Art 8-Continued Still-Life and Hatching Fun

Students will complete a 9×12 final still-life using red hatching ink and a 4×6 section of the final using black hatching ink.

Art 7-Still-Continued "Howli-day" Card Fun

The 7th grade students are still working on the Montgomery Humane Society’s “Howli-day” card. Students are creating 3 sketches in their sketch books. Students will complete each sketch in color. We will discuss them and one will be chosen for the final to be completed in color on an 8×10 sheet of drawing paper.

Art 6- "Howli-Day" Card Contest

The 6th grade students are working on the Montgomery Humane Society’s “Howli-day” card. Students are creating 3 sketches in their sketch books. Students will complete each sketch in color. We will discuss them and one will be chosen for the final to be completed in color on an 8×10 sheet of drawing paper. Pictures will be posted soon! :-)

Photography 1-Pinhole Fun

Photography I students are still trying to create the perfect negative with their Pinhole cameras. They have to complete at least 15 negatives and choose their six best negatives to turn into positives. Below is showing students logging their negatives in their notebooks, taking pictures with their cameras, and developing in the darkroom.

Here is an example of a pretty perfect pinhole negative by a student.

Photography II- Getting Ready for the Alabama National Fair

Photography II students are finishing up editing their photographs for the Alabama National Fair Photography Exhibition. Students photographs will go to print at the end of this week. Below is a sneak peek of what our Photography II students have taken and edited so far.

Photography II

Photography II is fun because it consists of returning students from my Photography 1 class. They have gotten the basics of photography using film cameras and are now ready to move into using digital cameras and photo editing software.

We began with a review of shutter speed, aperture, and the manual settings on the camera. The students are not allowed to use the canned settings that are on their Nikon SLR. They have to shoot every photograph using only manual settings which also includes manual focus. Students had to take notes on digital photography  vocabulary, digital settings, and the importance of the Rule of Thirds.

Our Photography II students are getting ready for the Photography Exhibition for the Alabama National Fair. Their assignment is to take pictures that can fit in the three categories offered in the student division. The categories are People, Pictorial, and Unclassified.

Students are also learning how to use Photoshop to edit their photographs. So far, we have touched on file saving, key commands, color correction, straightening, hue/saturation, vintage effects, lens correction, and lens blur.

Below are photographs taken by Photography II students.

Photography 1

Photography 1 is a fun class! Most of my students have NEVER used a film camera or a dark room and I get to be the person to introduce it to them! That is what I love about teaching Photography 1.

This course takes the student through the history of photography, camera handling, camera functions, developing film, developing pictures, how to use a dark room, how to use an enlarger, etc…

We began the year taking notes, learning vocabulary, and the history of photography. We turned my classroom into a “Camera Obscura”, so that when the students created their own pinhole camera they would understand what was happening inside of their own camera. Students were to bring in a box, oatmeal can, or tea can to create their pinhole camera. Students had to make their camera light tight by spraying the inside with a flat black spray paint so that light would not refract when it entered the box/can. Then students had to make an aperture using a piece of aluminum can and a needle. Students then used black duck tape on the outside to make sure light would not leak into their box/can and used the duck tape to make a shutter to cover their aperture.

I demonstrated how to make a pinhole camera, how to fill it with photographic paper in the darkroom, how to take a picture, how to develop using photographic chemicals, how to dry and store their negative.

Students are in the process now of taking pictures using their pinhole cameras. Students have to log every picture they take onto a pinhole camera log in sheet. This allows them to track location, weather conditions, time shutter was open, and if their negative was under/over exposed or perfect. Students will take 20 negatives and then pick the six best negatives to convert into positives.

Photographs are showing a students negative, log-in sheet, and notes. Also, shown is a student taking pictures with their pinhole camera.

Art 8-Still-Life and Hatching

The 8th graders are returning to the Art Department for another year and we have added new faces to the class as well. I am always excited to have my return students and equally excited to meet my new 8th graders!

