stretch beyond realism to a more abstract/stylistic mode of expression, as inspired by the modernists who broke free of tradition (look carefully @ AS #3, #4, #5).

NOTE: It's beneficial to work on more than one drawing at once...start a few, experiment with them all, take some risks, try new things and see what works. 

The human form has been studied, drawn, and sculpted throughout history. It is easy to understand, then, why figure drawing is an art class staple. Drawing the figure from life will allow you to synthesize the relationships between form and light and will enable you to capture the illusion of three dimensional space on a two dimensional picture plane. 

Instead of working with a black medium on a white surface, as is typical, you will be challenged to “draw with light” and WITHOUT LINES! This method will test your ability to understand how light creates form. REPEAT: THIS IS NOT A LINE DRAWING.

After researching patterns found in the Islamic art of the Middle East, you will be challenged to develop your own patterns and to apply them to ceramic wares that you make both on and off the wheel.

WHEEL THROWING: 1. Make a bowl; 2. Trim it; 3. Once bone-dry, it will be fired (if you want to make cut-outs or work with sgraffito, do that at the leather hard stage); 4. Bisque-ware will be painted using a choice of stencil, resist, and/or free-hand methods with glazes or underglazes; 5. Glaze fire

TILE MAKING: 1. Make an 8" x 8" slab tile; 2. Use incising, impressions, AND appliqué to create a unique pattern, based on your studies of Islamic art; 3. Once bone-dry, it will be fired, 4. Bisque-ware tiles will be painted with glazes or underglazes, 5. Glaze fire

OTHER: Experiments with various hand building techniques, including pinch, slab, coil, hump/slump molds, etc. Create an original form with a focus on PATTERN.

Guest artist, David Camden, will help with the specifics of wheel-throwing. This is a difficult skill that can take years to master - but with David's help and focused effort and lots of practice on your end, you will have the opportunity for success.

We will experiment with a variety of printmaking and image transfer methods so that you know what they are but also so that you will be able to choose the best methods to use for your mixed media project at the end of the year.

Here are some of the methods that we will try (time permitting):
1) Lino cut
2) Collagraph
3) Monotype and monoprint
4) Marbling
5) Tape transfer
6) Gel medium transfer

To complement the wheel-throwing experience, you will be completing a handbuilt project, inspired by the history of Japanese ceramics (see presentation above)

The objectives of this lesson include:

1. Review and practice of pinch, slab, and coil methods so that they can be carefully considered as handbuilding methods to use in this project
2. Develop an original idea, through brainstorming and project-planning, which is based on an understanding of Japanese ceramics and the "Japanese aesthetic" in general
3. Complete the construction of your ceramic form while applying an understanding of clay as a medium, the processes with which it can be manipulated, and the combination of original ideas and inspiration gleaned from traditional and contemporary Japanese art forms

Japanese Aesthetic: The modern study of Japanese aesthetics only started a little over two hundred years ago in the West. The Japanese aesthetic is a set of ancient ideals that include wabi (transient and stark beauty), sabi (the beauty of natural patina and aging), and yūgen (profound grace and subtlety)