Grading Breakdown

This is how I have my computer set to calculate the grades once I punch them in:

Projects: 50%
Writing: 25%
Preparation: 25%


Projects are all of the Art Production assignment we make in the class: drawings, paintings, etc... Writing are all of the essays, papers and tests I give you, and Preparation is if you are prepared to come to class, if you have your sketchpad, if you miss a lot of class and if you always come late.

Pablo Picasso's Guernica

"It is modern art's most powerful antiwar statement..."



On April 27th, 1937, unprecedented atrocities are perpetrated on behalf of Franco against the civilian population of a little Basque village in northern Spain. Chosen for bombing practice by Hitler's burgeoning war machine, the hamlet is pounded with high-explosive and incendiary bombs for over three hours. Townspeople are cut down as they run from the crumbling buildings. Guernica burns for three days. Sixteen hundred civilians are killed or wounded.

I'll post some links for Guernica to help you with your first two writing assignments of the semester.




Here is a site that has many details and early drawings used to plan for the final work.


"Describe to me what you see." This was the first writing assignment I gave you on the first day of class. I projected the image of Guernica on the screen and asked you to tell me what you saw. That's it. Simple. Don't tell me if you like it or not. Don't tell me if it is any good. I just want a pure description of the image. Find some help with describing art works here and here.




"What does the image of the flower symbolize in the painting?"


The trick to this one is that you will have to expalin the other symbols in the painting. The flower has meaning in a greater matrix of symbols and meanings that the artist is presenting in the image. The flower has meaning in relationship with the other symbols. How is the flower different than the other figures and things in the painting? This assignment is not just describing the painting but to figure out the meaning. What is the artist saying? What is the artist communicating? What is this painting about? What does the artist think about what happened on the day of the bombing?





UN conceals Picasso’s “Guernica” for Powell’s presentation.


In an act with extraordinary historical resonance, United Nations officials covered up a tapestry reproduction of Pablo Picasso’s anti-war mural “Guernica” during US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s February 5 presentation of the American case for war against Iraq.

Picasso’s painting commemorates a small Basque village bombed by German forces in April 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. The painter, in desolate black, white and grey, depicts a nightmarish scene of men, women, children and animals under bombardment. The twisted, writhing forms include images of a screaming mother holding a dead child, a corpse with wide-open eyes and a gored horse. Art historian Herbert Read described the work as “a cry of outrage and horror amplified by a great genius.”

The reproduction has hung outside the Security Council chamber at UN headquarters in New York since its donation by the estate of Nelson A. Rockefeller in 1985. As the council gathered to hear Powell on Wednesday, workers placed a blue curtain and flags of the councilÂ’s member countries in front of the tapestry.


Extra Credit: Why do you think they would cover up the reproduction of Guernica when Colin Powell was trying to convince the American people that we should go to war in Iraq?

What We Learn in an Art Class.

I promised I would post here an I have only gotten around to it now. Sorry about that.

We covered the following in class already but I think it is a good way to start off the year. This is kind of like a syllabus, but it is more like a philosophical approach to the class.

An art class can be broken up into 4 areas: Art Production, Art History, Art Criticism and Aesthetics.


Art Production

Art Production is what most of you imagine what the class would be like before I started to throw all kinds of writing at you. Art Production is "Making Art." Art Production is the making of art, and the various components of making art, such as use of tools, manipulation of media, form and expression. It is when you learn to draw, paint, make sculptures, print, etc... We have been doing that a lot recently with our value scale projects and linear perspective drawings. It is about the "How" or "how to" in art. It does not talk about the "Why"?

Here is a link to a diagram on how to make an origami mushroom from a square piece of paper. It is a simple example of Art Production. If you come into class with one I'll give you an extra credit grade.



Art History

Art History is learning about art and artists from the past. Art History is not just "who made what when," but is the history of objects and the history of people through art. Works of art provide a unique documentation of cultural changes throughout history. Studying historical works not only gives us insights into the past, but can also provide valuable insights and information about the present.

Obviously, when we were studying Picasso's Guernica we were learning about art from the past. We will be doing a lot of this.



Art Criticism


"All profoundly original art looks ugly at first." - Clement Greenberg

Art criticism is the study and evaluation of art. It is making judgments about art. There are 4 steps to Art Criticism:

Describe - what things are in the painting? Think of things like clothing, environment, etc.

Analyze - how are the elements of line, shape, form, texture, space and value used? How are the principles of unity pattern, rhythm, variety, balance, emphasis and proportion used?

Interpret - what is the artist trying to say to you? What is going on in the picture or artwork?

Decide- What do I think about this artwork? Do I like it? Why or why not?How do I feel about whether the artist was successful in conveying an idea?

We will do more on this.


Aesthetics

Aesthetics (also esthetics) is the philosophy of beauty and art. Philosophical questions about art seem to be unanswerable. What is art? What is good art? What is beauty? It is important in the study of art that students engage their brains, think about what they are doing, learning, and feeling about their art and the art of others. In studying art through aesthetic questioning, the answer is not important. The act of working through the puzzle provided by the question is extremely important.


Learn these terms. I will be using them all year. I plan to post again this weekend. Stay tuned.