Ceramics: Ocarina Whistle

OCARINA:  An ocarina is a wind instrument, like a flute.  You start with a whistle, then add different sized holes in various organizations (inline or transverse) to get different notes.

Here is a video of a gentleman playing an Ocarina.

Ocarinas have a long history.  Native Americans have been making zoomorphic ocarinas to play during spiritual dances to call upon their gods.

ZOOMORPHIC:  Adapting the form of an object into animal like features.

One artist that creates neat illustrated Zoomorphic artworks is Josh Berer.

Notice he fills in the space with arabic words and patterns?  You are going to sketch a whistle, draw it in a zoomorphic form, then carve a decorative design into the surface.

Criteria:

• Sketch!!!!  Figure out all views!
• Add features to make it a zoomorphic form
• Hide the nozzle
• Carve the decorative design while leather hard
• The whistle must work!
• You may add holes to make it into an ocarina if you like!  It's optional.

8th Grade Art: Draw what you SEE! Value Study

Drawing:

* The hardest part of drawing is drawing what you actually SEE and not what you THINK you see.

Which is the better apple drawing?

Obviously the 2nd one is the better apple drawing, but why?  They both LOOK like apples... sort of?
Because the 2nd artist paid attention to the exact shapes of the apple and also it's VALUE.

VALUE is the lightness and darkness of a color.  The Values can be broken down into:

Highlights -- White -- #1
Transitional Values -- Light Gray -- #2-3
Core Shadows -- Dark Gray -- #4
Reflected Light -- Light Gray -- #2
Cast Shadow -- Black -- #5

PABLO PICASSO:  Master of Values!

Your project:

Learning to draw what you see by fragmenting a portrait of a person from a magazine, then drawing in the missing pieces.

Then, you are going to divide those areas into smaller shapes and fill each shape with a value scale, like that of Picasso!

8th Grade Art: Linear Perspective Room: Surreal Style

INTRODUCTION TO LINEAR PERSPECTIVE:

Renaissance History:

Important Artists mentioned:

• Brunelleschi: "Rediscovers Linear Perspective"
• Alberti:  Writes a Linear Perspective Code in his book, 'On Painting'

Modern Artists that uses Linear Perspective:

THIS GUY: Still a fairly traditional approach...

THIS GUY: Mixing drawing linear perspective for video

 THIS GUY: Using Tromp L'Oeil for wall murals!  SO COOL!

Your Project:  Surreal Room in 1 point perspective

You are going to draw a room using 1 point perspective but add a Surreal Twist.  The purpose of Surreal Art is to bring 'dream-like imagery' into reality!  This video explains this in a great way:

SO, you are going to draw a realistic room, that has some weird aspects to it.... liiiike this...

Digital Art: Surreal Landscape

Surreal Art:  Refer to the 8th Grade Surreal Art Lesson first!

***Surrealism is a movement in art that focuses on 'dream-like' imagery.

A digital artist that creates awesome surreal artworks is Zev Hoover.


Your Project:

You are going to create a Surreal Landscape like that of Zev Hoover, Vladamir Kush, Sandy Skogland, Rene Magritte, etc.

Criteria:  Your artwork must contain 2 of the following:

 

* Everything should flow seamlessly!  What makes it surreal is that it looks realistic in a way!  Think about shadows and size relationships!

Painting: Color Symbolism "Quilt"

Color symbolism in art and anthropology refers to the use of color as a symbol in various cultures. There is great diversity in the use of colors and their associations between cultures and even within the same culture in different time periods. In fact, the same color may have very different associations within the same culture at any time. For example, red is often used for stop signs or danger. At the same time, red is also frequently used in association with romance, e.g. with Valentine's Day. White variously signifies purity, innocence, wisdom or death. Blue has similarly diverse meanings.

Examples of Color Theory in Famous Artworks

Your Project: Color Symbolism Quilt

You are going to choose 1 color and think of 9 different images that this color helps 'symbolize'.  BE CREATIVE!

For instance: If I choose RED and obviously red stands for romance, then instead of just drawing a heart, maybe I would draw 2 holding hands, and in another square I would draw a love letter, etc.  Think outside of the box!

Techniques you are going to learn:

• Layering Watercolor
• How to use Rubber cement and Misket to avoid paint getting into unwanted areas
• Varying a basic hue so that they aren't all the same!  Like Paint Chips!

Intro to 3D: Deconstructed Books

Deconstructivism: def:  developed in the late 1980's in architecture.  It is the act of manipulating the surface of an object into fragments or non-rectilinear shapes.  The style is characterized by unpredictability and 'controlled chaos'.


Your project:

You are going to Deconstruct a book into a piece of art.

*Artist Jodi Harvey-Brown

  

*Artist Brian Dettmer

You can tear pages, fold pages, glue pages, color pages, etc.

The theme is open!  You may do something that focuses more on pattern, like this...

Or, make something that visually tells a story... like this...

CRITERIA:

1)  Do 2 different sketches then choose your favorite 1.
2)  Write an outline of how you are going to accomplish your project.  This project takes a lot of planning!  So figure it out on paper first!
3)  Get your plan and sketch approved by Miss D.
4)  Choose your book.
5)  Gather supplies and begin to create!

Digital Art: Inspirational Bumper Sticker

Project Description:

You are going to create a 'bumper sticker' that has an Inspirational Quote with a cartooned image of the person that said it.

