Week Ten

​Finishing Challenge 2

As we start the new marking period, students finished a challenge to explore the question: "Where are you going; where have you been?" 

It was fun to see the variety of solutions that looked to use both real and imagined places as well as a wide array of media to explore the ways in which we can convey ideas. I am particularly excited about how many students created pieces of architecture or experimented with media they have not had experience with before. 

Check out some of the results below:

Justin W.: For the theme where are you going where have you been, I decided to make a SketchUp of my dream house. My choices of material, which is SketchUp, that I used demonstrates my interoperation of the theme because I thought were I want to live is in this house in the future. My choice of composition that I choose to put the pieces in photoshop together shows my interoperation of my piece of the theme because I wanted it to be seen from all sides, which is what I did here. I am personally connected to this work, because this is the house I want to live when I am older. If I had to relate my art to one artist it would probably be Eugina Loli. We both have things in our artwork that are out of this world, or don't really fit in place. This was fun and I can't wait for the next project.

Abby B.: In my artwork, I created a batik landscape of Ireland, with the house on the cliff supposed to be a house similar to one on my way to church. When creating this piece, I used a piece of silk, and then dyed it with various colors, ranging from brown to green. I believe this shows the theme, as I have been to Ireland, and I have multiple connections to it, as many ancestors of mine were Irish. Additionally, the house in the artwork was one that I see every time I go to church. I felt the house had an older and more traditional look to it, as it was covered with dead plants, and slightly broken in. I combined both memories, and created this piece. I believe this item connects with the artist Faith Ringold, as we both used mixed media to represent something that we feel passionate about. This was my first time using this technique, and I am proud of the results.

Lindsey P.: In my art work, I drew an eye on a map and I did this because I see these things when I go to holland beach and holland state park. This is a map of holland beach because I spend most of my summer there. I made the waves and trees out of maps, I made the eye in black and white to contrast from the colors of the map.

Corrinne W,: For this challenge, I decided to try something new and use the 3D printer in my project and I did definitely learn a lot while designing. The reason I chose a city to design is because I have not been to many big cities other than Chicago and have always loved the lifestyle that the people have there. The one I designed is not any in particular, but it just represents places I have and places I haven't been. Some of the composition I used was setting the figure on a stool with a flashlight pointing towards it and snapping the picture. Then, I also used the rule of thirds when cropping. A personal connection I can make is that I enjoy photography and editing pictures and I also love big cities.

Gibson S.:This bridge I made was made with graphite. I got this texture by spreading the graphite around in the bridge with a paper towel and then erasing some of it to get the added detail. Also I used watercolor in the background to make the bridge really pop out with the dull colors.

Jack C.: In this piece I chose to make a photoshop piece of my head filled with many mountains from the Grand Teton Mountain Range. I chose to use photoshop because the theme is "where are you going and where have you been." I chose photoshop because it is something that I want to get better at in the future and really improve at. I did this because part of the theme is where are you going and I interpreted that as things you want to do in the future, and working on photoshop is one of those things. This piece of work is very meaningful to me because I have been to the Grand Teton's before. It is my most favorite vacation that I have ever taken. This work is similar to George Seurat because they both use small objects or designs to create a bigger more complex picture. One major difference is that I used photoshop for my project and Seurat is a painter. Overall, this is one of the most successful pieces I have ever made

Photoshop Challenge 2

After completing their challenge that asked them to manipulate materials from a variety of sources, the Photoshop Challenge asked them to hone those ideas using digital means.

​Students used their understanding (and some helpful tutorials) to complete the following works. 

Ben V.: For this photoshop challenge, I chose to make a graffiti name. I chose to use more of a bubble letter type. I chose this because I feel like the bubble letters are easier to read. Also, I chose this type of letters because the common graffiti looks a little more bubbly. To create my name, I chose more bright and vibrant colors. I chose these colors because they make my name stand out. They are very bright colors on a dark background. Also, I chose bright colors because most graffiti is bright and vibrant. There is no cool graffiti that catches peoples attention, but has dull color. I really enjoyed using photoshop to make this project.

Bella E.: I created this artwork because I did the landscape challenge. I named my artwork, with the help of my friend, Sami Fox, and we decided to dedicate it to our friend, Autumn. I started with a solid brown paintbrush and made a line across the canvas. Then started to get lighter as it went down. Then I made trunks out of a brown brush and then used the leaf tool from the brush and I decided to add leafs for the trees. If you zoom in you can see individual leafs.

Trevor O.: This piece was created in photoshop. I had created the perfectly circular planets by using the marquee tool to create circles of varying sizes. I also use the gradient tool to make shadows on the planets in order to get a sense of distance from the sun. I utilized complimentary colors to make the planets. The large planet is blue and orange, the smaller one was purple and yellow, and the smallest one is red and green. I made the space background dark so that I could emphasis on the planets and their colors.

Bast from the Past

On Friday, Shelby came back to my classroom to observe. She was a student of mine in middle school and then again in high school as a part of the Dual Enrollment program. She is a skilled artist who is now in Art Education courses at Grand Valley State University. She is still deciding on whether or not Education is the route she will go with her career, but it was so nice to get to share some of the "secrets" to my classroom success with a young person I had a hand in shaping into an artist. 

One of my favorite moments of the day was when we talked about what it means to teach. I don't always know the impact I have on my students. To have one choose to come back and share with me the impact I had on them was amazing. It lifted me up and helped affirm the decision I made to get into education. 

I shared that with Shelby. Teaching is hard. But if you love it, it is so worth it.