11/11/2013

Beginning Drawing

-I had a couple students lose drawings to the wind. Reiterate the fact they need to create a stable portfolio to hold all of their drawings at the beginning of the semester by requiring they bring cardboard (I’ll provide duct / packaging tape) to class to create a portfolio.

General Art History

-Consider decreasing the proportion of points the tests are worth and / or providing the study guide EARLIER in a given unit.

General Art

-I’ve switched the “flipbook” project to an “animated GIF” project. Overall, I think this will be a positive move, however, it is going to be a substantial undertaking. In the future, it will be useful to show students Adobe Photoshop in the “photo-book” project. That way, students will have some prior experience with the program before they use it for the “animated GIF” project. As it stands, I have to show them quite a bit for this project (scanning, uploading photos, resolution, basic tools, etc.).

12/2/2013

Well… Given the Thanksgiving Break… We only had half a week last week. There weren’t any EARTHSHATTERING breakthroughs in that time, however, the break provides a little time for reflection. It seems the biggest observation with the farthest-reaching ramifications is the idea of introducing the final projects (as applicable to a given class) BEFORE break. This allows students to go into the break knowing what is to come for the rest of the semester (no surprises!). It also gives them time to utilize the break to work if need be (or not). The choice is there’s. Even if they don’t work, it provides the opportunity to mull over ideas so that they might incubate and develop, presumably, so we can hit the ground running upon their return.

11/25/2013

Beginning Drawing

-Consider holding individual conferences with students after they submit drawings to discuss their grades (beyond the typed feedback / rubric / group critique). Students could even “sign up” for a time slot.

Introduction to Printmaking

-Individual conferences (see “Beginning Drawing” section)

-Scheduling the second to last critique as an individual critique that coincides with an individual conference regarding the final project is the way to go. Students get more attention from me regarding previous work, and we can plan for the final project.

2D Foundations

-I introduced the final project before concluding the current project (which isn’t weighted heavier than previous projects, as is the case in other classes - the final project in 2D is simply the last project). Given the fact we lost a day for the visiting artist as well as student conferences, the students were at varying places in the current project. Some of theme needed more time for the current project while others could use the time to get started on the final project. I don’t know if it’s the way to go for the final 2D project in every circumstance, but it’s a good strategy for such scheduling challenges (in any class).

General Art History

-Due to time constraints, I may eliminate one chapter (chapter 20). I did this in the face-to-face version of this class in the spring as well. In the future, I would prefer not to do this.

General Art

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11/19/2013

Beginning Drawing

-I think allowing students an extra week on the final project will be useful for them. They can still develop drawing for their in-class portfolio (if need be), but they can also invest more into the final project.

Introduction to Printmaking

-It seems as though the solar plates we currently have are better suited to “relief” etching. The thick level of emulsion is a key indicator. I didn’t see a different product on the site, however, Ron indicated there might be.

2D Foundations

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General Art History

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General Art

-A student recommended I conduct collaborative demonstrations in the sense that students create as I create (They bind a book as I bind a book, they work with a material as I work with a material, etc.).

-The Premo Sculpey is VERY hard. It can be worked (conditioned), however, I should warn students before they buy. It might actually work best in a reductive manner.

-For the Sculpey demo it was good to bring Sculpey at different states (baked and soft). As a reminder, you showed the following: Slab construction, additive building, reductive carving, armature (wire / Aluminum foil), sanding, and painting (including tape masking). Bring a wax paper sheet next time.

11/11/2013

Beginning Drawing

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Introduction to Printmaking

-REALLY stress paper size in terms of registering paper for the multiple color linoleum block printing. Paper NEEDS to be the same size (some students are printing on non-rectangular sheets of paper

-Instill a greater sense of editioning and paper size throughout the semester. Students generally tear their paper much too small.

-Sharpie from preliminary drawings on linoleum blocks transfer. Recommend students wash thoroughly before printing. Perhaps a pencil drawing is better.

-Don’t soak paper before printing linoleum blocks. Soaking helps transfer the ink, however, it also resizes the paper (which negatively impacts the registration system)

-Dark transparencies need a longer exposure / Lighter transparencies need a shorter exposure

2D Foundations

-I probably tried to cram too much into the first day of Logo Mojo (technical presentation, concept presentation, technical demo, and brainstorm may be too much). Consider starting with the brainstorm first. I ran out of time, and it was rushed and not nearly as effective as in the past. That way, if we run out of time, I can simply skip the technical presentation (and still do the technical demonstration).