1:  Find a quote and a really great image.
2:  Make a new canvas in Photoshop
     Size 3.75" x 11.5"
     DPI 300
3:  Open your image in Photoshop and drag it to your Canvas
4:  Resize it to fit in the bumper sticker, but leave room for your quote!
5:  Follow the demo on how to make the image into a cartoon!

Tools you will be using:
     Selection tools
     Gradient tool
     Shadow Effects

Digital Art: Band Poster

BAND POSTERS:

Below is a link to band posters from 10 amazing artists!  Check them out!!!

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/09/28/60-inspiring-concert-posters-from-10-amazing-artists/


Your Project:

You are going to choose a band to illustrate a poster for.  There are certain criteria you must follow:

1)  Your poster must visually describe how the music makes you feel, or explain the genre it belongs to.

2)  Your poster may not include a full photo of the artist/artists or any traditional imagery that they use constantly.

3)  You must include the Band's name, and it must flow with the visual imagery.

4)  You must use at least 2 Filters to stylize the poster.

5)  Your final poster must be 11" by 17", 300 Dpi

6)  HAVE FUN!

Painting: Pop Art Stylized Tempera Painting

POP ART:

Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid-1950s in Britain  and in the late 1950s in the United States.  Pop art presented a challenge to traditions of fine art by including imagery from popular culture such as advertising, news, etc.

 Famous Pop Art artists are:

Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenburg, and Jasper Johns

Important Visual Aspects of the movement:

• Subject: from popular culture, something that everyone could recognize!
• Bright, bold colors!
• Simplified lines!
• Large, cropped in imagery

YOUR PROJECT:

1)  Choose a subject:  A person, place, or thing from popular culture + print it out!
2)  Crop the image in closely with a 'view finder' and divide image into 1/4ths
3)  Draw it large onto your final paper
4)  Using tempera paint, neatly paint the image using bright and bold colors.

 

Intro to 3d: Social/Political Issue Wire Sculpture

SOCIAL/POLITICAL ART

ARTIST: Kathe Kollwitz

* Theme of her art surrounded the effect of women and children during wartime.


YOUR PROJECT:  Social/Political Issue Wire Sculpture


Choose an issue you care deeply about, and would want to try and do something about. This issue should be something that is a general issue or concern in society somewhere in the world. Be sure you are picking a general issue, not simply one of your pet peeves! Some ideas of things you might be interested in depicting/standing up for or against: pollution/environmental concerns, abortion rights, pro-life, racism, big government, homelessness, AIDS, (Creationism vs Evolution for private schools) religious wars, the war in Iraq, poverty, verbal abuse, bullying, depression, teen suicide, discrimination, gay rights…What do you CARE about? Talk to people- has anyone in your family been affected by any of these? How? Why? How did it affect them?


Criteria:

• SKETCH:  Write a list of 3 different Social or Political issues that mean a lot to you.
• Choose your favorite one and draw 3 thumb nail sketches that will visually express your issue
• Choose your favorite one and draw it larger.
• Add 1 or 2 colors to certain parts to enhance and emphasize your Issue

• Use wire to follow the contour edges.  You will need to twist them together so that it is all 1 piece, so drawing with continuous lines is a great idea!!!
•  Add pops of tissue paper to certain areas to emphasize your idea

Digital Art: Composite Animal

Your Project:

You are going to create a composite animal so that it looks like it could really exist!  This is taken from the idea of the Chinese dragon.  Believe it or not, Chinese dragons are visually created by the combination of 11 animals; snake, rooster, tiger, goat, etc.

What you need to do:

1. Choose at least 3 animals you want to combine
2. 1. I would choose 3 animals that are not even near the same family for more complexity
   2. Animals with similar color is a bit easier
3. Create a new canvas:
1. Name: Composite Animal
2.  8.5 x 11 "
3. Res 300
4. The body is going to be the main image, so drag that onto your canvas first
5.  Then drag the image of the head and use a mask to delete the background and it's body
6. Select additional features from your other animals and drag them onto your canvas
7. Make sure the coloring of your composite animal all matches.  That includes textures and patterns!

Ceramics: Japanese Tea Bowls

Japanese Tea Bowl Pinch Pots:

Purpose:
Japanese Tea Ceremonies

     Special tradition of making Matcha tea.  Buddhism was a huge influence on the tradition: focusing all your energy into the moment in time.

     The tea bowl comes in many shapes and sizes.  The bowl is meant to be held closely with both hands.  Shallow bowls are for the spring and summer, because tea cools quicker in them.  Deeper bowls are for the winter.  Because these bowls are meant to be held close with the hands, they do not ever have handles.  They also love little imperfections.  In fact, they display the imperfections outwards for everyone to see!

Your Project:

You are going to create 2 tea bowls using the pinch pot method

1. Sketch 2 pinch pot designs: 
2.  
   • They both need texture designs.
   • 1 pinch pot's texture will be made while it is wet
   • 1 pinch pot's texture will be made while it is leather hard
   • They both need 'feet'
   • They both need even and smooth 'lips'
3. Create the 2 pinch pots and aim for the form you drew in your sketch
4. Add 'feet' to your pinch pots
5. Add texture into 1 while it is wet.  Set the other one aside to harden to leather hard.
6. Smooth out any imperfections and the lips
7. Sign your name on the bottom!