AP® 2-D Design Portfolio
AP Photography consists of investigation of various forms of expression and techniques using the principles of design and elements of art. Students will develop mastery in concept, composition, and execution. This course is equivalent to a first-year college art class and all students are expected to challenge themselves to develop mastery in their ideas, skills and abilities in 2-D design through photography.
Students will create and develop a cohesive concentration, exploring a single visual concern in depth. Each student will also provide and present an outline of their specific plan of action and discovery involved with their compelling visual concept to the class.
Students will be introduced to new photographers, artists, and more sophisticated techniques as points of departure to create work that reflects their spirit and vision. By exploring photographic and digital media with the camera and the computer, students will be able to develop a body of work that reflects a range of problem solving and ideation, and develops versatility with techniques to demonstrate your abilities.
Students will thoughtfully and consistently use a sketchbook to journal, plan, reflect and document their artistic growth and the direction of their studio art experiences. The sketchbook will include visual ideas, notes, photos, doodles, plans, short assignments, quick sketches and various techniques.
The course includes group critiques with the teacher. Each student is expected to participate in weekly group critiques of their artwork. Students will demonstrate understanding of vocabulary in classroom discussions and critiques and are reminded to analyze the following during a critique: composition, execution (technique), and concept. Successes and areas of improvement will be discussed with teacher and with their peers.
The teacher will engage in ongoing dialogue or instructional conversations with each of the students in order to assess the strengths and weaknesses in their works and to provide feedback on how they can develop their works further. This occurs through scheduled meetings and as the students are in the class producing their own artworks.
Students will be expected to solve creative problems using their knowledge of the elements of art and principles of design. Class assignments will challenge students to set and achieve creative goals. The student will be involved in a sustained investigation of all three aspects of portfolio development: quality, concentration, breadth. The development of the portfolio is an ongoing process that uses informed and critical decision-making to assemble a body of work.
Work is expected to be of high quality in thought, process, and product. You are expected to use artistic integrity. Work based on another artist’s work or photos must move beyond mere duplication and become an expression of your own personal voice and vision. Through discussions and selected readings, students will be made aware of what plagiarism is and what it encompasses in regard to the making of art. Plagiarism, using an image (even in another medium) that was made by someone else, is unethical and it will not be allowed in this course.Curricular overview for a full year in Digital Photography
Assessments are both formative and summative and include self-evaluations and peer evaluations. Summative assessments will occur at the conclusion of projects and will be graded with a rubric. All projects will conclude with an in-class critique. Students will either present their work to the class on the overhead screen or they will participate in what we call a “gallery walk.” Students will put their photos up on their monitor full-screen and will walk the gallery while completing written evaluations of other student’s work. Then the whole class will discuss individual pieces out loud while looking at the work together.