Three sections of this MMFS class began with drawing.
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| Line with pens |
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| Perspective and shading with pencil |
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| Ink |
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| Comic with colored pencil and pen |
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| Watercolor and pencil |
After counting tones of grey in a Richard Diebenkorn still life, students practiced acrylic painting on paper.
They were first assigned to make a 4-tone grey painting and instructed to only mix primary colors with white.
Students also made still life paintings from observation of fruits and vegetables. They were allowed to use black to mix tones for light and shadow.
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Classes were assigned an optional reading and practiced landscape painting in the school's art studio.
They stretched and gessoed canvases for paintings based on their own digitally printed photographs. More experienced students were asked to use detailed photographs. Many students worked directly from observation of their photo printouts. Some additionally preferred a method to draw graph coordinates and match areas of information on their canvas to their equally gridded photographs. A few used a makeshift projector by rubbing 6B pencil transfers onto the canvas from outline tracings of their photos.
Photo realism painting on canvas modifications included cyanotype printing digital negatives and using Photoshop.
Another painting assignment could be based specifically on nighttime photographs. Students in my photo club looked at work by professionals. They shared cameras on field trips as well as photos on a blog and bulletin board.
Next, Drawing + Painting discussed the 1920's Surrealist movement. They first practiced on paper.
Collage with pencil
Charcoal on butcher paper
Ink exploration
9th - 12th graders considered their paper studies for more paintings on canvas.
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| 42 x 55-inches |
Modified surrealist painting instruction included collage, mod-podge ink transfer, silkscreen stencil printing.
Continuing in Surrealism, we made an exquisite corpse animation.
Students were tasked with transitioning the last frames of their individual animated sequence into the first frame of another students', thus creating a longer sequence. Some surrealist video and animation resources:
Jose Val del Omar, Suzan Pitt, Fantastic Planet trailer, Robert Breer, Windsor McCay, Superman, Mo Willems, Christy Karacas, The Beatles
Students registered their drawings using animation bond paper, peg bars, and makeshift light tables. They maintained an organized portfolio of their work before scanning and were introduced to Aftereffects, software used to create this video. Modifications included animating torn paper collage and photocopied images.
After reading 1984 by George Orwell, classes looked at a sculpture using video surveillance and a computer ad based on the 1949 novel. Students were asked what is something they consider evil, and selected materials to best express their idea.
A few students were encouraged to consider the AP Art exam and independent study.
They were assigned to optionally write 150-words about an artist and required to submit a visual artwork based on their choice.
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| Kehinde Wiley |
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| Phillip Guston |
Drawing + Painting course prints
Solar plate etching
Cut stencil and spray-paint
Stamp and monotype
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| Print display |