JIM HENSONIDEA GRANT 2012:

ImprovingArt Students’ Writing

by Creating aVirtual Gallery

EditorMaggie Higginbotham, sophomore, is the student editor for this IDEA grant. Maggie is president-elect of the Rider High School Chapter of the National Art Honor Soci-ety. She was a double gold medalist at the 2012 Regional Visual Art Scholarship Event (VASE). The VASE State Director appointed her to assist organizing and hanging artwork at the State Event held at Bryan High School.

Additionally, Maggie won first place for painting in the Midwestern State Universtiy Annual High School Competition held in February 2012. Mag-gie received a scholarship to attend the 2012 ArtFest, a Wichita Falls ISD summer art workshop grant made possible by the West Foundation.

Abstract A March 2011 Pearson Foundation Survey measured college-bound high school students’ thoughts about the use of mobile tablet devices for school-related activities. More than 70 percent of college students and college-bound high school seniors are interested in owning a tabled de-vice, with almost 20 percent purchasing a tablet this year. The objective of this project is to 1) create an interactive reading/writing lesson database for tablet devices, 2) develop a virtual magazine format to display student writing and artwork 3) and offer a public virtual magazine to display a gal-lery of student art and writing to connect with parents and peers.

Assistant EditorDestiny Zynda, junior, assisted with the final publica-tion. Destiny is a double gold medalist at Regional VASE and qualified for State VASE competition. She is a member of the National Art Honor Society and Parlia-mentarian-elect of the Rider Student Council.

ParticipantsParticipating students in this IDEA grant were selected based on their understanding of the art elements and principles and their willingness to participate in the Regional Visual Art Scholastic Event held at Region IX Education Service Center. VASE is the only juried exhibit for high school students that evaluates art by national standards of measurement through a student interview and a written statement of intent. This event provided an excellent framework to help students improve writing and speaking skills as they created statements about their artwork. Throughout the process, students used digital technology to create and manipulate the art, enter the contest, and publish a document using Adobe CS4. This final publication is now available online, and as a free print-on-demand PDF. The virtual file may be viewed using any mobile device or computer. You may obtain the link by sending an email request to jmhenson120@gmail.com

Guidelines and scores for the art were determined by VASE, The event is very much like a Texas University Interscholastic League Event (U.I.L.). We presented here the students who received a gold medal for their art-work. Each piece was professionally juried according to a rubric provide by VASE, and the jurors’ comments appear as blue text.

Every student was directed to construct a statement consisting of a mini-mum five sentence paragraph which followed the form of addressing 1) research/idea behind the work, 2) the execution and technique of the piece, 3) the use of art elements and principles of design, 4) aesthetic and critical decisions made in the process, and 5) how the piece projects their personal expression. Students created a rough draft and an edited version which ac-companied the entries. Minor editing was done as we placed it into print here, but our intent remained to keep each statement close to the student’s conversational style required by the interview portion of the contest.

I took this original photograph of my soccer ball. We had a collage assignment, and I picked a personal subject. After taking the picture, I ma-nipulated it in PhotoShop and used a grid to draw it. Then I water-colored the sky and grass. I collaged the grass and sky with tissue paper and com-pleted the ball with newspaper. I added the final details by painting areas with acrylic. The elements and principles are brought out by the shape of the soccer ball and the emphasis of positive and negative shapes. I used the rule of thirds to place the soccer ball slightly off center. Some of the difficulties I encountered in the aesthetic process were keeping the soccer ball round and keeping the light and dark values in the grass. I chose to collage the soccer ball beause I have been playing soccer since I was four. I love the sport and this work expresses my favorite pastime. ~Soccer Time

“Great use of color and value. The piece has a nice visual flow. Great depth of field— all grounds (fore, middle, and back are clearly defined as well as your focal point.”

