2011
SUMMER WORK
ENTERING ART :: 5
DUE THE 1ST DAY OF SCHOOL

This summer, you will be required to create a minimum of 3 works of art that are all somewhat connected by either the medium, theme, or style. You will also be required to write a cohesive artist’s statement about the work that you have created. That statement must be printed and ready to be handed in with your 3 works of art on the first day of school. As you begin to think about your work this summer, consider building off of what worked well for you in Art 4.

Please do not wait until the last two weeks of summer to get started. I’ve been teaching long enough to know that several of you will actually wait to the last minute and will turn in artwork that you aren’t proud of. Those of you who take this seriously, and work hard to create conceptually and aesthetically sound works, will be much better prepared when the Scholastics Competition comes around.

Please know that you are not required to make paintings or drawings. Art comes in many forms… sculpture, installation, video, etc. Take risks and don’t be afraid to try a non-traditional form of art. I’m more likely to celebrate risks taken than I am anything else.

When we return from the summer break, we will jump right into the critique of the work you created over the summer. Do not think of this summer work as something that is meant to keep you busy. Instead, think of this work as a competition for a juried exhibition that will take place upon your return to school. You and your peers will evaluate the merit of each student's “body of work” that was created this summer, and as a group you will decide which 5 students works are conceptual and technical enough to be showcased in our gallery for the first two months of school.

The Art 5 Two-Person exhibition series will begin on the first Friday of November. There will be a new two-person exhibition on the first Friday of each month thereafter. A lottery will determine when each Art 5 student will exhibit her work..

Finally, as you prepare to get started on this summer work, consider the familiar list of possible topics that I have pasted below. What you choose, and how you choose to do it is completely up to you. Read through each of these possible themes, and take the time to brainstorm what could be done. Good luck with this project. I look forward to seeing what each of you will create.

POSSIBLE TOPICS TO EXPLORE

1: Place
In the Landscape
Landscape & Place
Ode to a View
Public Façades, Private Interiors
Understanding Home

2: Spirituality
Re-Making Myths
What is the meaning of Spirituality?
Spirituality through color and scale

3: Identity
Cartoon Commentary
Characters & Caricatures
Honoring Heroes & History
Migrating Viewpoints
New Rituals
The Alter-Ego Saves the Day
The Face of Fame
Wartime Voices
Looking at Likeness
Digital identity vs Reality

4: Consumption
Mediating Media
New Tools, New Materials
Consumption in America
The Habits of Consumption

5: Stories
Arbitrary, Made Meaningful
Untold Personal Accounts
Honoring Heroes & History
Migrating Viewpoints
Remaking Myths
Understanding Home
Wartime Voices
Describing the Real
Personal Stories in the Public
Systems & Styles

6: Loss & Desire
Systems & Styles
War on Film
Confronting Conflict

7: Time
Landscape & Place
Ode to a View
The Face of Fame
Impermanence and Fleeting

8: Humor
Cartoon Commentary
Converging Media
Visual Puns
Funny to some, offensive to others

9: Power
Cartoon Commentary
Personal Stories in the Public
The Face of Fame
Mediating Media
Confronting Conflict

10: Memory
Describing the Real
Looking at Likeness
Understanding Home
Traditional Crafts, Contemporary Ideas
Remaking Myths
Honoring Heroes & History
Wartime Voices

11: Structures
Converging Media
Systems and Styles
Mediating Media
New Tools, New Materials

12: Play
Cartoon Commentary
Characters & Caricatures
The Alter-Ego Saves the Day
New Rituals

13: Play
Protest
Romance
Paradox
Ecology