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SMHS Arts - Visual Arts
AP ART

Course Description:
AP Art is a year long, fourth level art elective that provides students with college-level visual arts experience leading to the completion of a portfolio of work.

Course Content:
Students are required to submit a portfolio that follows the guidelines established by the Development Committee in AP Studio Art. The portfolio is divided into three sections; Quality (5 actual pieces), Concentration (12 slides) and Breadth (12 slides). A written commentary on the student’s area of concentration must accompany the work.

This course is designed for only serious and motivated art students as the portfolio requires the completion of 20-30 pieces.

ESLRs Addressed by Curriculum:
  • Civic Responsibility
  • Post Secondary Preparation
  • Critical Thinking
  • Technological Literacy
Critical Standards:
Artistic Perception
1.1 Students analyze and discuss complex ideas, such as distortion, color theory, arbitrary color, scale, expressive content, and real versus virtual in works of art.
1.2 Students discuss a series of their original works of art, using the appropriate vocabulary of art.
1.3 Students analyze their work as to personal direction and style.
1.6 Students analyze Art Elements and Principles of design including how the artist uses color and technique to express mood.


Creative Expression
2.1 Students create original works of art of increasing complexity and skill in a variety of media.
2.2 Students plan and create original works of art that reflect complex ideas, such as distortion, color theory, arbitrary color, scale, expressive content, and real versus virtual.
2.3 Assemble and display objects or works of art as part of a public exhibition.

Historical and Cultural Context
3.4 Students research the methods art historians use to determine the time, place, context, value, and culture that produced a given work of art.

Aesthetic Valuing
4.1 Describe the relationship involving the art maker, the process, the artwork and the viewer.

Connections, Relationships, and Applications
5.3 Students prepare portfolios of their original works of art for a variety of purposes.

Textbooks: A.P. Art Handbook

Prerequisite: Teacher approval to seniors only.

Special Features:
This course requires a materials and processing fee. Students earn college credit.

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