I'm curious.

[Denmo]

How was your High/Middle school art class? What were you taught about art? What kind of artwork did you make? How was it graded? What was the teacher like? What kind of school were you in? What kind of supplies did you use? Were there higher level art courses available?

I'm asking because High/Middle School Art Teacher is one of my major career options, and my high school art experience was kinda wonky.

Since it was a private school, the class size was much smaller and ranged from students of every grade level. Because of this the teacher opted to grade us based on effort alone. How much work we did per class period was all that mattered.

On top of that, the classroom was tiny, so large projects were a no-go. We started with color-wheels, then reproducing images at a larger scale in acrylic paints using a grid system. From there, the class assignments were divided between go-getters and slow-pokes (she didn't grade each assignment, nor did she give a due date), so once you finished a project, she had a list of things you could do next. If you were really productive, she made up stuff off the top of her head.

We did really stupid things like make 'stained glass windows' out of construction paper and paper mache, or create 'sculptures' out of aluminum foil. It was really low budget and really crappy, looking back. I didn't learn anything about drawing from life or sketching. It was more like arts and crafts.

[Lausen]

Re: I'm curious.

I have only taken drawing 1 and pottery 1 and I'm in 12th grade It was well just different drawings. Self portarits still life blah blah. Nothing too fancy. We have two art rooms and they are both pretty big.

We were graded the same way. As long as you try to do good you'll get a good grade. I think it's because it's required for collage nowdays they grade it on a curve because some people just are not that good or are forced to be there. Makes for an easy A

[IRC]

Re: I'm curious.

I drew hands all semester long. Only after you mastered hands were you allowed to draw something else. We also did some stuff with clay and charcoal and those things where you carved stuff out a block that was gray. I can't remember what they were exactly. It was a decent class I guess but they didn't bother with anything unless you took it a second or third time.

[Sezjeuric]

Re: I'm curious.

I took art in grade 8, 9 and 10. After grade 10, I went back to theatre as I found art very frustrating- I would get this image in my head, and no matter how much I worked at something, I would never recreate exactly what I saw. This created a very pessimistic attitude. People would say, "Wow, that looks great!" and my respsonse would be, "What?! You don't see that this finger is out of proportion?"

In grade 8 art, we covered the basics- the colour wheel, contrasting and complimentary colours, etc. We didn't focus on any of the classic artists. Instead, we experimented with methods of art- we built a clay pot/ bowl, practised with oil paint, water colours, charcoal, even crayons just to get a feel of what was at our disposal.

In grade 9, we took these methods and stepped it up a bit with small projects that required very little research- we mostly looked for visuals. An example is that we had to build a clay figurine, and so I researched books on Japanese geishas. We also had to do a self portriat in oil, and actually build our own stamps (practiced carving). We had to build an art portfolio with different methods that centered on self expression (take something you are passionate about and "express" it).

Grade 10 was a big step up. We were assigned projects that would have us in the library for a few days researching (like recreating a famous work of art and presenting information about the artist). We ended the year with an art show in the local museum. I absolutely LOVED this, it gave a sense of accomplishment. We weren't focusing much on method anymore as much as we were focusing on what we were trying to express and appreciating what we had to reference.


Good Luck!

[Denmo]

Re: I'm curious.

Wow Sez, your high school art courses are almost better than my college courses. o_o


Were there class critiques of works, where everyone gave comments on each other's work? Or was there just not enough time?

[Chad]

Re: I'm curious.

We had art (1 - 4), pottery (1 - 2), and photography (1 - 3). The teacher loved me for some odd reason. I did really weird things just to see if she would call it art. She would just hand me the A. She failed the slackers. I think as long as you put effort in and had a grasp for the concept at hand she would grade accordingly. Most of what I learned was the color wheel, composition, and about different styles (watercolor, oil paint, wet vs dry brush, different canvasses, etc; ). I took art 1 - 3, and then I helped teach photography 2 and 3 instead of a study. Funny thing is I didn't know anything about developing photos and just kind of watched the photo 3 kids and taught what I picked up to the photo 2 kids. Oh, and I installed a black room door because the school thought just having two doors to get in would work.


Edit: To give you an idea of what I mean by really weird things, for my Art II final I took a broken, plastic chair, painted two black dots above the large opening to be eyes, and hung it from the ceiling. A. Took me all of five minutes.

[Sezjeuric]

Re: I'm curious.

Wow Sez, your high school art courses are almost better than my college courses. o_o

On top of the regular student fees our parents paid in the beginning of the year, we had to pay an additional art fee to use all these materials. However, I DID appreciate the classes in the end.

Were there class critiques of works, where everyone gave comments on each other's work? Or was there just not enough time?

Goodness no. In grade 8, half of the student body had to take art (it was that or metal and woodworking) so there were a lot of slackers, stoners, and smartasses. The teacher made a smart decision to not allow ridicule in that type of environment.

There was no time in grade 9 but I feel this was part of the the teacher's fault. She kept extending assignments to not **** anyone off, so we all ended up on different projects.

