Course Objectives


Drawing and Painting 1 Course Expectations
        
Welcome to the Drawing and Painting Studio.  I hope your experience in here will be as positive as possible.  In order to help make it a successful journey, there are specific expectations in this studio.


This course operates on the principle of reciprocity.  
willingness to expand + explore + persistence + time : : your gain and what you take away from this course

This is NOT a time for you to complete your Biology lab, cram for your history exam, or share answers to your French homework.  The focus will be the VISUAL ARTS.  Gather your materials right away when you enter, complete any posted journal entries, and come into class prepared with your homework done, and ready to work with an open mind.  Use your class time to work on your assignments-it is counterproductive to cram work into the last minutes of studio.  


Be personally invested--participate, contribute, and sincerely learn.  The quality of your experience in here depends on your presence, initiative, attitude, attentiveness, and your time management.  This includes the following behaviors.   

Be punctual and show initiative by being prepared.  Check the board for journal entries and needed materials, and follow instructions promptly.

Treat our space as a shared work space--clean up after yourself, put materials back where they belong so others have access to them, and keep your work, files, and portfolios organized and in their proper place.  Please don’t interrupt another student being helped unless it is a medical emergency.  Be “other-centered.”

Organize your time in studio and plan ahead by setting goals.  Keep up with your work, and use your assignment notebooks.  

Respect yourself and others in words and actions.  Be supportive, kind, and consider your studio mates’ minds, bodies, and spirits.  Help make our studio a safe and comfortable environment for all by avoiding inappropriate, hurtful, or racist language and actions.  Help each other.

Be attentive and quiet during lectures and demonstrations.  

Respect the art materials.   They are expensive, and were bought with the expectation that you will take care of them and use them properly.  If you demonstrate that you cannot, you will have to buy your own.

Be responsible for your actions.  

Feel safe enough to take creative risks and make honest mistakes!  It is the only way that you will learn.


Extra Help
Extra help is always available before or after school if arranged in advance.  ALWAYS ASK FOR HELP WHEN YOU NEED IT.   I’m happy to help you.  I want to see you succeed in this course.   If you want to e-mail me with questions or want to arrange time to work, please do so.   You can always redo an assignment or fix it for a better grade within a given time period.  Again, reference the equation on the other side.  


Visual Art Standards & Grading Policy
There are five standards that students consistently strive to exceed in this visual arts course.  

Standard 1: Communication and Expression:       The artist conveys a specific message or intent (through his or her work).

Standard 2: Design, Layout, and Composition:    The artist comprehends and makes strong compositional layout, and design choices.

Standard 3: Materials, Tools, and Techniques:   The artist utilizes materials, tools, and techniques properly and consistently and considers their overall craftsmanship.

Standard 4: Critique and Reflection: The artist expresses intentions and processes, and gives appropriate and constructive feedback to his or her peers.      

Standard 5: Professionalism: The artist conducts him or herself in a professional manner

Passing in all assignments IN FULL and homework, on time, is a basic expectation of this course.  Attach your completed assessment to your assignments and other required preparatory exercises/worksheets.

        Your final grade will be based on the successful completion of the process and prep assignments, the larger long term assignments with the completed assessments, homework, your journal entries, AND your professionalism in this course.   All assignments will be given with a list of criteria needed for the assignment to be completed successfully so that you know exactly what will be expected of you.  See the grading sheet for more details, please.

In the case of an absence, you’re responsible for making up work after school or at home.
        
This class includes a final reflection, so please be forewarned.  

A note about the Professionalism standard:  This standard is designed to help the students learn professional characteristics important in any discipline or endeavor.  When a student does not turn in an assignment, traditional grading methods would indicate a zero.  That belies that the student can’t meet the standard or has achieved proficiency in it.  However, as a life skill taught in formal education, there needs to be consequences for such behavior.  Scores for late assignments are the same as if they were turned in on time; however, the bottom-line grade reflects this behavior at a rate commensurate with the degree to which the student was guilty of such offenses over the course of the term in question, since it is reflected in the Professionalism standard.


Cheating and plagiarism.
        Read the rules and about cheating and plagiarism in your student handbook.  This is a serious issue and any offense will result in serious consequences for the student.  In an art studio, this can take on the form of passing in other’s drawings or work, cheating on formal assessments (tests and quizzes), plagiarizing text, and using photographic references for work without documentation.

        If you don’t have your work done, don’t make excuses.  Just get it done and turn it in.  Some points taken off for professionalism is better than dropping a whole letter grade for the term.  



“The joy, if you want to call it that, of creation, is that it opens up life to you…It opens and you become more aware and more aware and that is the wonder of it.”  
                                                                        -Louise Nevelson

Artists don’t jump at the first idea and then stop.  Learn to investigate and explore objects and ideas from several viewpoints.  Make thumbnail sketches to understand that your first idea is not the only idea, nor is it the best idea.  Expand on an idea to avoid the most obvious solution or clichés.  Stand of your head or lie on the ground to look through another viewpoint.   Challenge yourself by using a material that you have never used before.  All of these things are about investigating and exploring.  The artist Matthew Barney talks about investigating an idea to the point that it is exhausted—that he can’t do anything more with it or to it.  Remember this.

Label and keep everything that is given to you or done by you, even if it is not successful.
       
        Brainstorming, thumbnails, brief sketches, and “mistakes” are all part of your process, helping you create solutions and learn.  Don’t throw anything away!  You have your own file folder for this purpose.  Use it to help you stay organized.