About AP Art

AP stands for Advanced Placement and is a program run by the College Board. These classes allow students to take college level course work, and earn college credit, while still in high school. The College Board offers three AP class in art. These classes are AP 2-D Art and Design, AP 3-D Art and Design, and AP Drawing. In order to earn college credit, students enrolled in these AP course need to complete and submit a portfolio of original artwork in May. 

The Portfolio Requirements

The portfolio for each class is compiled of two sections:

• The Sustained Investigation (60% of total score) is a series of artworks that demonstrates how the student explores a particular idea or concept. In general, the work created for this section of the portfolio shares a common subject, technique, or style.

  • • • Sustained Investigation Images: Upload 15 images and identify the dimensions, materials, and processes used.  

      • Sustained Investigation Written Evidence: Respond to two prompts about your sustained investigation.  

• In the Selected Works (40% of total score) section of the portfolio, students will select five physical artworks and identify the ideas, materials, processes, and dimensions.

  • • • AP 2-D Art and Design & AP Drawing: 5 images of 5 works 

      • AP 3-D Art and Design: 10 images of 5 works (2 views of each piece) 

*please keep in mind that the Selected Works do NOT need to be visually or thematically related to one another, as they are in some of the samples.

Three Keys to AP Art  

When developing an AP portfolio, there are three key objectives the student should consider. These objectives include taking risks, demonstrating growth, and incorporating the elements of art and principles of design.  Each of these three keys align with student-directed teaching, perhaps more so than in other teaching methods. That is because each key is built into the student-directed philosophy.  

Taking Risks: Students are first encouraged to take risks in a student-directed classroom through experimentation. Since the teacher is not designing the project, the medium and the techniques used are determined by the student. A teacher will always select media and techniques that students can be successful with. This is especially true when the teacher grades the project based on a rubric. In that situation, the teacher knows not only that the student can be successful by knows precisely how the student can be successful. However, when a student decides the media or the technique, there is no guarantee that the student will be successful. They may experiment with different media to see the results or try new techniques that may fail.  At the AP level, the students are encouraged to show that they are experimenting as the develop their portfolio. The student who does not experiment is likely to present a portfolio that is flat. 

Growth: Certainly, the student AP portfolio should show growth. Many times,  this growth develops through taking risk. When a student takes risk, they grow because they learn what does and doesn’t work. A student can show growth in their work simply through practice and this can happen regardless of the method of teaching. However, a student-directed program has the advantage because students will have more opportunities to work on projects they design before they reach the AP level. Through working on projects in the medium and subject they prefer, they add numerous more hours of practice which leads to higher levels of growth.  

Incorporating the Elements and Principles: This is the one area that many people may believe the teacher-directed method may have an advantage. This is because teacher-directed programs often are developed around the elements and principles. While this is often the case, it is not to say that student-directed programs don't teach about the elements or principles. In fact, the opposite is true. This misconception may only exist because of those who don’t understand that the elements and principles can be taught without designing a project that revolves around them. Teachers in a student-directed program are more likely to discuss the elements and principles as they relate the work the student designed. While both methods teach about the principles, the later may have the advantage precisely for this difference in teaching.  ​

Copyright Issues Students Might Need to Consider 

Copyright: The artwork presented in the AP portfolio should entirely consist of original works. Images that are used for reference should either have been taken by the student or in the public domain. Even when students use their own photos as a reference, they are encouraged to alter the image in some way so it is not merely a direct copy. This is an issue that can happen in any classroom but teachers in a student-directed need to be even more aware of it. Since students are selecting their own subjects, it isn’t uncommon for students to want to recreate characters from cartoons, anime, or movies. While this may be acceptable in an environment where a student is creating the work in their own sketchbooks, learning a new medium or exploring a technique, it is not acceptable as part of the AP portfolio.