Hudson Berdino - AP Course Description

Grades: 11 -12; Prerequisite: Art 1P, Art2, Art 3

This course is an intensive course of study for the serious art student. Since college credit is available, there are college level expectations. A minimum of 15 art pieces are required for the AP Studio Art portfolio. Many hours of work and an independent nature are required, so it will be a good idea for students to begin planning and developing their portfolio the previous year and/or over the summer. It would also be a good idea to sign up for Art 3, or as an Art instructional aide in conjunction with the AP Art class, if your schedule will allow. Doing so isn't required, but will give you more time in class to work on your portfolio projects. Check with your school counselor and parents to see if you can work one of these options into your schedule.

The AP Drawing Portfolio Exam is designated for work that focuses on the use of mark-making, line, surface, space, light and shade, and composition. Students should consider marks that can be used to make drawings, the arrangement of marks, the materials and processes used to make marks, and relationships of marks and ideas.

Students can work with any materials, processes, and ideas. Drawing (analog and digital), painting, printmaking, and mixed media work are among the possibilities for submission.

The AP Drawing Portfolio Exam contains two sections. The Selected Works section requires students to demonstrate skillful synthesis of materials, processes, and ideas. The Sustained Investigation section requires students to conduct a sustained investigation based on questions, through practice, experimentation, and revision. Both sections of the portfolios require students to articulate information about their work.

SELECTED WORKS

For the SELECTED WORKS section of the AP Drawing Portfolio Exam, students must submit five works that demonstrate:

Drawing skills
Synthesis of materials, processes, and ideas

For each work, students must state the following in writing:

Idea(s) visually evident (100 characters maximum, including spaces)
Materials used (100 characters maximum, including spaces)
Processes used (100 characters maximum, including spaces)

Note: Works may come from the Sustained Investigation section, but they do not have to. They may be a group of related works, unrelated works, or a combination of related and unrelated works. It may be a good idea to provide works that demonstrate how skilled & diverse of an artist you can be with different types of media, drawing styles, and techniques.

SUSTAINED INVESTIGATION

For the SUSTAINED INVESTIGATION section of the AP Drawing Portfolio Exam, students must submit 15 digital images that demonstrate:

Sustained investigation through practice, experimentation, and revision
Sustained investigation of materials, processes, and ideas
Synthesis of materials, processes, and ideas
Drawing skills

Students must state the following in writing:

Identify the questions that guided your sustained investigation
Describe how your sustained investigation shows evidence of practice, experimentation, and revision guided by your questions (1200 characters maximum, including spaces, for response to both prompts)

Identify the following for each image:

Materials used (100 characters maximum, including spaces)
Processes used (100 characters maximum, including spaces)
Size (height × width × depth, in inches)

For images that document process or show detail, students should enter “N/A” for size (see Additional Information About the Sustained Investigation Section on p. 34 for more details). For digital and virtual work, students should enter the size of the intended visual display.