"Art is not a product arrived at through following directions, copying, or conforming to a given model. Art is not just a skill. It is the process of thinking, imagining, risking, seeing connections, inventing, expressing in unique visual form. Drawing is as basic and essential a mode of expression as is language and writing. Everyone can draw. And just as we all learn the same form of cursive writing but develop an individuality that becomes our identification, so our drawing develops as individually as our writing. The task of a teacher is not to tell the student what it should look like; rather, the teacher's role is to lead the student to look. There is no absolute standard of good drawing. Each artist has his or her individual style. So too, every student will see and record individually. To put a standard before a class and require students to aim to copy it is very destructive." Jean Morman Unsworth, Art Education, Nov. 2001 About the Instructor Visual art instructor, Mr. Keith Crockett MFA, is a world-class artist. He earned his Master of Fine Arts from the Claremont Graduate School with the emphasis in post-modernist expression in both 2D and 3D medias. His works has been featured in galleries in New York, California and in Europe. To the classroom, he brings a professional aesthetic, which facilitates a more advanced level of instruction for DRHS students. His students have received local, state, and national awards, including First Place in the Congressional Art Show, as well as Best in Show 1st, 2nd, and 3 places in the Los Angeles County Fair exhibitions. Under his tutelage, 85% AP Studio Art students have earned high passing scores on their art portfolios. During Mr. Crockett's tenure, DRHS art students have gained admission into important art colleges and universities, including UCLA Art, Art Center School of Design, Art Institute, FDIM, Academy of Art San Francisco, Cornell University, University of San Francisco, Pitzer College, Pomona College, and Brown University. Visual Arts Mission Statement By tradition, the basis for understanding all visual art media has been drawing, involving perception, creative conceptualization, and informed practice. The purpose of the art courses is to learn to see art by means of various materials, techniques, and concepts of drawing. The primary concern of art students is to expand their ability to experience and to state their world in visual terms. All of the fine art courses at Diamond Ranch High promote students the understanding of the obstacles and options that confront them when creating art from nature. It provides understanding of visual communication by introducing students to the factors underlying attentive vision (how-to-see), by providing a background of general and technical information about art media, materials, and concepts, and by providing practice in the processes of drawing (how-to-do). It will develop the student's ability to perceive an object in three-dimensional space and to translate the visual experience both objectivelyand subjectively by creating onto two/three dimensional surfaces. Course Work Areas of Studies Diamond Ranch High Art 1,2,and A/P Art Drawing Drawing - Drawing foundations on landscape, still life and figure (major emphasis on figure work this year). Watercolors - watercolor medium (applied use of color theory). Pastel/Painting - work from self-produced large format! Mixed Media- work with every day materials(boxes, books and wire, with an applied use of tactual skills) Installation Concepts - concepts of manipulation of objects in space. Art History - an art history survey of the diverse aspect of world art. Goals and Objectives: To enhance the creative potential of each student. To encourage independent decision making and critical thinking skills. To explore and better understand the visual language of art. |
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