Art
Taught by Miss Sari Mayer
Welcome to Studio Art! Contrary to what one might believe, a student does not have to be gifted with a unique talent in order to be able to draw. The purpose of this class is to give the students the skills they need in order to create their own original artwork, both in class and whenever they feel the desire to express themselves emotionally and creatively.
Goals
- To teach the students basic skills for which to improve their drawings
- To develop creativity and independent thinking
- To give the students an outlet in which to express themselves
- To build self-esteem
Art Skills
There are five basic skills of art; once those are learned, a student should be able to draw anything–be it a still life, portrait, landscape or abstract drawing.
- Perception of edges: contour drawings
- Perception of spaces: negative space
- Perception of relationships: perspective
- Perception of lights and shadows: shading
- Perception of the whole, or gestalt: still lifes, landscapes and portraits
Assignments
- Transferring from L-Brain mode to R- Brain- Optical Illusions Students work on shifting from an “L-brain” mode to an “R-brain” mode. The right brain is more intuitive- it thinks in patterns and pictures, as opposed to the left brain which thinks in numbers, letters and words. By creating optical illusions, which the girls have done in class, their brain is forced to operate in the “R- mode”. This new way of thinking will help them with their next project- drawing negative space.
- Negative Space (the negative space of a chair, the negative space of a collage of leaves)
- Contour (they draw the same object in several different ways: with their wrong hands, without picking up their hands, without looking at the paper)
- Perspective (draw a city scene)
- Shading
- Still Lifes Bottle Drawing ; Towel and Apple Drawing
- Portrait Drawings: Drawing the Face, the Profile and Self Portraits
- FINAL PROJECT: Demonstrating the 5 Stages of Drawing, Drawing One object in several perspectives , Self-Portrait Collage.
- Published Magazine of a collection of the students’ best artwork.
In addition to the skills/projects listed above, each student completed several free form drawings originated in their take home art journals.
It is a pleasure to watch how art is demystified for the students and they all discover how everyone can draw if they learn the set skills proffered in art class. I am enjoying teaching the class; I love the girls’ enthusiasm and eagerness to create art. All of the girls have learned to draw and some have displayed outstanding talent!