Fundamental techniques for drawing, painting, sculpture, and photography alongside modern digital design principles. Analyzes historical artistic movements while building skills in printmaking and graphic media.
Students complete their models by adding furniture pieces, architectural details, and applying color or texture. The sequence concludes with a gallery walk where students critique how well the designs serve the script.
Students begin the hands-on construction of their scale model using cardstock, foam core, or shoeboxes. They build the perimeter walls and floor based on their earlier floor plans.
Focusing on the artistic atmosphere, students select color palettes, textures, and reference images that evoke the emotion of the scene. They compile these into a mood board that serves as the aesthetic guide for their final model.
Students learn to translate their scene breakdown into a bird's-eye view floor plan, focusing on placement of furniture and walls to ensure actors have room to move and sightlines remain clear.
Students read a short scene to identify specific scenic needs, such as entrances, exits, furniture, and time period clues. They create a 'scene breakdown' list that categorizes these necessary elements versus artistic possibilities.
Execute a full production run and master the high-stakes clean-up process to maintain studio equipment.
Learn the complex task of aligning multiple colors using registration marks, acetate guides, and careful process planning.
A technical workshop on the ergonomics of printing, focusing on the 45-degree squeegee angle and the flood-then-pull motion.
Master the precision of stencil cutting with X-Acto knives and learn the essential steps of prepping a screen for a clean print run.
Explore the origins of screen printing from industrial roots to Andy Warhol's Pop Art, while mastering the 'islands and bridges' logic of stencil design.
Students review their final prints and explore the historical role of posters in social movements. They conclude the sequence by writing an artist statement reflecting on their design choices.
Working in pairs, students learn the physical mechanics of screen printing, including the squeegee pull, ink management, and troubleshooting common printing issues.
Students transfer their designs to stencil paper and learn the technical requirements of stenciling, specifically focusing on the 'island' problem and precision cutting techniques.
Students focus on composition by sketching multiple thumbnail layouts that integrate text and imagery. They refine their designs by simplifying them into shapes suitable for the stenciling process.
Students investigate how font choice and placement impact the meaning of a message by analyzing movie posters and advertisements. They learn to identify hierarchy of information and select a short phrase for their own project.
Students explore the history and impact of art in social movements, then brainstorm and plan their own activist artwork focused on contemporary issues.
Focusing on the construction of the Florence Cathedral dome, students explore the engineering challenges and civic pride associated with Renaissance architecture. The lesson concludes with a comparative look at Gothic vs. Renaissance structures.
Students analyze the Medici family's financial records and commissions to understand art as political propaganda. They evaluate how patronage legitimized wealth and power in Republican Florence.
Students engage in an iconography workshop, decoding the pagan symbols in Botticelli’s 'Primavera' and 'Birth of Venus'. They interpret how Neoplatonism allowed Christian patrons to embrace pagan mythology without heresy.
Examining the notebooks of Da Vinci and the sculptures of Michelangelo, students explore the intersection of dissection, observation, and art. They analyze how the accurate depiction of the human body celebrated the physical world.
Students present their comprehensive campaigns to a mock panel and practice high-stakes elevator pitches.
Students design visual advocacy materials, focusing on branding and media literacy to capture public attention.
Students learn to blend emotional appeals and factual evidence to craft a compelling persuasive narrative for their arts cause.
Learners map out stakeholders and use empathy mapping to understand the values and priorities of different audience groups.
Students analyze hypothetical scenarios where arts programs face budget cuts or closure to identify root causes and specific advocacy needs.
Students participate in a print exchange, write artist bios, and explore the valuation of their work.
Students compile their hybrid prints into a Zine format, focusing on pagination and basic bookbinding.
Students experiment with printing analog elements onto digitally prepared backgrounds and managing registration.
Students explore methods to transfer digital designs onto physical surfaces like woodblocks or screen stencils.
Students design high-contrast imagery and learn about layer separation, halftones, and bitmap conversions for analog output.
The culmination of the unit where students assemble their final Zines and participate in a classroom 'Zine Fair' for critique and exchange.
Students learn the technical side of print production, focusing on page imposition for an 8-page booklet. Includes a physical mock-up workshop to master the 'one-sheet zine' fold.
Students transition to design software, learning to manipulate vector shapes and treat text as a visual object. Includes a creative challenge to build a portrait using type.
Students curate their work and write professional artist statements to reflect on their hybrid workflow.
A technical workshop on overprinting digital typography onto analog monotypes, focusing on alignment and legibility.
Students disrupt digital perfection by integrating hand-applied media like paint and collage into their transferred prints.
An inquiry-based exploration of moving digital toner onto physical surfaces using chemical and heat-based transfer methods.
Students master vector graphic creation using shape-building tools and explore the conceptual differences between scalable vectors and fixed rasters for print.
Focuses on visual hierarchy, the rule of thirds, and the use of invisible grids to organize complex layouts. Includes a physical 'cut-and-paste' workshop.
