Depth of Field Painting: Grade 9-10C

For this semester's assignment, the grade 9-10 class was asked to find a picture that demonstrates Depth of Field- a term used in photography to describe a picture with a focused foreground and a blurry background. They were to use this picture as inspiration for their own painting.
This was a challenging assignment. Students had to create their own colours, learn how to blend them together smoothy for the background, and remember how to keep the edges sharp in the foregound. Once they got the hang of blending, however, there was no stopping them (really- sometimes they didn't want to get up to go to their next class).
I'm posting some of the highlights of this assignment. Note- some of the pictures have been cropped due to the size of our scanner.
Happy viewing!

Comments are now enabled

I wanted all of you to know that I have just enabled comments for this blog. I often tell my students that we can use constructive criticism, but always keep a positive art attitude! And just in case, these comments will be moderated.
So please let us know what you think about the art.
Miss G.

In a league of its own

I don't often centre one piece of work out in particular, but this drawing by grade 10 student Rebecca really impressed everybody who saw it! The attention to fine detail and the range of tones (created entirely with small dots) is really outstanding.

Grade 10 Drawing: Stipple Animals

For this assignment, our Grade 10 students were asked to find a picture of an animal that they like and draw it- only using dots (a technique called Stipple or Pointalism). Click on the pictures to see a larger version in detail.

Media Arts

If you haven't already, head on over to the Media Arts blogs (the links are located on a colum to the right on this page). In Media Arts, students learn to create animation (classical and Flash based), computer 3D imagery, digital photography, Photoshop, and video editing. There is an emphasis on creating art, pieces that command the viewer's attention and thought, as well as pieces that simply look good.
Pictures- here are some examples of this year's Anti-Smoking posters (competing for prize $!)

A Favourite Summative

I've given a variety of summative projects over the years, and this year's grade 9-10 is probably my favourite. This time, students were asked to create Artist Trading Cards- small, unique pieces of art on 2.5 x 3.5 inch cards that are to be traded after completion. For more information on this world-wide phenomenon, try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist_trading_cards. Students used pencils, chalk, pastel, marker, cut-outs, beads, string, felt, paper, etc. in order to create art that focused on the elements and principles of art and design. In order to create some focus, students followed a series of themes, including Cold, Space, Time, Landscape, Sports, Art History, and two of their choice. From the political to the whimsical, no two cards are alike. This project kept students creatively engaged each day, and creating a small piece of art seemed to be less worrisome. What a way to wrap up our semester, way to go everybody!

Grade 11 Drawing

For this assignment, students were asked to come up with a design that incorporated a contemporary background with a more traditional subject in the foreground. These drawings not only solve the given problem, but also invite the viewer to keep looking at what is going on.