Tools Part 2 - End of Week 1 Update

We are coming to the end of the first week of the Tools Part 2, where we have been concentrating on working through a range of techniques. This weekend you should spend some time presenting and briefly annotating the work you have done so far in your sketchbooks.

A checklist of what you should have for the project so far is included below:

• Well presented research into Florian Nicolle (collages) and Jim Dine (tool drawings), thoughtfully presented over at least 4 sketchbook pages and including sensitive visual responses to each Artist.
• A series of dramatic photos of a single hand tool - print out contact sheet thumbnails of your whole shoot and include some of your best images (4-6) printed at A5 or A4.
• A well finished sustained piece of tonal drawing from your tool (full page).
• One or more good carbon print images based on your tool photos.
• Any quick sketches completed in class (not sure if both groups have done this).
• 2 Acetate collages, at least one of these should be worked into with machine stitching.
• 2 or more layered spray stencil experiments and developments from these using colour inversion on the copier.

As extension work it would be good to add diversity to your drawing by experimenting with other media, e.g. expressive ink work, fine liner or biro sketches.

Next week please bring £2.50 each as a contribution to materials for the project (the Spray Paints are the main specialist resource we need to fund), Thank You.

Techniques we will aim to cover next week are: monoprinting, gold card printing, heat press and PhotoShop image manipulation.

Tools Project - Supporting Research

For homework you need to research the Artist's detailed below, refer back to the post below (on Hockney's Joiners, for tips on structuring the written content and presentation of research). You should complete this work by Monday 1st October  at the latest.

Two pages of research into the Tool drawings of Jim Dine and the same for the mixed media collage work of Florian Nicolle - find good reproductions of their work, give a brief bit of background information about each Artist, provide some analysis and personal opinion on at least 2 specific images by each of them and make at least one visual response of your own to each Artist's work (this should be an interpretation of YOUR TOOL in the style of each Artist, not just a copy of one of their images).

Jim Dine

Florian Nicolle

Homework Drawing Task

To complement the work we are doing in class you should make a sustained full page pencil tonal drawing working from photos taken of the still life arrangement. You should aim to spend 4-5 hours on this drawing and complete it by Wednesday 20th September (it will be assessed as part of your project).
Select a good photographic image that is relatively complex (probably best to get something from a different viewpoint than your chalk and charcoal drawing). Set your composition out carefully with a B/HB pencil in line then add a range of tones using softer pencils (2B - 6B), make sure your darkest tones use the full depth of tone you can achieve (press hard).
This should be a sustained piece that shows off your drawing ability to the full, you might use a rubber to help you pick out the highlights.

Photographic Joiners

Don't forget to bring cameras/cameraphones/card readers/download cables in with you today (Thurs. 14th September).
You will also need to ensure you have some printing credit (or bring money to put some on your student card).

A few tips for when you do your photo joiners:

• It helps to take your photos all from approximately the same position. Move the camera to capture different sections, rather than wandering around - otherwise you may end up with a set of very disjointed images.
• Whilst you are going for a fragmented look if you vary the zoom or viewpoint too much the whole thing quickly becomes incoherent.
• You will be surprised at how many photos you need to make an effective joiner, as there is inevitably some that aren't useful - I'd suggest a minimum of 30 shots.
• I found when working at A3 scale (for final joiner collages) that selecting the "Wallet Prints" option from the printer wizard was the most effective - this gives you 9 images on an A4 printed page. 

Hockney Joiner Research

Photo Joiner by Hockney - Portrait of his Mother

You need to find and print out at least 4 examples of David Hockney’s “Photographic Joiners”. Research this aspect of his work and analyse at least 2 of the images you have found in depth. This work should be thoughtfully presented over at least 2 sketchbook pages.

The work will be assessed as part of your project submission, you need to finish it by Wednesday 19th September, as there will be fresh homework tasks next week.

RESEARCH

1. Title your pages with the Artist’s name, in this case David Hockney, you might consider using fonts available online from sites such as www.dafont.com


2. Find good examples of Hockney’s photographic joiners – not paintings and not tiny jpegs that print out pixellated.


3. Give a little background information on the Artist, when he was born, when he started to make his photographic collages and why.


