Painting Syllabus

Course Description:

As a student in the Drawing and Painting course, you will develop highly honed studio skills and come to understand the breadth of art in traditional, contemporary and experimental forms. You will explore aesthetic possibilities in abstract and representational areas and the use of traditional and non-traditional materials within a variety of subject matter including still life, interiors, landscape, cityscape, light, nature, and the portrait.

Promoting Your Voice

We will guide you to fully develop compositions that show excellence in concept, composition, and execution. We will encourage you to take informed risks, explore materials and ideas, and invent art making processes as you seek a personal form of expression, in other words, 'your voice.’

Improving Your Skills

Your works of art creations are assessed through a critique process that addresses the conceptual, technical, and formal qualities of your works of art. This process allows you to build a vocabulary, apply standards, be self critical and self-correct.

Building Your Portfolio

Every art course at focuses its activities and projects so that all students will compile and construct a comprehensive portfolio of art work in preparation to earn Advanced Placement college credits.

Course Content:

Knowing What to Look For

Unit 1: Describing an Artwork

Topic 1: Seeing, Wondering and Enjoying Art

Topic 2: When is Art?

Topic 3: Describing What you See

Ingredients Used by the Artist

Unit 2: Line and Its Function

Topic 1: Right Brain Seeing & Drawing

Topic 2: Expressive Lines

Topic 3: Contour & Modeling Lines

Topic 4: Motion & Implied Lines

Unit 3: Components of Light: Value and Color

Topic 1: Value

Topic 2: Color

Unit 4: The Look and Feel of Texture

Unit 5: Making Space Work

Topic 1: Figure-Ground Principle

Topic 2: Creating Pictorial Space

Creativity

Unit 6: Concepts and Critical Thinking

Topic 1: Cultivating Creativity

Topic 2: Problem Seeking and Solving

Topic 3: Constructing Meaning & Symbolism

Organizing Design Principles

Unit 7: Arranging Subject Matter

Topic 1: Creating Emphasis

Topic 1: Unity

Topic 2: Variety

Topic 3: Scale and Proportion

Topic 4: Balance

Topic 5: Rhythm

Unit 8: The Sensation of Motion

Grading Categories

Course activities are classified into categories focused on the targeted learning of the course.

Each category is weighted and contributes to the overall achievement grade.

The course’s weighted grading categories are:

Content Remembering & Understanding (20%)

• Define & Translate Terminology
• Recall & Discuss Significant Information
• Illustrate & Demonstrate Definitions
• Explain & Apply Technical Methods

Image Evaluation & Analysis (30%)

• Art Criticism (Describe, Analyze, Interpret, Evaluate)
• Art Critique (Appraise, Compare, Contrast, Improve)
• Reflective Assessment
• Artist’s Statement & Album Description

• Achievement grades, based on summative assessments, require you to demonstrate your understanding of the learning goals. A summative assessment occurs after you have had the opportunity to practice, receive explicit feedback, and correct errors in learning or thinking.

• Formative assessments are the practice opportunities that allow you to refine your understanding of new knowledge and skills without penalty. They occur during the learning process and provide you with specific feedback to inform your learning. They also provide teachers with feedback to improve instruction. Formative assessments will not count toward the achievement grade.

Life Skill Grade

• The Life Skills grade will be assessed using a universal rubric.
• Life skills will be recorded: weekly

Opportunities for Reassessment

Reassessment is done at the teacher’s discretion and must be completed within an acceptable time frame as defined by the teacher. Students meeting eligibility criteria will have the opportunity to retake specified assessments. The ability to reassess in this course is described below:

• All assessments may be resubmitted until one week prior to the end of the grading period.

Extra Credit is Not Allowed

Grades are supposed to be measures of achievement, so it is appropriate that you have “extra” opportunities to improve your grades. Extra opportunities, however; will involve the demonstration of the knowledge and skills of the learning targets of the course. If these extra opportunities are to be valid, that is to raise your grade from a C to a B for example; the additional demonstrations of knowledge and skills need to be at a higher level of achievement and not just more work.

Non-Negotiable Assessments

A non-negotiable assessment must be completed to pass the class despite your grade average.

• All Image Creation Projects are considered non-negotiable assessments in this course.

Missing Work

Missing work for any reason will be recorded as “Missing”, which calculates to a 0%.

Absences

If you are absent from school, you shall be permitted to make up course work and examinations when you return to school. It is your responsibility to contact your instructor to determine what course work and examinations must be made up. Instructors shall have the discretion to assign substitute course work and examinations, as well as to specify where and when examinations and course work shall be completed. The time for completing the work shall be equal to the length of the absence, unless extended by an administrator based upon extenuating circumstances.

Self-Monitoring

You are encouraged to review your grades regularly in Infinite Campus and check your email daily. If there is a discrepancy in a recorded grade, please communicate with the teacher.

Copyright Issues

All your work must be original. If you use someone else’s work or a published image as a basis for your own pieces, there must be significant alteration to the piece for it to be considered original.