ERICA BROWN: SOCCER TIME

After looking at several artists, I came up with my own style and ma-nipulated an original photo in PhotoShop. I started with two photos and combined them, drew it on a canvas using a grid process, added textures, patterns, and finally painted. Although the most important elements and principles of design in my painting are lines, shapes and patterns, I de-cided to add the boxes and texture because my painting just didn’t look complete without them. The silly picture, with its bright colors, really ex-presses who I am. ~Glasses

“Great use of pattern and line. The color is beautiful. The piece is very in-teresting. Nice concept. Way to branch out on your own. Great job! Thank you for your submission!”

Again, I looked at several artists, and developed my own personal style. I directed my friend to take a digital photo of me at a birthday party and really liked the way it turned out. I cropped it, edited, and finally com-bined it with a poem using PhotoShop. The main elements and principles of design that I used are looking through the shape and text or line. I made the heart the focal point, and I decided to add the poem because I thought it brought feeling and expression to the picture. I liked the way the picture and poem create deep feelings and emotions, and that it depicts the theme “how ironic life can be.” ~Ironic

“The general concept and creativity worked well with your intent. I like the incorporation of words! Great overall composition!”

LEXIE CHESSER:GLASSES and IRONIC

This is a photo of my cousin Gracie and a perfume bottle applied as a double exposure. I was experimenting and exploring different pictures and combining them together. I decided I liked this combination the best and began to use filters in PhotoShop. The words in it, “love,” “kills,” and “slowly” give it character and integrity, as well as the colors and patterns. I moved the chair in my piece over then cropped it out to leave a silhouette. I also changed a lot of the patterns for emphasis. I love to take photos, and I think this picture expressed my personality by showing a moody feeling in my art. ~Love Kills

“The piece has a nice visual flow. The color is wonderful, nicely arranged composition. Great job! Thank you for your submis-sion!”

BRITTNI COSS: LOVE KILLS

I decided to replicate a classy, graceful woman in a high fashioned persona. The class assignment was a media project involving the com-bination of portraits, shapes, and textures. I decided to paint a sketch that was originally influenced by powerful and graceful women in soci-ety. (Matisse) I used the skills of gridding, applying texture, using light washes of acrylic, and fading from dark to light. Primarily, I used shape and texture to portray the idea in my painting. I also left in certain lines for some emphasis. The main decision I made while creating the paint-ing was having the right combination of clean and edgy. The first drip off the brim of the hat was a mistake, but I really began to like it and started doing controlled drips. I’ve always been attracted to the classy and graceful style of Audrey Hepburn so I decided to recreate the same attitude in a different persona. ~Xo

“Great job! Nice composition, use of color and texture. Nice Fading ef-fect on the face and chest. Great job, again! Thank you for your submis-sion.”

ALI DEASON: Xo

GriffinRECEIVED A

PERFECT SCORE

I took a photograph of my brother and merged it with a geometric book end for a class assignment involving portraits. I ran it through several blending modes and really liked the creepy atmosphere, and my goal was for it to be re-ally abstract and geometric. I had to grid a canvas and sketch the outlines of the picture, paint on the basic colors, and finally used a clear plastic wrap technique. Afterwards, I touched up certain areas using color, shape, lines, balance, and a point of emphasis. Maintaining a balance between the geometric shapes and col-ors whilst making it interesting was the main challenge. I really enjoyed devel-oping new techniques and I’m very pleased with the final product. I’m a big fan of precise and detailed art, and the fact that it was my brother made it personal piece that motivated me to challenge myself. ~Griffin

“Wow!! – Impressed by technical difficulty! Great use of media and great overall composition and color scheme!”

These were images I directed my parents to take on Halloween last year. The piece started out as separate pictures of me making awkward limp poses as a zombie, but later decided it looked more like a puppet on a string and its puppet master. Since they were both of me it started to feel like I was trying to illustrate my attempts at being the God of my own life. I layered the two figures together, applied layer blending modes, added wall texture, the puppet hand and strings, and finally adjusted the layer to tweak color and focus. I concentrated on the use of texture and shapes as well as the way the puppet was balanced. Using blend-ing mode on the background of the puppet master was probably the most chal-lenging test on my aesthetic judgement. The background wall didn’t quite fit, and I was torn between two different blending modes. Therefore, I merged both and am very happy with the result. I’m really intrigued by morbid imagery, so it be-came a very personal, expressive piece for me. ~Puppetmaster

“Great use of composition and technical execution!”