However, only serious students would dedicate a course slot to art in grade 10 as this was when we were treated as mature. We didn't really have time dedicated to presentations in class, but if there was something that someone was proud of, the teacher would ask them to quickly show it to the class. Also, right at the entrance of the highschool, next to the office, there were two glass cases we were allowed to fill with our work, so every month we thought of a different theme/ method and would present it.

Funny thing is I didn't know anything about developing photos and just kind of watched the photo 3 kids.

My art 9 teacher was also the photography teacher, and no matter how hard I tried, I could not muster up enough courage to go into the dark room they used. It was a somewhat free standing structure. Basically, in the art room that had 16' high ceilings, they buit a 10' mini room out of plywood sheets painted black. It had a ceiling, but instead of doors, it had a black curtain, and it wasnt just a box- there was a hallyway with a few turns.

Yeah, not for me.

[jvrlopez]

Re: I'm curious.

When I took art in middle school, we mostly did more basic things like paper drawings, working with construction paper, and a few things with paint. Towards the end of my 8th grade year, we did a few more higher end projects like sculpture, etc.

The teacher was alright. One time she got mad at me when I told her I was going to file a civil suit against her.

Most of the time the art was simple and only a few times did we cover the principles of art.

My high school junior year art class was alright. The class was taught in a regular classroom as the art wing was being remodeled that year. And since it was a required class, the class was packed as ****. That really made the class a hassle, especially when you're doing huge ass projects.

Since it was the last class of the day, there was tons of slacking. Sometimes I'd give the work a shot, other times I wouldn't even bother. I barely passed it.

My senior year art class was ok. I only took it because I needed to have classes up to the 1pm hour, so I barely even went and if I did, I was dead asleep. The teacher really didn't care about anything as long as you looked busy and tried something artistic. We never got an assignment all year. One time he and some cholos airbrushed some marijuana t-shirts and got in trouble for it.

I decided to take an Art course, Drawing I, this year just because I needed the hours on my transcript. The teacher is very well informed, actually covers the princples of drawing, and is very helpful. Its a very fun class but at 2 hours it just feels too long for the amount of work we get. The quality of assignments and work has gone up, though, especially due to the fact that we had to buy our own materials. At the end of the semester I'll upload my portfolio.

[Denmo]

Re: I'm curious.

For those who had to take art as a required course, was the class disruptive? Did the teacher have a hard time getting through to the kids? Teaching a class of 50 sounds intimidating

[jvrlopez]

Re: I'm curious.

Yeah, those required classes were ****.

[Sezjeuric]

Re: I'm curious.

It's true that there was very limited space, and it didn't encourage a productive environment.

My grade 8 class had about 35 kids, 3 of us to a table, 3 tables across, 4 tables a row. VERY little room.

However, in grade 10, it was the SAME classroom but the tables were moved into a big square around the room, with an island in the center for suplies. My teacher would usually do her 10 minute presentation/ discussion from here, then work at her desk in the front of the room. With this set up, we could all see eachother and our progress. It led to a lot of great group discussions instead of a certain group being alienated.

Art is supposed to encourage thinking outside of the box, and so I think the classroom should be different from any other classroom in the school.

[Valkysas]

Re: I'm curious.

my middle school art class was a mess. the teacher pretty much gave us a vague idea of stuff to do, and then left us on our own. it was pretty much "do whatever you want as long as it can be considered visual art"

I got a B for using sheets of laminating stuff to stick national geographic magazines to the windows. I wasnt even doing it for a project. I got bored, I laminated, and for some reason he graded me.

I had a lot of fun in the class, but for all the wrong reasons. like encasing a snickers bar in a clay sculpture of a cat I made, and then poking holes in the cat with toothpicks all the way to the snickers bar, so after it had it's trip to the oven it reeked of candy for about a week, and then it started to stink like hell. I got an A.

I don't remember anything about my high school art class other than drawing flowers and getting in an argument with the teacher because she didnt understand how someone could not see color correctly.

[truekid]

Re: I'm curious.

my experience would roughly echo the "arts and crafts" type teacher. the high school art teacher was a middle aged woman, who had the demeanor of a spaced out hippie... when she wasn't showing us what a control freak she was. and i learned very little there.

[Kefka Jr.]

Re: I'm curious.

I hated every art class I was ever in. Every teacher was nuts, and I didn't help that I was never a very good student. I remember liking fifth grade because the teacher was really nice, but that's about it.

[Riotsword]

Re: I'm curious.

Grade 9, basically the same stuff that Den described as far as color-wheels and reproducing things on a grid.

Grade 10, that was the fun one. See, in that year, I was thrown into what was called the "Alternative Center", because my lack of interest in attending school reached its peak. Needless to say, the place was filled with ****-ups, over-violent alpha-male types, etc. The strange thing was, our art class was better than any other art class I'd take for the rest of my high school "career". We made masks out of papier-mache, crafted stained-glass windows using actual stained glass and soldering irons(!!!), and even frosted our own mugs.

Grade 12 was fun as well, not because of the actual course though. Mostly I just goofed off, but at the beginning of the course we each received a composition book and I filled the hell out of that thing with my random joke drawings. We still needed it to turn in occasionally for some assignments but my teacher actually liked my stuff, so I got extra credit.

I miss drawing, I need to get back in the habit.