Students explore the technical parts of letters and the emotional impact of font choice through case studies and pairing exercises.
Students repeat the carve-ink-print cycle for subsequent darker colors, effectively destroying the previous image states. The lesson culminates in curating a consistent edition, signing prints according to convention, and a critique of the technical execution.
Students print their first light color layer, focusing on consistent ink slab preparation (the 'hiss' sound) and using registration pins or jigs. They troubleshoot common issues like over-inking or paper shifting.
Students begin the irreversible carving process, removing areas intended to remain the color of the paper. Instruction focuses on tool handling safety, varying line weights, and textural mark-making to create dynamic negative space.
This technical workshop guides students through prepping linoleum blocks, including sanding and toning, before transferring their reversed designs. Students learn to secure their registration systems to ensure alignment for multiple print layers.
Students analyze the social and political power of relief prints and learn the strategic logic of reduction planning through color separation maps.
The final stage where students incorporate color through chine-collé and refine their compositions for a final edition.
Students master the preparation of damp paper and the operation of the etching press to transfer their images.
A technical dive into the physical process of inking a plate and the delicate art of wiping with tarlatan.
Focuses on creating value and atmosphere using abrasive tools and hatching techniques to hold plate tone.
Students learn the fundamental difference between relief and intaglio printing and practice scribing lines into plastic plates with varying pressure.
The culminating lesson where students learn to use light to project shadows of their wire work, doubling the visual impact. The unit concludes with a gallery walk and critique focusing on the relationship between line, volume, and shadow.
Students tackle the engineering challenges of making their wire sculptures self-supporting. They learn about center of gravity, base construction, and mounting techniques to ensure stability and aesthetic integration.
Students focus on the conceptual side of sculpture: using thin wire outlines to define empty space and suggest volume. They begin their final project by planning and executing the core volume of their subject.
Students learn the technical aspects of working with wire, including tool safety, wire gauge, and foundational joining techniques like twisting, crimping, and looping.
Students bridge the gap between flat drawing and spatial thinking by translating blind contour drawings of everyday objects into continuous wire forms.
A cumulative project where students design lighting setups to convey specific emotions without relying on facial expressions.
Introduction to classic studio lighting patterns (Rembrandt, Loop, Butterfly) using simple equipment to create professional portraits.
An exploration of the Kelvin scale and White Balance settings, teaching students how to manage color casts and use temperature for emotional impact.
Focusing on light direction (front, side, back), students learn to emphasize texture and create silhouettes while understanding how lighting placement affects depth.
Students compare direct sunlight (hard) and overcast sky (soft) light, using modifiers like reflectors and diffusers to manipulate shadow edge transfer and contrast.
A gamified assessment where students race to capture high-quality images representing all the composition rules learned, submitting their work to a digital gallery for peer review.
Learners focus on abstract qualities, zooming in to capture textures or repetitive patterns. They learn how breaking a pattern can create a strong focal point through macro-style photography.
Students investigate how to use environmental elements to create a 'frame within a frame' and explore negative space to evoke minimalism. The focus is on subtraction—removing unnecessary clutter from the shot.
This lesson explores how lines guide the viewer's eye through a photograph toward the subject. Students experiment with shooting from high, low, and dutch angles to change perspective.
Students learn the foundational grid system of photography to avoid static center-placement. They analyze famous photographs to see the grid in action and practice aligning subjects at intersection points.
An exploration of experimental techniques using color gels and modifiers to convey specific emotional states through light.
Students master historical lighting patterns like Rembrandt and Butterfly to understand how shadow placement defines facial structure.
An introduction to artificial lighting basics, focusing on equipment safety and the fundamental relationship between Key and Fill lights.
This workshop introduces tools like reflectors and diffusers to control and soften harsh natural light for outdoor portraits.
Students observe and photograph subjects at different times of day to distinguish between hard and soft light and understand how direction affects form.
Students learn the geometric principles of linear perspective rediscovered by Brunelleschi and codified by Alberti. They apply these concepts by deconstructing the vanishing points in Masaccio’s 'The Holy Trinity' to understand how art rationalized space.
Students install their mobiles and observe interactions with ambient airflow. The final critique evaluates both static composition and quality of movement.
The technical phase where students assemble the mobile from the bottom up. They bend wire arms and attach shapes, troubleshooting by adjusting fulcrums or adding counterweights.
Students design and cut lightweight shapes for their mobile, considering how surface area catches air currents. The focus is on aesthetics and weight management.
A hands-on lab where students experiment with finding the balance point of irregular shapes. They learn about fulcrums, levers, and center of gravity to understand the physics needed for their sculpture.
Students study the history of kinetic art, focusing on Alexander Calder and the shift from static sculpture to moving forms. They analyze how components interact and discuss the 'fourth dimension' (time) in art.
Final analysis of the interaction between light, shadow, and planes. Students prepare their work for display and participate in a formal critique of aesthetic balance.