The eighth grade art program begins with a review of the elements and principles of design. The program will include a study of 20th century abstract art. The photography component will include the history of photography as well as an investigation of important photographers. Students will explore black and white photography using a variety of techniques.

Students have taken notes on Giorgio Morandi, one of the greatest 20th-century masters of still-life and landscape painting. Students drew looking at a still-life. Students had to duplicate a smaller section of their drawing onto a smaller sheet of drawing paper. Students watched as I demonstrated how to use indian ink, ink pen, and create hatching marks using value. Students will complete a 9×12 final still-life using red hatching ink and a 4×6 section of the final using black hatching ink.

Above is a student hatching their still-life drawing using indian ink and pen.

Above is a student hatching their still-life drawing using indian ink and pen.

Art 7-Still-Life and "Howli-day" Card

The 7th graders are returning to the Art Department for another year and we have added new faces to the class as well. I am always excited to have my return students and equally excited to meet my new 7th graders!

This semester course will review the elements and principles of design as well as aspects of aesthetics and criticism. It will include a study of American art. Techniques of acrylic painting will be explored and watercolor techniques will be reviewed.

We have begun by taking notes on a very well known American artist, Georgia O’Keeffe. The students are drawing different still-life objects each day and will put them together creating a 3D effect.

The 7th grade students are also working on the Montgomery Humane Society’s “Howli-day” card. Students are creating 3 sketches in their sketch books. Students will complete each sketch in color. We will discuss them and one will be chosen for the final to be completed in color on an 8×10 sheet of drawing paper.

Above is a student working hard on their "Howli-day" Card design in their class notebook.

Above is a student working hard on their "Howli-day" Card design in their class notebook.

Above is a student working hard on their "Howli-day" Card design in their class notebook.

Above is an unfinished drawing of a still-life by a 7th grade student.

Art 6- Line Design

It is the first time for the sixth graders to enter the Art Department in the Saint James Middle School. It is exciting! We begin the year with The Elements of Art (line, value, texture, shape, form, space, and color). The students take notes before every project. Their notes last Monday were on the element of Line.

We discussed:

A line is a path that a point takes through space. Lines can be thick, thin, dotted or solid. They can make straight movements, zig-zags, waves or curls.

• Lines can convey emotion as well. They may show excitement, anger, calmness, tension, happiness and many other feelings, because of this, some are said to be expressive.
• Other lines that are very measured, geometric, directional and angular are called Constructive lines. They tend to appear to be man-made because of their precision. 

In the students sketch books they had to come up with 5 sketches of a line design using a variety of lines such as, thick, thin, horizontal, vertical, diagonal, zig-zag, curvy, dotted, dashed, and curly. After they completed their sketches we discussed them and one was chosen for their final which was completed on a 9×12 sheet of drawing paper using pencil and sharpie marker.

Above is showing a students notes, five sketches and final line design.

Above is showing a students notes, five sketches and final line design.

Above is a group shot of the 6th grade class line design.

Photography II

An unedited photograph taken by a Photography II student while learning how to use a Nikon digital camera on all manual settings (changing aperture, shutter speed, and manually focusing).

Beginning a New Year

I would like to take this opportunity to tell you how excited I am about the 2011-2012 school year!

2010-2011 brought some very positive changes to the Visual Art and Photography Department. The exciting announcement of 62+ art show winners on the local, state, regional, and national levels. Also, the Photography Department was granted  funds to purchase brand new Nikon digital cameras for the Photography II class. All of this is part of what makes this program successful. This has also happened because of the tremendous support of our parents!

This year has started out great and we are hitting the road running with our 6th and 7th graders beginning their designs for the Montgomery Humane Society “Howli-day” card, 8th graders working on still-life drawings for the Alabama National Fair Exhibit, High school Photography I class experiencing what it is like to be in a “Camera Obscura” and building their own pinhole cameras, and High School Photography II taking and editing photographs to enter into the Photography Exhibition for the Alabama National Fair.

I know this will be a wonderful and productive year for all of the Saint James Visual Art/Photography students and thank you for your gracious and continued support.

Mrs. Shoults