Foundations In Visual Art

Level 10 - 12
Prerequisites - None
One semester - 1/2 credit

1. Course Description

This course is required for students in grades 10 and recommended for students in grades 11 or 12 who wish to take any of the subsequent visual art offerings. Working in the areas of design, drawing, painting, collage, printmaking, art history, and sculpture, students learn to solve visual problems through creative and expressive thinking while gaining a working knowledge of visual order and composition. Students learn and apply visual terms such as repetition, balance, contrast, thus making this course a necessary preparation for further study of the visual arts.

2. Course Components

Studio Work

Students become acquainted with the elements and principles of design, recognizing and appreciating these components for their contribution to the success of a visual composition. They use a variety of tools, materials, and equipment to explore ways in which to solve visual problems posed by the assignments and those which arise as they stretch the boundaries of personal expression.

In Foundations in Visual Art, as in all art courses, students must learn to draw on some of the basic sources for continuing growth and development throughout their lives: observation, memory, imagination, innovation, interaction, reflection, and independent thinking. The skills to use these resources are embedded in the work of the FIVA class.

The course provides the student with an opportunity to compare design principles with everyday situations: objects they see and use; putting together outfits they wear; record album covers they admire; car body design they work on, etc. For example, they might examine and use the principle of color repetition to unify a composition while making a collage; they could compare and contrast symmetrical and asymmetrical balance in a pose the model is assuming; or they might establish expressive movement and rhythm in a linoleum print. They look back into history and 'read' a language that speaks a thousand possibilities for translation . They experience an understanding between themselves and perhaps an ancient people, a foreign culture, an other-worldly geography, a familiar domestic setting, or a quiet, private place in the natural world.

In the process of carefully observing artwork and creating their
own, students learn to frame useful questions, defining the problem, and
designing experiments that answer these questions.

Historical and Cultural Heritage

Within the study of any art form, students must learn and understand the significance of specific artists, movements, technological development and cultural influences affecting our perception of that art form.

In Foundations in Visual Art, students are introduced to artists and artworks through books, slides, videos, filmstrips, museum visits, and printed reproductions of work. Since there is no one book assigned as a textbook for this class, much cultural and historical background is presented through in-class slides, lectures and discussions as well as readings taken from a variety of books. Usually, a specific artist or art movement is highlighted along with the lesson or technique being taught.

Criticism

Criticism of artists' work, professional and student, past and contemporary, is an integral part of this course. Students view slides, analyze fine art reproductions, and participate in 'critiques' of their own work and that of the artists they have studied which relate to specific lessons.

Testing

Testing is done on a regular basis in this and other visual art courses. Students are tested in a variety of forms, both written and oral, and they also must demonstrate their understanding of course content through application of learned concepts and techniques. Another form of cumulative periodical examination is the portfolio review, in which a student and teacher evaluate a student's demonstration of understanding of art concepts through application in his studio work.

3. Course Materials

Studio Materials

In Foundations in Art, availability of materials for all students through school ordering resources is vital to insure a consistency of instruction and understanding by all involved. Consumables such as papers, glue, markers, pencils, charcoals, paint, brushes, clay, and clay tools are provided by the school. Students may wish to use additional materials that could be purchased individually. Other necessary equipment includes slide and film projectors, as well as a VCR, with which to present visuals to students. All student are to have a sketchbook as a place in which to draw studies, write responses, and record other work as stated in the studio section.

Reading Materials

Students regularly use publications such as Scholastic Art, Artnews, Art in America and other student and professional magazines as resources for study on artists and art movements from the past, as well as contemporary art. Additional readings are taken from textbooks and reference books such as Living With Art, Gardner's Art Through The Ages, and Discovering Art History , and other books about individual artists and art movements.

Audio Visual Materials

Because art is, after all, a visual activity, high quality visual media are vital in presentation of artist's work, working techniques, and in understanding the varied expressions of ideas. Video tapes about artists such as Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh, and Pablo Picasso help students to understand the process an artist works through in formulating and expressing ideas, as well as to expose the student to images of the artist's work. High quality slide reproductions are often used to compare, contrast, and examine design elements and principles in established compositions.

Field Trips

A field trip each semester is usually planned to work in with a particular art movement or artist that is being studied in conjunction with the course work. Trips to the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and the Portland Museum of Art are taken when exhibits are appropriate or to give the students the opportunity to experience a museum tour and view genuine works of art.

4. Student Expectations

Attendance

Most learning requires that students are actively involved in the process of making art. Students must demonstrate satisfactory participation in class activities, including studio work, demonstrations, critiques and discussion. Since the studio experience cannot be reproduced, students are expected to be present in class. Following an absence, it is a student's responsibility to ask for make-up work.

Time

Work each week outside of class is expected, both on long-term and short-term assignments. It is expected that work in the sketchbook/journal be an ongoing time commitment each week. Time spend during class must be spent on the processes of making art.

Presentation of Work

Students are expected to periodically pass in sketchbooks for evaluation of work, notes, etc. All sketchbook/journal assignments must be in this book; if done on separate paper, they should be attached to a page in the sketchbook to avoid loss of papers.

A number of works on paper are to be presented as finished work. This may include cleaning and matting the work to prepare for a class presentation or display. Each student will also have a folder or portfolio in which all other works on paper is to be collected. This is periodically reviewed to evaluate a student's progress. Students are expected to present work in other media in an appropriate manner, some as finished work, some as studies.

Behavior

Appropriate behavior includes respect for other learners, school property, their own work, that of their peers, and the learning environment set by the teacher. Learning is the central activity in the classroom; student actions are expected to contribute to and support the plan for learning. When student actions detract from the learning situation, an offending student's grade will reflect the negative impact of his/her actions upon the learning of other students in the class.

Care of Books, Materials, and Equipment

A student who loses, abuses, or destroys a book or any other course material or equipment that has been assigned to his or her care is responsible for its replacement cost.

5.Course Evaluation

Grading Standards

In this course, student thinking, development of visual acuity, problem solving, researching, development of a visual vocabulary, and demonstration of these skills in studio work are at the center of class activity. Grading is viewed in this context. Because the critique process is an important part of learning about art, students are expected to participate in the evaluation of their own work, as well as the work of others. As students become more aware of the language and process involved in making and looking at art, they will become more comfortable with self- assessment.

Teachers will assess student performance and progress, as evidenced by studio work, in class discussion and critiques, to give students the opportunity to learn more through looking at their own work and the work of other students with different points of view.

The usual A B C D F system is used to grade student work each quarter. Work handed in late is subject to the penalty of a lower grade, or loss of credit for that work, as specified by individual teachers.

Student Outcomes

Students will recognize, understand, and use the elements and principles of design in composing their artwork.
Students will recognize, understand, and appreciate the elements and principles of design in other people's artwork.
Students will use, and/or be able to recognize ,different media and techniques used in artworks, and appreciate their expressive qualities in creating the work.
Students will be able to recognize the work, style, and/or time period of certain master artists.
Students will be able to use this knowledge to create original works of their own, solving visual problems or expressing ideas.

Course Evaluation

Through input from students and art department faculty. This includes discussions among teachers, students, parents and administrators. Teachers keep updated to new practices affecting their teaching area and methods through attending conferences, readings, and networking with other art educators.

www.mta75.org/curriculum/art/foundations.html; rev 9.6.96