Junior Studio This course is designed to help students prepare for the Senior Studio Advanced Placement course. Students will learn about the structure of the AP program, National Portfolio Day requirements and post secondary education and career options in the visual arts area. Students will assess their current portfolios and learn what to add to compliment and strengthen them. Time will be devoted to the creation of individual artwork, which would meet the expectations of the Advanced Placement Program and college entrance requirements. Experimentation with new media and methods will enhance the overall experience of the students in this class. A materials fee is required.

Students develop a series of pieces in a sketchbook demonstrating their ability to accurately work from life. Rendering objects in black and white and color is something that post secondary schools definitely want to see in a student’s portfolio.

Students begin the class by choosing the media, time and place to draw a “favorite place” or a place of refuge. Working from life builds technical drawing skills.

Hands are often used as subject matter Hands are often used as subject matter. Practicing contour line work of hands in various positions is a great exercise in drawing and used as an exercise to make connections between the left and right sides of the brain. Here a very traditional contour line approach was done for the piece on the left. The piece on the right was started as a contour line piece but finished with shading and detail for added interest.

Using a variety of media and continuing to work from life the students carefully arrange and draw common objects as still life drawings in very realistic ways.

Students do Plein air style work by drawing on location outside. Contour line drawings, fine line pen and ink work and graphite renderings are done as part of the series of work.

Students carefully arrange a still life of objects that interest them. They then light the arrangement in a way that gives interesting highlights and shadow detail to the subjects. They work large and first do a contour line drawing of the entire composition. The second piece is done as a fully rendered graphite drawing and the third piece is done as a cropped view in color.

Trompe L’oeil is a French term that refers to a value study in grey. Students work in this style by arranging a group of personal objects in an interesting way and recreating them as accurately as possible in graphite pencil. The goal is to have the finished work have an extremely lifelike appearance.

By “going back to crayon” – the most familiar art material to most of us - the students are challenged to use this simple media in a much more sophisticated way. By using Georges Rouault and his work as a point of reference the students use heavy dark outlines and a layering of color to create striking work.

Using crayon in creative ways helps students realize how even the most basic media can be exciting and interesting. Here a very well planned approach allows students to create very detailed fine line crayon etchings.

Students often work “in the style of” famous artists. Here Modigliani was used as inspiration for these self-portraits.

Famous artists are used as the subjects for very graphic 2-D portraits. During the class students study famous artists and their work. After making some connections to these individuals they decide on a favorite and try to immortalize that person.

Life drawing skills are developed by studying the human form, lighting, composition and cropping. Students warm up with quick gesture drawings and then do longer studies working in charcoal.

Studying the contemporary architecture of the high school has been a great way to use line, shape, form, color and texture in a funky, fun and interesting way!

Students are encouraged do traditional and non-traditional portraits and self-portraits using a variety of media and approaches making choices based on “what they want to say” through their work.

A wide variety of artists and their work are studied and used as a point of reference for the work done by the students. By working “in the style” of a famous artist the students are encouraged to make a connection to that artist and use their work as inspiration.

Striking work can be developed by referencing images that have strong visual interest. Students build collections of images that they can use as reference material for their work. The work seen here is more abstract or 2-D in nature. It employs the effective use of color, contrast and composition.