Homework+and+Assignments

Due Date: September 5, 2008
The main objective of Calder Mobile project is to introduce you to sculpture. Within school, students are often far more comfortable with 2D designs. Paper and a writing tool is the mode of choice to get ideas out. Mobiles provide an opportunity to take these 2D skills and comforts that you have and scaffold them into the bold and frequently unpredictable world of sculpture. Mobiles very subtlety, but very dramatically brings the 2D world into the third dimension by allowing flat planes of shapes and virtually flat lines of wire to move within space (A.K.A kinesthetic art). Alexander Calder is commonly attributed with bringing mobiles into the art world. Being the man that invented artistic mobiles, we will use Calder as inspiration for our artworks. You can learn more about him by clicking on useful links. After being introduced to Calder we will practice making mobiles out of thin wire and heavy cardstock paper. Here we practice the skills of bending wire to make swivels, hooks and balancing points. We also try different ways of attaching paper shapes to give our mobiles some creative variety. We will critique our practice pieces as a whole group to build a greater understanding of design. Points of interest are the elements of LINE and SHAPE. Conceptually, the art principal of Balance will be debated as well as artist’s INTENT (mobile rubric). Towards the end of our project we will be asked write a refection on our Mobile creation process (reflection rubric).

Due Date: September 18, 2008
The main objective of this art project is to give you an opportunity to mature as an artist. Your challenge is to tell a story (an [|abstract]) through [|symbolic] objects. We will be working with mobiles because you have already developed the skills necessary to fabricate this type of sculpture. We will be touching upon the art styles of Found Object Art and Assemblage Art. Please click on useful links to find more information concerning these art movements.

You need to collect a group of found objects (**this weekend**) and assemble them within the confines of a mobile (**in class**). Please avoid randomly placing images on your artwork. Even though you can make an art piece of anything found objects you want, it does have to make visual sense. All parts do have to have some relation to one another for the viewer to get anything out of it. Be unique and creative, but make sure all objects have a purpose. By clicking on Assemblage Rubric you can see your assessment tool. You will notice a huge majority of your assessment is based upon work habit. This project is not about fulfilling aesthetic qualities and achieve rubric objectives, on the contrary, this project is about how **you** work as an artist, think critically about art, being frustrated and gaining ownership with the products you create.

Due Date: September 22
The main objective of this assignment is for you to understand that by exploring other artists and artworks you can discover **who you are as an artist**. If you know who you are as an artist, you begin plan artworks to your liking. When you plan artworks to your liking, you look forward to the outcome. When look forward to the outcome, you finish artworks with excitement. Lastly when you finish artworks with excitement, you will be more successful more often.

You will be collecting three artworks that you would like to use as inspiration within your figure sculpture project. You will write a few sentences for each artwork explaining how you are going to translate the artist's style in your artwork. Use the elements and principles as guides to your decision-making. Click on [|elements and principles of art] to learn more about them. Click on personal research tool to see an example. Click on useful links to see search engines for locating artists.

Due Date: September 30
The hope is for you to begin to understand the complexities of the human figure. People are innately fascinated with the human form. Possibly, a great deal of people are on the verge of being obsessed. This fascination brands the human figure as great subject for art, but at the same time causes the figure to be ever more difficult to execute successfully. Because the more people know about a subject, the more critical those same people can be about that subject.

Your main objective for this assignment is to make a human figure out of wire, gesturing a motion or an emotion. This assignment relates directly to the time honored tradition of [|gesture drawing]. The challenge is use the elements of [|Line], [|Shape], [|Space] and [|Form] to [|Emphasize] your sculpture’s gesture. Again, this is formative study (not a summative) and is for you to express your ideas and experiment with the human figure in motion. Click on Gesture Wire Sculpture Rubric to see your assessment tool. You and your peers will be assessing your artwork. Click on Formative Assessment using de Bono's Hats to read about the group critique activity we will be utilizing in class.

Due Date: October 5
You will take your three inspirational artists from your personal research project and illustrate how you are going to use them. Remember this sketch is the first in the series of sketches you will draw before coming to holistic design for your final figure sculpture.

Due Date: October 9
In response to your questions and concerns, the Geometric Form Study will be inserted into the agenda before moving onto the Figure Sculpture Final. This study is designed to broaden your skills with developing 3D spaces and purposeful material and tool choice. You should be able to scaffold your skills and knowledge from this project to the Figure Sculpture Final. You need to come to class with a geometric design sketch out.

Due Date: November 4
First, we will plan by viewing sculptures from artists like Fletcher Benton and Liouse Nevelson. These artists give us ideas for sculpture designs. We also learn about how these artists (and others) used Line, Shape, Space and Form (Elements of Art) to add Patterns, bring Balance, Unity and give Emphasis (Principles of Art). We use our knowledge of the art elements and principles to plan by making an initial sketch. This sketch may go through several drafts as we put are plan into practice.

Are first practice objective is build skills in using art tools. We use pencils and rulers to draw. Also, we use X-Acto knives, rulers and cutting mats to cut the cardboard. Then, we use Hot Glue and Elmer’s glue to adhere our cardboard piece together into a cube form. We reflect on these skills in whole group as a form of troubleshooting.

At last we take these skills, our sketches and knowledge and build a product, a Geometric Form Sculpture. We may move from producing our final piece, to re-practicing, to redesigning several times before completing our artwork. Hopefully, we reflect on our sculpture as we are building. This may be by simple observation, asking a friend, asking Mr Hansen, or putting the sculpture up against the Geometric Form Rubric. At the end of the project we will culminate by writing a formal reflection. Click on reflection tool to see your guiding questions. (reflection rubric)

//In response to the Pluses/Wishes exit cards, I have changed the due date of the Geometric Form Study from November 2 to November 4.//

Due Date: November 6
The objective of this small assignment is to try to expose you to the limits of figure sculpture. Hopefully, by viewing the "oddities" of figure sculpture you will begin to think more outside the box with your own figure sculpture. Your assignment is to email me two attached images of the craziest figure sculptures you can find. Email only please. I have had bad luck with pen/flash drives and printed images are too small for the class to view in whole group. The only real limitation is the size of the images because they will be view on the projector and discussed in class. The minimum size for images are 300 by 300 pixels. The images need to be email to my firstclass account before the beginning of class on Thursday.

Due Date: December 15
The two main objectives of this lesson are to begin to understand who you are as an artist and to provide the most authentic experience possible. With objectives so broad it really leaves the door wide open for you to express yourself and that is the point. However with all this freedom comes great responsibility. Fundamentally, you will be in charge of the entire artwork.

Click on Figure Sculpture GRASPS to review a more detailed description of the project. Click on Figure Sculpture Rubric to see your assessment tool. Click on Figure Sculpture Schedule to see the project due dates and workday objectives. Click on Figure Sculpture Reflection to see your guiding questions. (reflection rubric)

Any good artist knows that to be productive one has to have good work habits. Each week your work habits will be assessed and cumulated into your final score. Click on Work Habit Rubric to see you assessment tool.

Due Date: November 10
You will take your three inspirational artists from your personal research project and illustrate how you are going to use them. This sketch is the second in the series of sketches you will draw before coming to holistic design for your final figure sculpture.

Due Date: November 12
This is the last sketch in the planning portion of the design cycle. For detail on what you need to include within the sketch click on Figure Sculpture Sketch link.