4. Include quotations from the David Hockney (ideally that relate to his photographic work). Try www.artquotes.net

ANALYSIS

1. Give a detailed description of the artwork.


2. Analyse – comment upon use of colour, composition, technique/media, scale etc.

WRITTEN RESPONSE

1. Give an opinion on the Artworks, but ensure you justify what you say. Avoid simple value judgements (‘I really like/dislike…’) or vague, meaningless statements (’This piece is really effective’). Comment upon how successful or unsuccessful you find the artwork, and give specific reasons why you hold this opinion (I find this joiner particularly interesting because of the way in which the Hockney has explored mixing up different scales and viewpoints).


2. What is the relationship between this work and your own? Identify and explain connections between this artist’s work and your own.

VISUAL RESPONSE

1. You will be responding to Hockney’s work by producing our own Joiners based on the still life arrangement, look at how Hockney makes his images to help you create your own.

OVERALL PRESENTATION

1. Take pride in the overall presentation of your research, it should not be rushed. Consider each element carefully:  type, layout, titles, visual responses etc.

Welcome BTEC Class of 2017

Art BTEC First Year teaching staff - Gayle, Ivan & Charmian

Hi Everyone,
                  I hope you are all feeling excited about starting the Art BTEC at Alton on Monday. A few nerves are to be expected too, but we'll do our best to make you feel right at home from day one.
On our first day we will be starting some practical work, we'll be using charcoal and it could get messy, so don't wear clothes you feel too precious about (good to avoid delicate or light coloured garments).
Both first year groups will meet in Room 855 at 10am to start the day and distribute timetables. Later, when we start work we'll also be using studio 815, these two rooms will be the first year base rooms throughout the year.
Useful things to bring on day one are :

• A chunky eraser (or 25p to purchase one from us).
• £3 for a sketchbook for your first project.

Paper, chalk and charcoal will be supplied.

Teaching staff for the first year BTEC this year are Gayle, Charmian and myself (Ivan) you'll meet us all on the first day. I will be the Tutor for both first year groups.
I hope you've all had a fantastic Summer and are now raring to make a flying start to your new venture here at Alton. Looking forward to seeing you all on Monday,

Ivan

1st Project - TOOLS (Part 1) 18

BTEC Extended Diploma 1^ST YEAR PROJECT

Jim Dine

Anna Held Audette - Scrap Metal

PROJECT:  Tools (Part 1).

SPECIALISM:  Fine Art.

CONTENT:

Working from direct observation we will be exploring a variety of media and approaches to image making. Our visual reference material will be a structural still life featuring Tools and other objects. We will start with some large scale sustained observational drawing, as we move through the project our focus will shift towards more expressive techniques. Over the course of the project we will use various drawing media, photography, paint and collage techniques. We will enrich our understanding of how Artists approach observational work through sketchbook based research.

Week 1: Observational Drawing/photomontage:

We will be producing a sustained observational drawing using Chalk and Charcoal on an A1 scale. Alongside this we will be undertaking some photography and creating some David Hockney style photographic "joiner" collages.

Some Pointers for your Observational drawing:

• Think carefully about your composition, how much of the still life arrangement should you include to achieve the most visually stimulating image? Don't go for an easy option, challenge yourself
• Look hard at what you are drawing, you should visually analyse shapes and tones and carefully observe how they relate to each other.
• Start by mapping out your composition in line, then start adding tone. Often it is easiest to start the tonal work by identifying the extremes of light and dark, ensure you establish these tones boldly, then start looking at the subtleties of tone in between.
• Use the charcoal and chalk with confidence, you need to approach your piece with energy and enthusiasm, don’t be afraid of making mistakes. 
• Look around you and learn from the approaches of other people in the group.

Week 2: Expressive Approaches

In the second week of the project we will explore further media and approaches to image making, working quickly to produce a range of pieces. We will aim to use ink, paint and collage to produce these images. Further guidance will be given as we tackle these pieces.

ASSESSMENT:

You will be marked on how effectively you:

•      Demonstrate confidence and skill in handling media.
•   Show willingness to experiment and embrace new approaches enthusiastically.
•      Select and resolve compositions.
•      Observe and record.

REFERENCES:

For Photography: David Hockney.

For Still Life/Tools: Jim Dine, Chaim Soutine, Euan Uglow, Anna Held Audette.