KUNTZ' VISUAL ARTS & AP ART HISTORY
Visual Journals: Questions and Answers
Q: But I'm taking a sculpture class, why do I have to draw?
A: Visual Journals are an important part of the creative process, a place where students can express creative thinking, experiment with ideas and materials, keep a record of how an artistic project began, was developed, and was created.
Q: But I still can't draw!
A: The sculpture visual journal is not about your ability to draw, only your ability to think more deeply about what you do. think of it as a journal of artistic "practice". You do NOT have to draw. You can create in other ways - collage, assemblage, stitch - to name a few.
Q: I'm afraid to show what I did - I feel like it will never be good enough.
A: Your work in the visual journal is personal, meant for you to feel safe about trying things you are not sure will work. I will, on occasion, ask if I can show something you've created so others can see your great, new, interesting direction.
Q: You keep talking about this thing called DECONSTRUCTION. What is it and why is it so important to you?
A: Deconstruction is what I refer to as "altering the surface of the paper". Often I find students (and adults!) have a difficult time starting an assignment when they're staring at a blank white paper. Doing something to alter the surface BEFORE you start can often generate ideas.
The Assignments:
Visual Journal Prompts:
1. Enormous
2. Yesterday
3. Close Up to Abstraction
4. Inner Workings of a Machine
5. Vintage
6. Euphoria
7. Metamorphosis
8. Silence
9. A Chair as a Self Portrait
10. Connected
11. Jim Dine Tools
12. Spontaneous
13. Outside VS Inside
14. Lonely - Object
15. Non-traditional Interior
16. Letter
17. Home
18. Less Than an Inch
19. Moment
20. Suspended
21. Pattern in Nature
22. Mundane
Each student will be given a visual journal and a list of prompts. The prompts (to the left) are intentionally vague - what does "Inside vs. Outside LOOK like to you? How would you show your idea on paper? Perhaps you might divide a room in half, showing interior furniture on one side and exterior furniture on the other. Perhaps you might cut a "window" in one page (inside) and collage the next page with an outdoor scene (outside). There is no right or wrong, only the effort of thought you put into each prompt.
