AP Studio Art 3D Syllabus

Course Description:

The AP Studio Art portfolios are designed for students who are seriously interested in the
practical experience of art. AP Studio Art is not based on a written exam; instead, students
submit portfolios for evaluation at the end of the school year.

AP Studio Art students work with diverse media, styles, subjects, and content. Each of the
portfolios consists of three sections:

- The Breadth section illustrates a range of ideas and approaches to art making,
demonstrating a variety of skill sets
- The Concentration section shows sustained investigation of a student-selected,
personally relevant topic.
- The Quality section represents the students most successful works with respect
to form and content.

Students will be expected to solve creative problems using their knowledge of elements and
principles of design in the 3D design course. They will be working at a college-level to
develop and demonstrate mastery of concept, composition, and execution of personal
themes and ideas through three-dimensional mediums. Students will use a range of
conceptual approaches as well as show technical skill in a variety of mediums and familiarity
of traditional and contemporary approaches to art. Class assignments will challenge
students to set and achieve creative goals. The expectation is that the student will be
involved in a sustained investigation of all three aspects of portfolio development: quality,
concentration, and breadth.

Instructor Goals:

1. To promote a sustained investigation of all three aspects of the portfolio quality,

concentration, and breadth.

2. To enable students to work toward developing mastery in concept, composition, and

execution of drawing, at a college level.

3. To enable students to develop a body of work investigating the underlying visual

ideas in drawing, through a coherent plan of action or investigation (a
concentration), through use of outlines, sketches, and annotations in sketchbook.

4. To teach students a variety of concepts and approaches in drawing so that the

student is able to demonstrate range of abilities and versatility with technique,
problem-solving, and ideation.

5. To emphasize making art as an ongoing process that involves the student in informed
and critical decision making.

6. To engage in group and individual student critiques, instructional conversations with

the teacher, and enable students to learn to analyze and discuss their own artworks
and those of their peers.

7. To teach students to understand artistic integrity as well as what constitutes

plagiarism.
Portfolio:

The 3D portfolio focuses on three dimensional design issues, involving purposeful decision
making about how to use the elements and principles of art in an integrative way. In the 3D
portfolio, students demonstrate their understanding of the design principles as they relate to
the integration of depth and space, volume and surface. The principles of design
(unity/variety, balance, emphasis, contrast, rhythm, repetition, proportion/scale, and
occupied/unoccupied space) can be articulated through the visual elements (mass, volume,
color/light, form, plane, line, texture). Consider any 3D medium including but not limited to
figurative or nonfigurative sculpture, architectural models, metal work, ceramics, glass work,
installation, performance, assemblage and 3D fabric/fiber arts. There is no preferred (or
unacceptable) style or content.

Below are the three sections of the portfolio, with descriptions and requirements for
submission:

Quality: Contains 10 digital images, consisting of 2 views from 5 selected works of

art to be uploaded to College Board for grading.

These works should demonstrate understanding and mastery of three-dimensional

design in concept (ideas and themes), composition (arrangement of space using
elements and principles), and execution (technical skill). The works should be college-
level pieces that are the best representation of your personal ideas and skills. Since
the quality pieces for 3D portfolio are not sent in, there is no limit to size or material.
The 5 works can be from concentration or breadth, but do not have to be.

Concentration: Contains 12 digital images (some can be details or second views).

A concentration is a body of work describing an in-depth exploration of a particular

3D design concern. This is where you will come up with a theme that is personally
relevant to you, and you will create a variety of works of art that connect to that
theme. You will be working with teacher to discuss and develop your theme and come
up with plans on how to truly investigate the theme through your artwork. Works
such as the 3D artist trading cards will help you understand how to explore one
theme through multiple works of art. Works such as a self-portrait assemblage will
help you explore and inform your interests in order to come up with a concentration
theme that is relevant and interesting to you. The exploration should show growth
within your concentration, should show focus and direction, and must be original
works of art. Creative problem solving should be evident through works, and all
pieces included should clearly tie to the concentration. Avoid clich themes such as
"the emotions of my friends" or "sunrises and sunsets". Ideas to consider are specific
memories, your own personal experiences, manipulated self-portraits,
social/environmental/political issues you are deeply invested in, or other themes that
you personally connect with.

In addition to your images, you will need to respond to two prompts describing your
concentration. One prompt will ask you to clearly and simply state the central idea of
your concentration. This should be developed early on in the year as it will give
direction to the actual works of art. The second prompt will ask you to explain how
your works demonstrate your intent and the sustained investigation of your idea. You
are able to refer to specific images as examples in the explanation.

Breadth: Contains 16 digital images, consisting of 2 views from 8 different works of

art.
 The breadth section of your portfolio will contain a variety of works demonstrating a
range of conceptual and/or technical approaches. You should clearly show
experimentation, exploration, inventiveness, expressive manipulation of form, and
knowledge of compositional organization. You may choose to use a single media or a
variety of media, but if you choose a single media, you still must show a range of
approaches, techniques, compositions, and subjects.

These works of art must be DIFFERENT than the works of art in your concentration
section. Submitting the same work of art in both sections will negatively affect your
score.

