Sustained Investigation (SI)
Starting SI - ideas
SI sketchbook planning
Possible SI Topics
Pre-project sketches required for for each project. Sketches can be in pencil (or colored pencil if final art will be in color). Sketches should work out essential design issues before you start the final project. Sketches also prove the work is yours and not copied. These include: 1. Composition, arrangements of shapes and objects. 2. Range of values (darks and light areas). 3. If color is used, the basic color arrangements .
Start with a Question.
Ask yourself, “How can I _______ with my artwork?”
Examples
:“How can I explore the use of stilts in architecture through my sculpture work?”
“How can I use arbitrary color in portraits to better portray emotions?”
“How can I portray the idea of sentimental spaces through my artwork?”
“How can I use images of hands to create surreal environments?”
This will become the GUIDING QUESTION that guides you through your investigation
(include this question in the writing portion)
Artwork should correlate to the guided question in some way.
It should make sense and the question should truly GUIDE the work.
Ask yourself, “How can I _______ with my artwork?”
Examples
:“How can I explore the use of stilts in architecture through my sculpture work?”
“How can I use arbitrary color in portraits to better portray emotions?”
“How can I portray the idea of sentimental spaces through my artwork?”
“How can I use images of hands to create surreal environments?”
This will become the GUIDING QUESTION that guides you through your investigation
(include this question in the writing portion)
Artwork should correlate to the guided question in some way.
It should make sense and the question should truly GUIDE the work.
2D Design15 IMAGES (images DO NOT necessarily mean ARTWORKS)
Images can include process photos, sketchbook planning, anything that helps the 'reader' understand the work and how the student worked to be thoughtful about it’s creation. Sustained Investigations do NOT need to "look cohesive" ideas do not necessarily need to be visually similar In order to perform well, students *must* include images of their:
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3d Design |
Writing about SI
Tips for writing 100 Characters
Section 1: Selecting a Sustained Investigation
Theme Directions: Begin by reading this article to help you come up with ideas and specifics with coming up with a strong themed topic. Then complete the brainstorming. . The article information comes from www.studentartguide.com, please visit the website for detailed information and sample images.
1. The topic should be something that you are genuinely interested in. The ultimate purpose of your Sustained Investigation is to teach you something: to help you develop as an artist and to strengthen your understanding of artrelated issues. The most successful Sustained Investigation communicate ‘a strong sense of involvement through personal enthusiasm and a commitment to sustain the investigation’. Simply speaking, when you are passionate about a topic, you are more likely to do well.
2. A topic should provide you sufficient material to write about, while not being so vast that your project becomes all-encompassing, disjointed or surface-deep. In order to produce a high quality Sustained Investigation, you need to have a clear, well-articulated focus. This gives you something to organize your projects around and encourages you to write with coherence and structure (a lack direction is a common weakness in low achieving Sustained Investigation).
3. Choose a topic that allows you to view artwork first-hand. This is not a guideline: it is imperative. In my experience, the best Sustained Investigation are produced when students not only view artwork in the flesh (in a gallery or museum exhibition, for example). This gives opportunity for the work to be understood in great detail (seeing true colors, textural surface qualities and the real scale of the piece) and encourages truly personal responses. It also means that students can take beautiful photographs of the artist or designer working in their studio and see all of the processes and various stages of completion.
4. Contrasting and comparing the work of artists can be helpful. Studying the work of a mainstream or critically acclaimed artist alongside a local artist can be beneficial, especially if the local artist is less established. This gives you the best of both worlds (the enthusiasm and first-hand contact from a local artist, plus the insight that comes from studying historical, contemporary and/or international artists who work in another cultural context). You may, for example, choose to focus upon two artists who paint the same subject in a different way, or to discuss the influence of a famous artist upon a local painter. It should be noted that the examiners understand that many students will not be able to see all of the artworks they study in the flesh, so supporting first-hand study with those viewed in reproduction is absolutely acceptable.