General Art History

-For the weeks of the Unit #2 and Unit #3 Tests it has worked well to simply allow students to study and take the test. Previously, I have assigned a “Sketchbook Assignment” as well as  “Discussion Thread.” There are plenty of weeks in the semester to get through those assignments / threads. No need to pile on the week of a test.

General Art

-For the fabric project, show needle felting too.

-Consider structuring the class in a way in which you give the assignment the week before so student can not only bring in materials pertaining to the project, but bring in SPECIFIC materials for their ideas. This is especially relevant to the fabric proejct. It is all well and good for them to bring in fabric – however, once they know what their idea is they will need specific fabric for their specific idea.

11/4/2013

Beginning Drawing

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Introduction to Printmaking

-Solar plates can be a challenge. Ron has indicated their exposure / development has varied from semester to semester. “Printmaking in the Sun” (Dan Welden) is a useful reference text that essentially serves as an instruction manual. Even as I showed students transparencies, plates, and prints – there was great confusion about the process. The major issue seemed to be that students didn’t realize there was an exposure component AND a development component (so many questions came after the exposure discussion that students didn’t realize there was another step that visibly / physically changes the plate). Give students 2 plates to work with (a 5X7 inch plate costs $10). Group this with the relief project and give students 2 linoleum blocks to work with as well. Here are a couple thoughts on solar plates:

-Transparencies need to be much, much, much lighter in value than you would think (based on experience with any other photochemical process).

-Open biting occurs when an area on the image you wish to be black is exposed and reveals a recessed open space that won’t hold ink (and therefore prints white). Texture is required to make it print black. Therefore the “double” exposure (1) one minute for a halftone / texture directly on the plate 2) second exposure for image) is required. This is also why transparencies need to be light in value.

-In a transparency, the image area blocks light, dissolves in solvent (water), creates texture, and prints darker.

-In a transparency, the negative area receives light, hardens, remains after the solvent application, remains smooth, and holds less ink.

-There is both a “relief” exposure / development and an “intaglio” exposure / development. The intaglio method is more akin to other photo-printmaking techniques. The “relief” exposure essentially creates a negative of the transparency. The dark areas in a transparency rinse away in the developer, creating recessed areas in the plate that don’t print. The areas that remain are rolled with ink and print.

2D Foundations

-Students had mixed results painting their forms directly for the “Not Another Color Wheel” project (as opposed to painting color swatches and cutting shapes from them). The advantage is that it’s more direct. The disadvantage is the technical objectives suffer (opacity, homogenous mixtures, etc.).

General Art History

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General Art

-Showing one stitch and one book form was an effective use of time. Consider creating a presentation with a number of other book forms. I think there would have been enough time to create paste paper in class as well. Consider purchasing a class set of sewing needles and threads / ribbon.

Beginning Drawing

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Introduction to Printmaking

-Exposures for solar plates seem to vary semester by semester. This is largely a trial and error process. Although Ron Medina has taken extensive notes for previous classes, his classes have had to find the appropriate exposure for both the aquatint (first exposure) and the image (second exposure) each time. The aquatint provides texture all over the plate and the image establishes value / textures in specific areas of the plate.

2D Foundations

-In the “Not Another Color Wheel” project, students have been interested in directly painting their forms on paper (as opposed to painting separate swatches, cutting out forms, and collaging them down). I am skeptical (I fear this will limit their ability to mix appropriate color, which is the primary thrust of the project). Let’s see how it turns out.

General Art History

-There were two issues with D2L this week. One pertains to Sketchbook #8, and the second pertains to Test #2. After seven successful weeks creating dropboxes and discussion threads, I created a dropbox for Sketchbook #8 only to find that 2 (of 25 students) submitted work. Although I found it odd, I graded accordingly and waited for student feedback. Based on the emails I received, it seems as though some students saw 2 dropboxes for Sketchbook #8. I’m not sure if there was an issue linking the dropbox to a grade item, if I inadvertently created 2 different dropboxes (when I logged in as a student, I only saw 1), if it’s student error, or if there was a technical error with D2L. All I know is that it was incredibly frustrating, and I haven’t seen such confusion in the class all semester. The second issue was isolated to a single student. In the set of 10 random questions the student received for the test, the student indicated she felt there should have been an image associated with the question that wasn’t there. I’m working with Tammarra Holmes to resolve this issue. Let’s hope next week goes smoother.

General Art

-As expected, “Logo Mojo” seems to be a challenging project for students in regard to the concept / idea. The class brainstorm session is useful. Let’s see how they perform before making any modifications to simplify.

