AP Studio Art: Drawing

On line for the 2010-2011 School Year

Teachers: Dianne Settino & Linus Meldrum

Tech Needs: High Speed Internet recommended for fast transfer of large image files. Digital camera to photograph, format and send images online.

Textbooks: (buy used on Amazon.com) Required: An Artist’s Notebook and the Art of Drawing by Bernard Chaet. Any comprehensive college level Art History textbook for reference. Older editions will be the cheapest and that’s fine.

Class Tuition Fee: $575.

Materials Kit Cost: approximately $100. to $150. Students use materials in different ways.

Estimated Weekly Time Commitment: Average 12 – 15 hours.

The AP Studio Art course is a very different animal from all the other AP courses and exams. They are the only courses that require the students to create their exam responses (Two finished portfolios of 12 drawing each) over the school year as they complete the course assignments. Our students will honestly tell you the necessary pace of the course is unrelenting, the quality required can not be ignored, and the number of pieces that is needed (24) to pass the digital submission is set in stone by the College Board

This year Mr. Meldrum and I have been delighted to see tremendous growth in the young artists of our first AP Drawing course. We are frequently amazed by the tremendously poignant and powerful work they compose. Each and every one of our students has created more than a few masterworks of drawing. The portfolios you develop in this course won’t be little throwaway sketches you forget about; for some students this work will form the core of their art school and scholarship applications. For others, they will be treasured collections the family will pass to the next generation.

Anyone who wants to stretch themselves as an artist will be challenged as they create the 24 pieces of art required for digital submission to the AP Readers in May of 2011. The students in this class will learn how to think like artists, use the tools of an artist, and communicate visual narratives using the basic elements of art, design and composition. This class focuses on the classic foundations of art.

Our 2009-2010 class was composed of actors, dancers, musicians, photographers, athletes, swimmers, and a few great fantasy writers. Each one of these backgrounds has been crucial for informing and nurturing the great art they have created. Bring your experience and gifts; join us for 2010-2011!

Who Should Apply:

Mature homeschooled students who are entering grades 9-11 who enjoy the Arts, Art History and any type of creative work. Seniors will be accepted only if their senior year is not overloaded with other high level courses.

If you have NOT made a lot of visual art but you have great verbal skills and understand the idea of composing your ideas into a short story, poem or essay, you will be able to learn how to do the same with drawn images.

Math-minded students will not be left out; mathematical concepts of proportion, balance, geometry, volume, scale, etc. are things you can enjoy and explore while you learn to compose and develop a drawing.

Important Considerations

Students must be able to photograph their artwork, and use camera software to upload their homework for weekly critiques. You will learn how to critique your own work, construct your own rubrics and analyze the work of your classmates. You will be reading and writing about visual ideas as you communicate with your fellow classmates and us.

If you are a freshman, or if this is your first year taking AP courses or college level work, you will not be able to take this course as an addition to any other college or AP course. An absolute weekly minimum of 12 hours is needed to finish the required 24 drawings. Taking this and another course your first year of college level academics would be overwhelming.

We cannot overstate how rigorous this course is. The assignments are challenging; the standards are high. It must be given the same weight and consideration as any academic course if students are to complete the amount of work necessary at the level of quality needed to successfully score in the College Board AP submission.

One issue of great concern to the College Board AP Readers, who score the portfolio submissions, is the issue of plagiarism. In this course, we will be working from direct observation. We will also guide you in the possible consideration of your own photographs to use as secondary reference in composition. The College Board will disqualify any artwork derived from any source other than your own.

How to Apply:

We will treat your initial contact with us as similar to a ‘portfolio day’ at a high school. You show us your artwork; we will make comments and suggestions. Send an online image portfolio of any drawings or paintings you have made. Send 6 pieces (at least 3 should be drawings), no more than 12, please. Original work done from direct observation is best. We will email back our comments and, if your artwork shows the necessary basic skills to complete the course we will email an application.

This application asks for your PSAT or SAT scores. If your scores are on the low side but your artwork shows a good, basic understanding of the visual world, we will work with you. Conversely, if your scores are strong but your artwork has yet to develop, we will show you how to reinterpret your skills into the visual language. You must be extremely self-motivated, and have an excellent work ethic to be successful in this online Studio class.

