Sunday, September 5, 2010

Art Classes begin at Rowe Junior High

A new school year has begun at Rowe Junior High School. In many classes, we began with a unit on sketching. I have a whole bin of my own sketchbooks -- I've been keeping them for over thirty years. Some of the students found it interesting to look through them. The oldest one I began when I was twelve. Students did sketches of their own.
A sketch, of course, can be defined as "a simply or hastily executed drawing or painting, esp. a preliminary one, giving the essential features without the details" (Random House, 2010). In other words, it may be an idea more than a finished work of art. Some of those ideas we might take further, and some we may abandon. Sketching is like brainstorming on paper.
Another kind of sketching is a type of practicing. We did some sketching outdoors. The assignment was to draw something we could see. Just outside the art room is a courtyard. The vision for this space is for it to be an outdoor classroom. Currently there are benches, a bird bath, and flowers. Eventually it could be our own Giverny!
In addition to classwork, each unit of study will conclude with a portfolio check. Students can earn extra points by working on sketches outside of class. It is not a requirement, but students might enjoy keeping a sketchbook of their own. You can get a pretty good one at Walmart for just under four bucks. Eventually, they will be available in the school store.

The class with the largest enrollment is Sculpture & Pottery. We discussed different types of sculpture including additive and subtractive sculpture. As a warm-up exercise, we experimented with both additive and subtractive techniques of sculpting with clay.

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