Beginning Drawing

-Students are really into reductive drawing. It really opens up some possibilities in terms of value, texture, and mark-making. I wouldn’t mind introducing it earlier, but students really do need to have a lot of support experience before that happens.  

Introduction to Printmaking

-Find other means to attach collograph materials to plate besides gloss varnish.

-Continue to develop ways for students to work outside of class (as they don’t have access to the press outside of class). The loan system with tools works well. The outside drawing / writing assignments also work well. For the collograph project specifically, I may need to require they purchase gloss varnish so they can create plates outside of class (and print them during class). I could also set up some loan system for the varnish, but I’d need multiple smaller bottles of varnish to make this happen (as opposed to one big bottle). This wouldn’t be as economical. I could find some re-sealable generic bottles to hold the varnish, number them, and loan them out.

2D Foundations

-Introducing color in project #4 is a good move (ie – introducing fall 2012’s project #6 as fall 2013’s project #4). It breaks up (what can be) the monotony of black and white design and allows students to use the color theory knowledge introduced in project #4 in the other color project (project #5).

General Art History

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General Art

-Reiterate the attendance policy and “late” work policy EVERY class. Because this class only meets once per week, students tend to forget this

-Create a dropbox where students submit their “late pass” (they get one each semester). This allows them to turn their project in up to one week late without penalty. I don’t accept late work outside of this. Integrate this policy into the syllabus.

Spring 2014

-I need to find a way to advocate for both my illustration and watercolor classes (so they make minimum enrollment). Some ideas include: setting up a booth in the student center, open house, demo in art gallery, flyers, visiting with students in other classes, and advertising in my own classes.

In an attempt to get up to speed with the semester thus far, I am going to list various challenges I’ve come across, changes I have made this semester (or plan on implementing in future semesters), and other thoughts. I will look at each class I am teaching individually.

Beginning Drawing

-Introducing the “analytical” and “intuitive” way of approaching observational drawing (as well as a mix of both) seems to help students really learn the material. You have done this in the past, but you should really stress these terms.

-Create a cardboard viewfinder with students in class: http://donnayoung.org/art/sighting.htm

-In the “cross contour” line drawing exercise, don’t require that students draw “around” objects. Simply draw cross contour lines on the surface they see.

-Use the more expensive Canson paper for the drawings with black and white materials on a neutral value (gray) sheet of paper. The cheaper posterboard does receive drawing materials well enough (you get what you pay for).

-Decreasing the number of assignments has worked well, however, be sure to communicate that the weekly vocabulary / drawing needs to have more investment.

Introduction to Printmaking

-Introduce monoprinting first (before drypoint / etching). This is a process more similar to painting (a medium more students are familiar with, even if they have no printmaking experience). This will get them comfortable with studio procedures and equipment in a more

-Integrate more specifics into the project requirements in the first half of the semester (even though the first half is largely technical exploration). Each technique will be couple with a general theme. Students will be required (this is more closely aligned with what I expect in my other classes will make expectations more concrete). (I AM DOING THIS)

-Student fees cover supplies in the cabinets as well as Rives BFK printmaking paper.

-For the second half of the semester, introduce an exchange portfolio (on top of the long-term project).

-Encourage exploration OUTSIDE of the theme as well (for technical sake).

-Show lots of REAL prints.

-Require students to make one presentation using artists / projects they research on printeresting.org.

2D Foundations

-Breaking the longer “Composition” presentation into shorter chunks (relevant to specific project objectives) and presenting more frequently has worked better than introducing the entire presentation at the beginning of the semester (and attempting to reference it throughout).

-“Donald in Mathmagic Land” is terribly useful for explaining the Golden Ratio.

General Art History

-Ensure the sketchbook assignments and discussion threads align with the material covered each week.

-My organization seems to have worked very well (this is my first online class). I haven’t received “I’m confused about…” emails since the first week. The weekly emails / announcements have been useful.

General Art

-The 2 presentations for the “Line Wars” projects take too long. Present “Focal Point and Dynamics” and require students look at the “Line” presentation on their own outside of class.

-You don’t have time to teach observational drawing AND linear perspective in one day (I’m not sure why I thought this was even possible). Either add another day for linear perspective, or toss it out altogether.

-Students need an unbelievable amount of precautionary warnings regarding the dangers of XActo Blades. WAY more than you would think.

-Reiterate early and often the attendance policy and the fact that no late work is accepted (students need to make arrangements to turn in work before the due date if they anticipate missing class).