5. Select a topic that is supported by quality reference material. While the Sustained Investigation is centered on your own personal responses, drawing on the opinions of educated critics can provide insight and a depth of understanding: grounding, validating and/or challenging your own views. Before finalizing upon a Sustained Investigation topic for AP Studio Art, check to see if there are existing articles, books or online reviews about the artists in question. This also helps to verify that the artist you have selected has some standing in the art community and is thus likely to be an appropriate and valuable person to study. It should be noted, of course, that in many cases, the more well-known an artist is, the less time they have to accommodate visits from eager high school students; sometimes relatively unknown artists can be very skilled and have much to teach a high school art student.
6. The Sustained Investigation is a large and comprehensive project. It is impossible to complete in its entirety (and achieve a good grade) at the last minute. It can be good practice to start thinking about your topic selection at the conclusion of this article and brainstorming. This leaves a strong position to start the AP Studio art year it is essential that the Sustained Investigation receives regular attention (ideally within scheduled class time as well as at home) so that students can plan, research and complete the project in a systematic, organized way.
7. Any concern about the suitability of a topic can be overcome by working really hard at the start of the school year and utilizing the feedback from the instructor.
Theme Directions: Begin by reading this article to help you come up with ideas and specifics with coming up with a strong themed topic. Then complete the brainstorming. . The article information comes from www.studentartguide.com, please visit the website for detailed information and sample images.
1. The topic should be something that you are genuinely interested in. The ultimate purpose of your Sustained Investigation is to teach you something: to help you develop as an artist and to strengthen your understanding of artrelated issues. The most successful Sustained Investigation communicate ‘a strong sense of involvement through personal enthusiasm and a commitment to sustain the investigation’. Simply speaking, when you are passionate about a topic, you are more likely to do well.
2. A topic should provide you sufficient material to write about, while not being so vast that your project becomes all-encompassing, disjointed or surface-deep. In order to produce a high quality Sustained Investigation, you need to have a clear, well-articulated focus. This gives you something to organize your projects around and encourages you to write with coherence and structure (a lack direction is a common weakness in low achieving Sustained Investigation).
3. Choose a topic that allows you to view artwork first-hand. This is not a guideline: it is imperative. In my experience, the best Sustained Investigation are produced when students not only view artwork in the flesh (in a gallery or museum exhibition, for example). This gives opportunity for the work to be understood in great detail (seeing true colors, textural surface qualities and the real scale of the piece) and encourages truly personal responses. It also means that students can take beautiful photographs of the artist or designer working in their studio and see all of the processes and various stages of completion.
4. Contrasting and comparing the work of artists can be helpful. Studying the work of a mainstream or critically acclaimed artist alongside a local artist can be beneficial, especially if the local artist is less established. This gives you the best of both worlds (the enthusiasm and first-hand contact from a local artist, plus the insight that comes from studying historical, contemporary and/or international artists who work in another cultural context). You may, for example, choose to focus upon two artists who paint the same subject in a different way, or to discuss the influence of a famous artist upon a local painter. It should be noted that the examiners understand that many students will not be able to see all of the artworks they study in the flesh, so supporting first-hand study with those viewed in reproduction is absolutely acceptable.
5. Select a topic that is supported by quality reference material. While the Sustained Investigation is centered on your own personal responses, drawing on the opinions of educated critics can provide insight and a depth of understanding: grounding, validating and/or challenging your own views. Before finalizing upon a Sustained Investigation topic for AP Studio Art, check to see if there are existing articles, books or online reviews about the artists in question. This also helps to verify that the artist you have selected has some standing in the art community and is thus likely to be an appropriate and valuable person to study. It should be noted, of course, that in many cases, the more well-known an artist is, the less time they have to accommodate visits from eager high school students; sometimes relatively unknown artists can be very skilled and have much to teach a high school art student.
6. The Sustained Investigation is a large and comprehensive project. It is impossible to complete in its entirety (and achieve a good grade) at the last minute. It can be good practice to start thinking about your topic selection at the conclusion of this article and brainstorming. This leaves a strong position to start the AP Studio art year it is essential that the Sustained Investigation receives regular attention (ideally within scheduled class time as well as at home) so that students can plan, research and complete the project in a systematic, organized way.
7. Any concern about the suitability of a topic can be overcome by working really hard at the start of the school year and utilizing the feedback from the instructor.
