1. AP Concentration
What is AP Concentration?

2. CONCENTRATION is … a way for you to fully explore connections
difficult but will make you a more informed
and accomplished artist
1 of 3 parts of your AP Studio Art Portfolio

3. CONCENTRATION 12 works (slides) 3 can be a detail of a work
Works describing an in-depth exploration of a particular design concern and shows investigation, growth, and discovery.

4. Photographers that have work in a series
that show a cohesive visual idea:
“Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual.” ~ Edward Weston
“My own eyes are no more than scouts on a preliminary search, for the camera's eye may entirely change my idea.”
~ Edward Weston
EDWARD WESTON

5. Edward Weston – Bodies and Vegetables
Pepper, 1930
Nude, 1936
Two Shells, 1927
Nude, 1934

6. Edward Weston – Bodies and Vegetables
Cabbage Leaf, 1931
Untitled
Cypress Point, Lobos, 1930
Oceano, 1936

7. “….what grabbed hold of me as motivation for making fine art was the possibility of creating meaning in terms of the relationship between images produced and the society that produces them. That’s a symbiotic relationship that led me to question every aspect of the artmaking process, from what it should feel like to make art to what objects look like.”
~Sandy Skoglund
SANDY SKOGLUND

8. Sandy Skoglund Revenge of the Goldfish, 1981 Fox Games, 1989
Radioactive Cats, 1980
Green House, 1990

9. “Photography has an amazing ability to capture the fine detail of surface textures. But far too often these intricate patterns are loved by the photographer for their own sake. The richness of texture fascinates the eye and the photographer falls easy prey to such quickly-caught complexities. The designs mean nothing in themselves and are merely pictorially attractive abstractions. A central problem in contemporary photography is to bring about a wider significance in purely textural imagery.”
~ Arthur Tress
ARTHUR TRESS

10. Arthur Tress – Dream Series
Girl with Dunce, Cap, New York, 1972
Flood Dream,
Oecan City, New Jersey, 1971
Hockey Player, New York, 1970

11. Arthur Tress – Dream Series
Boy Under Redwood Tree, Santa Cruz, California, 1972
Flying Dream

12. Arthur Tress – Shadow Series
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Office Workers, New York, 1966

13. Arthur Tress – Shadow Series
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Skater on Crest, California, 2003
Great Example of a CONCENTRATION….Check this out:

14. Arthur Tress – Fish TANk Sonata
Central Park, New York City
St. George Island, Florida, 1989
Gulf of Mexico, Florida

15. Arthur Tress – Fish TANk Sonata
Saratoga Springs, NY, 1989
Turtle Pond, Central Park, New York City
Fern Lake, New York

16. Arthur Tress – TEA POt OPERA
Untitled
Untitled
The Voyage .
The Ideas embarked upon a Journey, 1980
The Birth of Ideas, 1980

17. Scoring Guidelines 6 = Excellent 5 =Strong 4 = Good
unmistakable connection
between idea and work
engages viewer with the
work and the idea
effective integration of
concept and design skills
technical aspects are strong
risk-taking and development
beyond technical concerns
evocative theme
original vision
excellent quality
work and topic have a close
relationship
idea is good to strong
evidence of thought
technically competent, skill is
evident
effective pursuit of the idea
some less successful pieces
but work shows strong grasp
of design principles
transformation over time
evocative them investigated
work is strong quality
sense of concentration and
work related to the idea
manipulation of ideas is
evident
growth and discovery are
technically competent but
incomplete investigation
although it is strong and
excellent quality, it is not a
concentration
good quality

18. Now, it is your turn to come up with some ideas for your own composition.
Come up with a list of 50 ideas
narrow it down to 2 great ideas
draw 12 thumbnails for each series
choose one and take pictures of a practice
concentration referring to the thumbnails.

19. Bibliography
Edward Weston
Sandy Skoglund
Arthur Tress