Summer Work for AP Studio Art: 3D Design

GRADING CRITERIA

5 Complete Compositions

  • AP QUALITY WORK 
  • SIZE: 4" x 4" x 4" min, 14" x 14" x 24" max
  • THREE DIMENSIONAL WORKS ONLY
  • QUALITY PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION OF EACH WORK

Sculpture Sketches

  • 5 DAYS A WEEK, ALL SUMMER
  • 50 TOTAL SCULPTURE EXERCISES - 30 mins min per day
  • EXCERCISES FOR COMPOSITION, VOLUME, FORM, NEGATIVE SPACE

Idea book

  • COLLECTION OF VISUAL IDEAS
  • 100 THREE-DIMENSIONAL WORKS OF ART (Sculptures or Installations)
  • CAN BE DIGITAL (google drive/slides) or PHYSICAL (binder/sketchbook full of printouts)

5 COMPLETE SCULPTURAL COMPOSITIONS

Choose from five of the following prompts to create your AP quality compositions:
MONOCHROMATIC FOUND OBJECT
  • Build a found object sculpture with interesting negative space. Collect objects of one color or spray paint all of the objects one color. Place the sculpture in front of contrasting solid colored backgrounds (wall, sheet, painted cardboard, etc.) Practice documenting your sculpture using different cropping and lighting. You need to have at least one overall shot (you can see the whole thing plus negative space around it) and one detail shot (you can only see a part of the sculpture, but that part is very interesting).
COLOR SCHEME
  • Create a portrait, still life, or landscape using either a complementary, analogous, or split-complementary color scheme in any 3D medium making color the subject matter. Can be traditional or non-traditional sculpting materials.
ORGANIC MOVEMENT
  • Using cardboard, mat board, chipboard or other materials, make a sculpture that expresses organic movement.
EMOTIONAL SERIES
  • Select five people you know really well. Create a sculpture representing each person's emotional landscape or personality. The sculpture should not look like the person, but should feel like them. The differences between the sculptures you make should reflect the differences between the people you selected.
LANDSCAPE
  • Create a sculptural world that could be used by animators for tiny characters to run around in. Making it mostly monochromatic will create unity. Use a significant amount of detail in at least two distinct areas. Should be free standing, not a diorama with walls. Photograph your sculpture from different angles and with different lighting (spot, flood, low, sunlight, etc.) to create different moods.
WOODEN WIREFRAME
  • Build a sculpture that feels like drawing in three-dimensional space with small pieces of wood as the lines. Using toothpicks, bbq skewers, tiny wood sticks or dowels, create a sculpture that has more negative space than positive space.
DIGITAL SCULPTURE
  • Download and learn how to use a digital 3D sculpture program, like Blender (free to use). Create either a character, vehicle, or non-representational sculpture with great negative space. Render out three different views of the sculpture. 
MOVEMENT OVER TIME
  • Create a work of art that incorporates movement, so that it would change shape or configuration over time. This could be a mobile or other wind powered movement, or something more complex with gears.
FOUND OBJECT CLOUD
  • Using found objects (objects you did not make yourself) of a limited color palette, create a sculpture that expresses rhythm. Color matters when trying to create contrast with your objects and their environment.
ANALOG PHOTOGRAPHY
  • Make a pinhole camera out of paper or found object. Take a photo of your new object as a sculpture, then use it as a camera to take a picture of other sculptures you have made. Showing both the object and the results of the object will make a good diptych.
PUSHING THE MATERIAL
  • Create a sculpture out of coffee stirrers and hot glue; or sculpey; or wire and paperclips; fabric or papier maché. Try to get the material to do something surprising. Use different elements (color, line, texture, value, etc.) to create dominance in your sculpture.
INSTALLATION
  • Create an installation. It could be out of string, or tape, or any material that can be easily affixed to a space and conform and translate that space in a new way.
ARCHITECTURE
  • Use small wood sticks and glue to construct a model scale building. Use a specific architectural style that appeals to you (craftsman, mid-century modern, victorian, swamp cottage, etc.)  Include as much detail as you can. That is what will make this sculpture shine.
SURFACE QUALITY
  • Make a papier mâché sculpture using strips of paper and watered down glue. Finish the surface so that it has two very different textures. For instance, dipping an area in glue or resin will make a shiny wet look, whereas flocking another part will make that area look fuzzy like a peach. Paint the surfaces before adding textures on top.
SURREAL REPRESENTATION
  • Using ceramic clay, paper maché, or sculpey clay, create a representational form that is distorted in some obvious manner. You can treat the color representationally or abstractly.