Plagiarism:

Students must submit only work that they have created, void of the intellectual ideas or
work of others. This means students may not use someone elses work, internet images, or
images found elsewhere (published or not) as the basis of their own artwork. If students
produce work that makes use of photographs, published images, and/or other artist's work,
the students' work must be developed so that it moves beyond duplication by using
significant alteration to the original. Students can avoid this by creating work based on their
own life, photographs, ideas, and imagery. We will have class discussion about situations
that exemplify plagiarism, how artists could have avoided plagiarism in their work, and how
students can keep their own voice in their artwork. A key to being successful in artwork is
placing artistic integrity and ethical decision making at the forefront of the art making
process.

Class Timeline:

First semester will involve creating a mini-concentration in the form of either a set of 3D
artist cards, or an altered book, where the student will be able to start to explore what idea
they might want to consider for their portfolio concentration. Students will also be creating
the majority of their breadth pieces, will decide on their concentration, and will begin
concentration works.

September - mini concentration, self portrait assemblage, a sculpture showing

transparency, 1 additional breadth piece (your choice), meet with teacher to look at
past work to be potentially used in AP portfolio

October - Reduction piece (sculture from clay or plaster, or other mediums to be

discussed with teacher), A piece connecting manmade figures with nature, and 1-2
additional breadth pieces, begin brainstorming concentration ideas in sketchbook

November - Meet with teacher to narrow down concentration to 2-3 ideas and
continue to develop in sketchbook, 2-3 breath pieces of your choice

December - Have your concentration selected, complete 1 concentration piece in

class, 1 concentration piece over by end of winter break, and work on any additional
breadth pieces

January - Work on 3 concentration pieces, 1 additional breadth or concentration

depending on what needs to be done

Second semester is going to be primarily focused on your concentration portfolio, and

finishing up any breadth pieces that you may be short on (you should have 12, or more to
choose from). These few months will go FAST since the portfolio is due at the beginning of
May. Students will be expected to work in and outside of class, making use of mentoring
time and after school studio hours when needed.

February - Work on 2-3 concentration pieces, class critique to select breadth pieces
for portfolio, upload breadth portfolio, meet with teacher to evaluate progress and
look at next steps in concentration

March - Work on 3-4 concentration pieces depending on how many you have
completed so far. You should have a minimum of 8 done by this point in time, and
more is better.

April - Last month to work on portfolio! Complete any missing components to your
whole portfolio (concentration or breadth), write artists statements for portfolio

May - Class critique and selection of 5 quality pieces to be sent for portfolio, submit
portfolios by end of first week of May. Work on artist website after portfolio is
submitted, contemporary artist research assignment

June - Studio clean up, contemporary artist research assignment due

Throughout the year expect to be creating sketches and preparatory work for each piece you
create, especially for your concentration works. The preparatory work can be used as a slide
to show the progress along the way to the piece. Often the process is equally, if not more
important, than the finished work. Additionally, expect to have regular critique including
individual, small group, whole class, and teacher critique. Participation in critiques is vital to
success in the class, and therefore works need to be done in a timely fashion so you can be
fully engaged. If you need time outside class to work, the studio is open during mentoring,
lunch on odd schedule days, and select days after school.

Assignments and Strategies for strong portfolios:

The following assignment ideas are good starting points for learning and mastering certain
mediums and techniques. They will also be used as a basis for discussing composition
through elements and principles of art. Specific methods will be taught in class and
demonstrated to students. Many assignments will require students to actively be seeking
and documenting things that they see and experience outside of the classroom, as well as
doing some research into contemporary artists working in the world.

Create a series of nine 3D artist trading cards that either fit together into a larger
composition (while still functioning as individual cards on their own), or create 9
individual pieces that have a similar theme or message. Theme or visual content must
somehow connect to a real-world news article about a social/political/economical issue
that you are interested in. You will also research a contemporary artist working in 3D
and use aspects of that style to create your compositions. Think outside the box as far
as mediums, and experiment with mixing multiple mediums together. Use clay, wire,
found objects, and/or anything else you want to try.
Create an altered book. This assignment should also involve research into a
contemporary artist. Use aspects of the artists style in your book to portray a theme or
message from a current news article about a social/political/economical issue that you
are interested in. Think about how you can cut and deconstruct the book. Include and
 utilize multiple mediums such as clay, wire, found objects, and anything else you might
want to try.
Create a wire sculpture as a means to activate three dimensional space. Use varied
thickness, color, shapes to create variety. Emphasize visual movement and the illusion
of solid mass by creating a three dimensional form.
Create a piece that demonstrated rhythm by using many of the same small object
arrange in an interesting and aesthetically pleasing way.
Create an assemblage that alters the materials beyond their original intent, and
manipulates proportion.
Create a series of vessels in clay (thrown, slab construction, or coil) that are arranged in
a single composition. Each vessel could have its own unique detail. Pay attention to
things like the lip, any handles, or lids.
Create an artwork that is meant to be placed in nature as an installation, or is created
out of nature. Document the piece decomposing or transforming in the natural world.
Create a non-functional teapot that has holes or other aspects to make it non-functional.
Start with a thrown pot on the wheel and add on hand-built aspect.
Use cardboard to make a large-scale abstract sculpture. Consider a variety of textures
and construction techniques, including but not limited to arches, ramps, towers, holes,
and more. Can be interactive if desired. Consider how the structure will work within the
space it is placed.
Research part of your own culture and create an artwork based on your culture. This can
be a totem, a clothing item, a thrown vessel, a carved wood sculpture, jewelry, or
something else that is three dimensional. Be sure to include some kind of cultural color
scheme, symbolism, or something else that ties to your culture.
Create a large vessel that has multiple additions or alterations that could include built in
pockets, loops, hand holes, or other parts to activate space.