Priming!

Today was an interesting class. We were updated on our series project by Ms.K and were informed that we would be priming the boards that we would be creating the series on. However, the primer that we used wasn't aloud to get on the hallway floors because it would be unable to be removed. Considering this and that it was really sunny out (which is weird because its like december) we decided that we would rather work out side for the class. This lead to some problems. Even though we were out side in natures great wilderness of Hopkinton High we were unable to get primer on the ground, so we still needed to lay down paper under our boards. As soon as we succesfully layed out the paper over the area in which we would be priming, the wind picked up and swept the paper from its place. After a few more attempts at lying down the paper we only gathered the same result. This lead to a unaminous class vote to move the project back to the safe indoors of the school. There we were able to lay the paper down succesfully with out chaseing after it. Then the boards arived and were layed out on the paper. However there was not much space so two of our groups moved to the tech room to complete their priming jobs. Dividing and conquering isn't always the best tactic (the British proved that in the revolutionary war) but today it worked well. Each group was able to complete their two coats of primer on their respective boards and clean up before the class was ended with time to spare. This apeared to me and hopefully the class as a fun yet productive class.

The Planning Process Continues with the Creation of a Series

At the end of last class, we voted on our favorite propaganda series of murals. We all agreed that we liked the first two groups' ideas but that they were basically the same. Both groups had the same general idea of glorifying or commemorating some of our favorite staff in the high school, so we decided to combine them into a series that incorporated aspects of each. At that point, we had established our concept, but we still needed to decide who we wanted to represent. It was quickly agreed upon that both Larry, our main janitor, and Kathy, our motherly lunch-lady, would be portrayed in our murals, but we considered many other people as well. Listed on the board were Ms. Welch, Mr. Sullivan, Mrs. Moothart, Valerie, along with some other members of the HHS staff. Recognizing the importance of every staff member and challenge of choosing only four, it was decided that rather than creating only four murals, the class would create at least five. This allowed us to add three more people to our series. After some debate, we decided as a class to include Mr. Sullivan, Valerie, and Ms. Welch. Mrs. Williams and Ms. K also added that since Mrs. Moothart is so important to the organization of the school, she should also be included, but we never reached a group consensus on the matter. After that, we were divided into even groups based on who we wanted to work on. We were given all the materials we would need to create a rough sketch of what we envisioned.

The next day (today), we went through a powerpoint that showed examples of mural series. We noted how certain aspects were the same in each mural of a series, like borders, compositions, colors, and the overall styles of the artworks. Our goal was to, in our groups, design a poster that could be a part of a series, and thus have certain aspects that would be the same in each mural.

My group began to work on a new design of the mural of Kathy the lunch-lady but realized that we had not actually gotten her approval. So, my group and I took a trip down to the lunch room to find her and request her approval. She was very flattered by our proposal and quickly accepted it. When we got back, we drew a sketch of our idea that we plan to present in class tomorrow with the rest of the class's ideas and sketches. My group and I believe a simple, lined border should be part of each mural, but that will be up for debate tomorrow. The question of whether or not to include the names of the people in the murals was also brought up. It seemed some people believed it might draw attention away from the timeless values presented by each mural, but again, that will be up for debate tomorrow in class.

The sketching process took all period long, but tomorrow the plan is for each group to present their ideas to the class and to hopefully vote on a series style that we all like. I suspect we will all like different things about different presentations, and our final designs will model them all, but we'll find out tomorrow!

Beginning the Process Again :)

Now that our "Prism" project is finished, it is time for this SMART class to start the process over again. Today we did just that, and we started right back at the beginning by brainstorming new ideas. The new ideas were for murals that we are going to be hanging at 4 chosen places around the school. The murals are supposed to act as a sort of propaganda, supporting the school or individuals in our school that have an influence on our school. This was meant to relate to the unit we are currently studying, which is Ancient Mesopotamia. We are learning about different forms of propaganda that ancient rulers used to show their intimidation and power to the surrounding cities. We are translating this to Hopkinton High School by trying to recognize some of the people in our school that work really hard and people that our school could not run without. Or by showing the influence of different parts of our school that enable it to be so well-rounded.

We were split up into four groups for the brainstorming process, and then the four groups presented their ideas:

• The first group to present, pitched an idea that focused on showcasing the work of the Custodial staff and the Cafeteria ladies.

• The second group presented a similar idea, except each person that the mural focused on had a golden object that represented them and their part in our school.

• The third group was different than the previous two, it was a series of signs that focused on different wings of the school. There was one for the "Art Wing", "Technology", "Wellness" and "Academics". And above each of the letter there were silhouettes of people doing things that represented that wing of the building.

• The final idea was different from all of the other. It was inspired by the giant mural of the Kenyan runners at the Boston Marathon that is hung in the Athletic Center. It was the Hiller "H" that was split into four parts, and each part was made up of pictures. But the four sections had different themes. All of the sections promoted the school and the different parts that made it up. One was pictures of the town, one was pictures of students, one was pictures of teachers and one was pictures of the administrations and other staff.

The voting process will take place next class when we have more time, but once we decide, we will be posting about it, so stay tuned!

Color, Composition, Value, and Size

In Friday’s class, we continued to learn about art and architecture in Ancient Near East civilizations. After looking at various works of art, such as the Standard of Ur and the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, the class began to lean about a few new concepts. For example, we learned that hierarchical scale refers to use of size in a work of art to denote status.

We then began a discussion about the use of many different artistic techniques that can be used to tell a message. Composition, the way things are arranged, value, how light or dark something is, as well as size and color can all be used to send a message. In order to illustrate this concept, groups of two students worked together to create an advertisement that specifically favors one product out of a group of products. They were each assigned one technique (composition, value, color, or size) that they could use to accomplish this task.

All of the groups did a fantastic job using the techniques to advertise their assigned product. The class could successfully identify which product was being indicated in each of the group’s final posters. Many of the “size” groups made their product much larger than the others, while the “color” groups made theirs much brighter than the others. “Composition” groups often rearranged the picture so that their product was more visible than the others, while the “value” groups made their product stand out by making it the lightest possible. The activity really made the point that many different techniques can be used to send a message in a work of art.