The Introduction to Art class has been focusing on Goals 1 (understand and apply elements and principles of art) and 2 (understand, select and apply media, techniques and processes) this year so far.  The students have done projects that used the elements of line, value, and color and are beginning a project that introduces them the element of texture.

They have also learned about the principle of balance and over the next two cycles will focus on the principles of movement, unity, contrast and proportion.  They are also doing many writing assignments with the focus on learning how to properly critique their own and the works of others.  Critiquing is a sequence of 4 steps and so far our focus has been on describe and analyze.  The goal is to get the students to learn to look beyond the subject of a work and at the design elements and principles.  In essence they are learning how to express an opinion based on facts and that they do not necessarily have to like something in order to appreciate it.
 

              This work on this page is a radial balance design.  The students looked at traditional rose window and mandala designs from various countries and cultures.  They had to create a design, and choose a color scheme.  They used color pencil and the practice work included creating a color wheel using only three colored pencil – red, yellow and blue – they had to learn to mix the colored pencils in order to create other colors.  You can also see the work hanging up by the art room. 

go back