MAGGIE HIGGINBOTHAM*:GRIFFIN and PUPPETMASTER

*NATIONAL ART HONOR SOCIETY

STATE VASEGOLD MEDALIST

I took three original photos, layered them on PhotoShop, and ran them through filters; however, one of the photos was added later. This started as a class assignment that involved working with PhotoShop. It led me to take an interest in taking pictures and editing them. We were looking at Matisse’s style, but I chose to develop my own personal style. Vertical lines created by the blinds and the light shining through them set the rule of thirds, pattern, and repetition with the clouds and squares at the bottom. The most difficult aesthetic decision I had to make was deciding how many pictures to use in the composition. I took a candid picture of my best friend and liked it.. I just experimented with it until something worked. ~Through the Blinds

“Amazing composition and use of line to show movement and direction to the focal point of the piece.”

MEGAN JACKSON: THROUGH THE BLINDS

This painting was based on a class still life. The reference photo was taken by a student. Our class was studying Cezanne in class and com-pleted still life drawing and paintings based on his idea of multiple points of view. I tried to be experimental with the paint technique and put the table cloth as a the background. I free hand drew the still life from the class set up and added more fruit and flowers to complete the composi-tion. The painting is mostly about pattern, shape and repetition, and my brush strokes around the objects show an implied movement. I made the lower right orange stand out brighter as a focal point, and the background is intended to be abstract and impressionistic. I really like to paint and I was able to experiment with many styles. ~Chess Move Still Life

“Loved the brush strokes!! Good job! Excellent use of contrasting colors to achieve vintage look!”

KASSIDY KOTULAN:CHESS MOVE STILL LIFE

I began by taking pictures of my cat, Ally. I made no major altera-tions; however, I used color correction filters. I took this picture during the summer, and my teacher gave us an assignment involving portraits so I chose to use this one. I adjusted the color by bringing out reds and greens, and brought out the pink and green color scheme with the tongue and eyes. After I adjusted it, I finally printed it. I just love taking pictures of my cat and this was funny and cute, so I thought it was the best. ~Cat’s Meow

“Nice visual color scheme, overall composition satisfied media size, good use of space.”

BROOKE LASSETER: CAT’S MEOW

I worked from a photo that I manipulated in Photoshop for this piece. This was actually a class project that involved messing with the layers and blending modes in Photoshop. We were also learning about Cezanne and Matisse at the time, so I decided if the piece was to mean something it would be about many people’s habit to turn from beauty. The most important use of elements and principles of art for my painting was monochromatic and complementary color, but everything is dominated by the shapes that create contrast. Also interplayed are the positive and negative spaces within the piece. As for my aesthetic judgment, choosing to add more green to draw your eyes, extra details, and changing colors from the original photo really worked in the piece’s favor. This photo portrays the darkness, even in the most beautiful people, threaten-ing to consume them. ~Coming up Roses

“Impressed with the size attempted, great colors!! Profile of the face was rendered with great technique. Good job!”

I took a picture of a wax figure and a picture of a wall in London and manipulated them in Photoshop. While in London I saw a wax figure of a duchess. She lived a colorful life, and I got the impression that she may have had a dark side, but while showing light and love to her Duke. I demonstrated this using spidery vines on a wall found in Oxford. The steps I took in-clude, taking the pictures, merging them in Photoshop, running it through a filter, and adjusting the levels. A strong sense of repetition by the window fame, vine pattern, of the space from bed and buildings, and the depth of the space or layers added elements and principles of art that are imperative to a good composition. However, I think choosing how dark to make her face was really the most important aesthetic decision I could’ve made. I like the way the wax figure’sface turns its eyes from the beauty of the rose the way a girl may jealously avoid a beautiful girl’s face. ~The Duchess

“Excellent use of digital media and combining multiple images. The use of a single light source with the two images ties them both together and adds a dramatic element to the piece.”

