Thursday, October 28, 2010

100 Records Research

  1. What is your favorite kind of contemporary (new) music? Describe why you connect with the genre.

  2. When you listen to music, do you focus on the music or the lyrics?

  3. How would you describe the mood of the music you listen to? Describe one part of the music that supports your perspective.

  4. List 5 of your favorite contemporary musicians:





  5. What other genres of music, contemporary or historical, influence/inspire your favorite contemporary music? What are the roots (historical connections) of the music you listen to?

  6. 10 Minute Research – To inform your understanding of the roots of contemporary musical genres try and find some historical background about the music you listen to today. Find a relevant source and summarize important historical facts in a list or brief summary. Cite the source using for the format below:

    Source (website name):
    URL (website address): http://
    Date Page Last Updated:

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

"100 Records"

Visit Cinders Gallery and scroll down and click on the "100 Records" link on the right side. Read the press release and explore the record covers on your own and answer the following questions. You may (A) write the answers on loose leaf and place them in your folder or (B) Copy and paste the questions into your gmail and email me your answers. If you don't finish you can save a DRAFT in gmail and finish the questions tomorrow.

1. Whose ‘big idea’ or art is ‘100 Records’? Where and when did the show take place?


2. How long did it take make the show and how many people did it involve?



3. What different roles did people ‘play’ in creating the show? Identify two different people/groups and what they contributed to the art show.




4. Look through the album cover images and choose one record to describe in detail. What artist made the record cover? What is the title? What text/words can you see or read? What ‘subjects’ can you identify? What elements of art can you identify in the album cover?








5. Briefly analyze how the artist composed the composition. How has the artist arranged the text, images, and elements in the space of the 7” square?






6. Briefly interpret what story or mood the record cover conveys to you.






7. Why did you choose this record cover? Why does it connect with you?

Thursday, October 21, 2010

What are the Scholastic Awards

Today we are going to explore one of the main reasons we are learning how to use applications like Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop, the Scholastic Awards. It is a national competition for arts and literature with many different categories. We are going to develop class-based projects for submission as well as one independent project that you design, plan, and execute using Illustrator or Photoshop.

To begin this process, we will visit the Scholastic Awards website sponsored by the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, and then you will do some research and brainstorming.

Research Questions:
  1. What are the eligibility requirement?
  2. How many steps are in the application process and what do you have to do? Summarize each step of the process:
  3. What categories of the awards do you think you might be eligible for in Digital Portfolio?
  4. What Special Scholarships are available at the National Level? Which one(s) might you be able to compete for?
  5. What category are you most interested in creating a project for in Digital Portfolio?
  6. Based on your answer to #4 leave a comment on this post with your first idea(s) for a project or projects you would be interested in designing this semester. Be sure to include your name at the bottom of your comment.