Sculpture Sketch Exercises

  • 5 DAYS A WEEK, MAKE A 30 MINUTE SCULPTURE, MINIMUM. Sculpture should be at least 4" x 4" x 4"every day.
  • THREE DIMENSIONAL. Do not make dinky little flat things. Your sculpture should be interested from multiple sides. Form and volume matter.
  • MIXED MEDIUM. Don't make them all with the same materials. Use these exercises to familiarize yourself with different sculptural media (wood, metal, clay, found objects, air, etc.)
  • VISUAL CONFIDENCE. No cute, pretty, precious, adorable images. Challenge yourself visually.
  • ABSTRACTION OVER REPRESENTATION. Instead of making recognizable objects, use these exercises as non-representational sketches to think through volume, form, negative and positive space, and surface. You can use objects in the world to inspire your abstracted forms, but the sculpture sketches should not be recognizable as things.
  • EXAGGERATING VOLUME. Your sculptures should be dimensional and fill up space well. Use light and depth to emphasize the volumetric nature of your sculptures. All of your sculpture sketches will be turned in as photographs, so how you take the photos will significantly impact how successful the sculptures seem.
  • DESIGN EXERCISES. Think about each principle of design individually, and give yourself a goal. For example; Monday focus on Emphasis, Tuesday on Rhythm, etc.
  • PHOTOGRAPHY IDEAS. Practice photographing objects more generally and then translate those photographic ideas to your sculpture documentation (Look up photography rules: leading lines, angle of view, off-center subjects, rule of thirds, etc.).
  • WRITE. Write about what you think is working about your sculpture sketches and what you think needs work or is weak in some area. Use the elements of art and principles of design to be specific in your criticism or praise.
  • EXPERIMENTATION. Your sketchbook should have evidence of trial and error, learning, and growth. Here are some examples of ways to show growth and experimentation: Create three different sculptures using similar materials and thinking through similar forms. Rework a sculpture multiple times using different color palettes or different materials. Produce several photographs of one object from different angles to find the best negative space around the object. 
  • DOCUMENTATION. Photograph each sculpture with an intentional backdrop. The background behind the sculpture should not detract from the sculpture and ideally should contrast with the sculpture. This is a great opportunity to use color and contrast. Using lights that you can control, like shop lights on extension cords or flashlights, light your sculpture from different angles, taking pictures of different versions to test out the most interesting or dramatic versions. You should end up with two photos of each sculpture; one displaying the entire object, where nothing is cut off by the frame; and a second detail shot where cropping, lighting, and contrast focus on details within the work. 
TURN IN THE SCULPTURAL SKETCHES AS PHOTOGRAPHS IN A GOOGLE DRIVE FOLDER.

Ideabook

  • 100 SCULPTURAL WORKS OF ART THAT YOU LIKE. Collect visual ideas that you feel represent strong design; good use of compositional space, excellent use of color, innovative use of line, etc. 
  • QUALITY WORK. Don't just pick the first 100 things google told you were art. You will use this as a style reference pool for your own work throughout the year. If you were to emulate the work you selected, you would want it to be an AP 5 score.
  • ORGANIZATION. You should organize the images so that they are more useful to you. You can choose to organize them by style, content, theme, or on their technical merits (Elements of Art, Principles of Design). It is more likely technical merits will be useful than by medium, theme, or content.
  • GOOD SOURCES. Google may not be the best collator of great artwork. Try websites that do that work for you. For instance; museums, galleries, thisiscolossal.com, thingsorganizedneatly.com, art slant. Or, go to museums and galleries and take pictures of artwork that interests you.
  • FORMAT. You can turn the images in digitally or in paper format. Each image should have the artists name connected to it. The DIGITAL format could look like one of two things: a Google Drive folder filled with 100 images, each with the artist's name as the file name; or, a Google Slides presentation with an image and artist name on each slide, plus a google folder with the images unorganized. The ANALOG format could look like a binder, book, or portfolio of 100 images printed out with Artist Names written on each page.
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THE IDEABOOK IS USED BY YOU FOR YOUR GREAT IDEAS.
​IT IS USED BY YOUR TEACHER TO GET A SENSE OF YOUR ARTISTIC STYLE AND GIVE YOU BETTER ADVICE AND FEEDBACK.