ANA LEACH:COMING UP ROSES and THE DUCHESS

I manipulated a photo in PhotoShop and created my painting based on it. The class assignment was to take photographs and manipulate and experiment with them. Andy Warhol influenced my idea for this painting. First, I took a picture on Halloween of my jack-o-lantern then I used different filters of Photoshop and arranged the pictures accord-ingly. Finally, I painted it, and I used pattern as my most important feature. I used color and contrast on the jack-o-lanterns to make them stand out. The most challenging decision I had to make was choosing colors in the negative space behind the pumpkins. I like using different contrasting colors to portray different moods and how I am feeling. The original photograph was taken when I carved the pumpkin with my mother on Halloween. ~Jack

“Great contrast in color scheme – liked the wood grain canvas. Excellent first attempt!!!”

I took a photo of my grandfather’s wagon and made colors adjustments as well as running it through filters. I was exploring on Photoshop in class one day, first I took a pic-ture of the wagon wheel, manipulated it, and printed it out. I primarily used color to por-tray contrast, texture, and detail. The most important decision I had to make was choosing which camera angles to use and which filters to apply. This wagon was used by my grand-father as a child, but what influenced me the most were the paintings that my grandmother made. I love taking pictures of ordinary objects from different perspectives and camera angles. –Wheel

“Great use of color! The composition is very strong. Has nice visual flow. Fantastic job!Thank you for your submission!”

LANE MADDOX:JACK and WHEEL

My painting started out as a class assignment that dealt with por-traits and textures. I took a self-portrait with a grid background, and decorated each differently while staying with one cohesive style. I used Photoshop with the original picture and ran it through different filters. After that, I grid a canvas and redrew it, adding more details to make it more of a complete composition. My primary use of elements and principles of art included shapes and colors, and aesthetically, repeti-tion and patterns. My painting was personal because it was a self-por-trait and it reflects who I am. It took me a while to do the background because I deviated from my Photoshopped picture and changed it as I went. ~Laugh

“Amazing use of color! Your use of repetition really ties the entire piece together!”

BETHANIE MILLS*: LAUGH

*NATIONAL ART HONOR SOCIETY

These are from images that I photographed in London. In effect they are layered as a double exposure using filters and blending modes in PhotoShop. I designed the piece to look like an advertisement or poster for “The Ritz” Hotel. First, I layered the pictures and used a wa-tercolor filter. I copied and added more textures and details from other parts in the photo. The most important elements I used are lighting and texture. I made the marquis repetition the dominant part of the design. The main decision was layering the pieces to make it look right. I also had to clone the peacock feathers to cover blank areas and extend the repetition. On my trip to London I took many pictures and these are two of my favorites that I used. ~The Ritz

“Fantastic job! What a great color scheme. Great work with contrast. “

This is a photo I took of Big Ben on my trip to London. I took a whole series of pictures of the city in the foggy evening and this one is my favorite. The photograph is not manipulated and I did very little cropping. The primary elements and principles are harmony and bal-ance with an emphasis on the color. I chose this blurry image instead of a crisp photo because the view was more artistic. I also had to decide if I wanted to include more of the tree, but I eliminated most of the trunk to show more of Big Ben. This is my personal favorite of all the photos that I took in London. ~Big Ben

“Excellent use of color and composition to convey a mood and docu-ment a moment. “

LINDSAY PANAS: THE RITZ and BIG BEN

For a class assignment I took portraits of people in my classroom. This was an art assignment in which we took original portraits. Next, I merged these photos using different points of view. The class was study-ing Cezanne and I was influenced by his multiple points of view and distortion. One picture is me and the other is my friend. I included other pictures of people in desks in the classroom. Then I used the “find lines” filter in PhotoShop to locate the edges of each figure. Finally, I explored the relationship between black and white lines and positive and nega-tive shapes. The hardest critical decisions that I had to make were mak-ing everything fit together and showing enough contrast. I kept adjusting the positions until all the figures were recognizable. This is expressive of me because it combines me and my friend. Also I enjoy working with black and white imagery. ~Chalkboard

“Great application of a digital medium; the image strongly resembles a chalk drawing and not manipulated like a photo—well done!”