Course Description:

This course will cover what is taught in a basic college-level freshman Drawing and Composition course. The first semester will begin with monochromatic media, pencil, compressed charcoal, vine charcoal, conte crayon and pen and ink. By semester’s end we will begin the use of blue and brown inks, introducing the ideas of light temperature and working with color. This course provides a foundation for continued studies in, but not limited to, AP 2-D Design, Fine Art, Commercial Art, Illustration, and AP 3-D Design.

The first portfolio subject matter will include: Still-life Drawing, Interior Spaces, Landscape Drawing, Self- Portraiture and more. The basic Elements of Design and visual topics will be acquired and used throughout the year. Some these elements are Light and Space, Perspective, Line, Shape and Form, and Composition.

Students will learn a weekly three-part process to art composition as they complete the two portfolios for the digital application. These steps are:

IDEATION : The creation of a concept and plan of action to guide the artist’s thinking. At least one hour is needed for this.

PREPARATORY WORK: Approximately three hours of short works that sketch out the proposed work, sampling and testing visual ideas.

FINAL WORK: Approximately 8 hours of creating the finished work, focusing concept and technique to achieve an image that clearly conveys the ideation.

Students will be required to photograph their artwork, format it for viewing, then post it to our webBoard.

THE THREE PORTFOLIOS

The BREADTH PORTFOLIO: Consists of 12 pieces that demonstrate the student’s ability to work successfully in different media using assigned Ideations. These drawings should show a competency of both technique and subject matter. We will assign projects that will reinforce the understanding of the elements of art, design and composition.

The CONCENTRATION PORTFOLIO: The artists develop their own theme and ideation that will be explored in depth through 12 individual pieces. The student prepares a written statement describing their Concentration Ideation.

The Breadth and Concentration Portfolios are arranged in digital format in May. The AP Coordinator at the local school of your choice that offers AP courses submits these directly to the College Board.

The QUALITY PORTFOLIO: Consists of 5 actual drawings, selected from the Breadth and Concentration Portfolios. The AP Coordinator at the local school of your choice that offers AP courses mails these directly to the College Board.

Basic Course Structure:

Beginning Monday August 31, we will assign short drawing and design projects that will introduce the basic elements of design, art and composition. These initial projects will prepare the students to complete the 12 drawing assignments of the Breadth portfolio. Once the portfolio drawings begin, students will have one major drawing due each week. They will work in steps. First they will spend about 4 hours in the preparatory ideation and sketching.

Once that work has been reviewed and critiqued, they will be ready to engage an 8 hour finished drawing, then photograph and submit their artwork online. We will review the student work, then post the artwork and critiques. Then, students will have a chance to learn by viewing/commenting on each other’s work. Students will be guided in creating self-critique rubrics in the Concentration portfolio. We will be a bit like editors to help students create the required writing component of the Final AP Portfolio; this “working statement” will show Portfolio reviewers that the student can analyze and understand drawings.

Planning for the Concentration portfolio will begin in the first semester. By spring semester students will begin the artwork for this second portfolio.

Some of the teacher-to-student and student-to-student interaction will be individual; some will be forum-style. Interaction between students is a necessary part of this course.

Instructor Qualifications:

We are a husband and wife team. Our children have participated as students in many PA Homeschoolers AP courses.

Dianne Settino

1988 - Present, Homeschooling mom, Port Royal, PA

MFA 1984, Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT

BFA 1981, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore. MD

Fine Arts Technical Degree 1979, York Academy of Art, York, PA

I’ve taught drawing, color, painting, printmaking and many types of crafts to children as young as 18 months in a Montessori school and adults as old as 98 in Baltimore’s inner city Arts for the Aging program. I’ve also taught in public schools, private colleges, state universities, art associations, libraries and at our local homeschool co-op. My three children are definitely some of my favorite students. My last at-home child just became a teen and animation is his passion.

Linus Meldrum

1988 – Present, Homeschooling Dad, Port Royal, PA

MFA 1983, Yale University School of Art, Yale New Haven, CT

BFA 1981, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

I currently teach Painting and Drawing at Franciscan University of Steubenville, OH. Previously, I taught at The Yale School of Art, Central Connecticut State University and The Pennsylvania School of Art & Design. For the last 15 years, I have owned and operated Spiderdance Ranch, an Art and Craft manufacturing business.

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