TERIN RAMSEY*: CHALKBOARD

*NATIONAL ART HONOR SOCIETY

I took used several photographs of my sister and a friend to devel-op an abstracted portrait. We had an art class assignment using multiple points of view, vivid color, and collage. We studied Cezanne and that influenced my piece. After taking the photo of my sister and her friend, I turned the image into a PhotoShop “sketch.” I put a grid over the sketch to make it easier to draw and transferred it to a canvas. I painted it and then added tissue paper. The elements I emphasized are line and shape, and the main principle of design is balance. Some decisions that I had to make were how much line, paint and collage to include, and to make it more abstract than realistic. It expresses my personal interest in making people that I know into an abstract art work. ~Face It

“Great job! The texture and color are fantastic. Great use of implied line. Color scheme is well balanced.”

CAITLIN TAFF: FACE IT

Face ItRECEIVED A

PERFECT SCORE

DemocrazyRECEIVED A

PERFECT SCORE

VASESTATE FINALIST!

I took pictures in this digital work as I observed my cousin playing in the yard. I wanted to work with action shots. In class we looked at different points of view which inspired this piece. We started this as a class project but I developed my own ideas. After I took the pictures, I merged three different views together. Next, I photographed an old door to suggest the doorway in the upper right corner. I erased the background from each figure except the last layer and adjusted the color levels. I emphasized the art elements and prin-ciples of design including repetition, motion, and proportion. Aesthetic decisions included placement of the image of my cousin Viktoria. I experimented with different positions of each figure until it was balanced. This image is very personal to me because it shows my love for my cousin, and how much I like taking motion shots. ~Three Graces

“Fantastic job! Nice scale and nice flow of line.”

My graphic piece started out as a class project, but it evolved into a personalized work. I re-ally wanted to work with moving light and express my political views. First, I took multiple pictures of wings and of myself moving the light. Next, I merged the two chosen pictures by cutting and layering different parts of the picture multiple times for visual effect. The picture contains elements of motion, shade, light, and contrast. In the process of making the piece, I had to decide whether the layers were adding to the picture or taking away from it. You can clearly see my interest in experimenting with light motion as well as my fascina-tion with political views. ~Democrazy

“Amazing execution within the digital medium. The texture & color tone combined with subject matter make your political views apparent.”

DESTINY ZYNDA*: THREE GRACES and DEMOCRAZY

*NATIONAL ART HONOR SOCIETY

CONCLUDING REMARKS:

A faculty team from the Rider High School art, English, and journal-ism departments used a rubric to evaluate the quality of writing and the overall effectiveness of this IDEA grant process/publication.

The following objectives were successful: 1) All art one students had an opportunity to use mobile devices and laptops to explore and interactively research the art elements and principles of design. Every student had an opportunity learn the fundamentals of Adobe PhotoShop in the artmak-ing process. I created lesson databases for students to access from moblie devices and computers and I uploaded those links to my teacher webpage; 2) I selected student editors to create a magazine format with Adode InDe-sign. The final publication showcases the work and process paragraphs of art one students who received gold medals in the Texas Visual Art Scho-lastic Event; 3) I published the final IDEA magazine on the international publishing site, ISSUU.com. Anyone can freely access this site to view and print free PDF copies of this document.

The ASUS tablet which we used for this grant has advantages and disadvantages. On the positive side, when wirelessly connected to the in-ternet, it will access all the needed sites to read data and to communicate with other mobile devices and computers. The applications are free com-pared to similar iPad tablet apps which must be purchased. Battery life is very good and the device is highly portable. On the negative side, tablets, in general, without built in modems (phone connections) are not as con-venient as cell phones for accessing data. Furthermore, software such as WINDOWS-based or ADOBE products cannot be used on these devices. Overall, this grant provided me a great opportunity to use and evaluate mobile technology in the classroom, develop lessons, and connect better with my students who use these types of devices daily. ~Jim Henson

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE WFISD FOUNDATION

for funding myIDEA GRANT