smArt sPace

1. What is a portfolio?
2. How do artists use portfolios?
3. What types of portfolios are available for artists

Answer these questions in a comment.
Deadline = Friday, January 9, 2009

Last week you looked at Piet Mondrian and Pure Abstractionism. This week you will research Surrealism and one of the best known paintings of the genre.

Read about Surrealism at Wikipedia - Surrealism.
Look at and read about The Persistence of Memory at Wikipedia
(Remember that you can right click on a link and open it in a new tab or window.)

In a comment at the bottom of this post:

1. Describe Surrealism.
2. Describe some of the symbolism Dali used in The Persistence of Memory.

Feel free to use other websites or books for this assignment, but plagiarism will result in a grade of zero.

Last week you had the opportunity to survey art genres. This week you will take a more in depth look at one genre: Pure Abstractionism.

Go to WebMuseum.

1. Read the description of Pure Abstraction.
2. Read the blurb after the heading, Mondrian’s abstract purity

Go to Wikipedia - Piet Mondrian.
In a comment at the bottom of this post:

1. Describe Piet Mondrian’s early years.
2. Describe how Mondrian transitioned from Holland to Paris.
3. List three of Mondrian’s paintings that you like and tell why you like them.

This week we will take a quick look at some art genres by doing a little research. Start at this link:Art Genre Guide. I haven’t clicked on every link at this site, so there may be images that some will find offensive. If you find yourself on a page that offends you or that might offend your neighbor, please quickly click the back button and find another image to read about. As you read and look at the artwork, on paper to turn in, please write the following for at least three genres:

1. a description of the genre. Include dates, continents, influences.
2. a list of prominent artists of the genre.
3. a list specific artwork from the genre.

Dr. Steven Paine, State Superintendent of Schools, has recognized this week as International Education Week. His goals for West Virginia include the following:

• Students will have success as citizens, workers, and leaders in the 21st Century
• Schools will emphasize global awareness, communication skills, and world languages.
• Students will be prepared to live in a diverse society and succeed in a global economy.

This week, I’d like for you to contrast your world with the world your parents lived in when they were your age. Talk to them. Ask them to tell you

• what they did for fun
• what their parents did at work
• what things cost
• etc.

Your homework is to add a comment to this post telling us what you learned. Remember the NetSmartz information and don’t include anything that will put you or someone else at risk.

Last week, our guest speaker, Officer Dave Adkins, gave us a presentation called NetSmartz. Using the notes you took that day, add a comment to this post with at least three of the tips from the presentation. If you have no notes, right-click the link above or NetTeens, select open in new window or tab and look through the information. Then come back to this tab or window to post your comment.

Your comments will go live after 3:00 pm, Friday, so don’t worry that when you click the ’submit comment’ button, nothing seems to happen…

Last weekend my family and I converged in Martinsburg, WV. We spent time in Washington, DC, sightseeing. Hannah, my three-year-old granddaughter, was enthralled with the Washington Monument! She called it The Pencil House.

Your assignment this week is to add a comment to this post. In your comment, tell us about your favorite ‘monument‘. Include the following information:

1. name
2. location
3. why you like it

As usual, this assignment is due Friday. Your comments will go live after 2:00 pm Friday evening to promote independent thinking.

One more zero will sink some of you, so I’ve wrestled with my wicked side about this week’s blog assignment. My benevolent side won, so this week you don’t have an assignment. Happy Halloween!

Log in to your Dashboard and edit your profile. Complete these fields:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Other Website you have if it is school appropriate
• Biographical Info - nothing that identifies where you live, how to contact you, etc.

This is to be done by Friday, October 24, 2008.

This week you will join this blog. Open registration will end on Friday evening. After that, you will be asked to join in class, but you will lose 50% of the points. Your user name must be firstinitial_lastname. (I would be p_hensley.)

After you have joined, leave a comment to this post telling your peers which 21st Century Tool you like best and why. You may also comment on your school-mates’ comments. If you joined last year, just log in and comment.

To maintain the security of our blog, all comments and posts are moderated by me. That means that everything that is written here is approved by me before it is published. So, don’t look for your comment to instantly appear when you post it. Later, as you earn more privileges, this feature will change and your posts and comments will go live as soon as you write them.

Finally, you should consider anything you write online to be public…even if you are on a secure, private site like smArt sPace. Never write anything you wouldn’t want your Mom, Dad, Sunday School Teacher, Mr. Lucas, etc. to read. Lives can be ruined with words, so guard yours well!

This week you get a pass! It’s Homecoming Week; I’m busy, you’re busy. So just have a great time working on floats, etc.

This week we will prepare to join this blog. Before you can join, you need a functional email address. If you already have one that you can and do check often, go directly to step two.

1. Register an account with gmail.com, yahoo.com. hotmail.com, or some other universal email service.
2. Send me an email message with the subject line: (your name)’s email address.

That’s it! Easy week, huh?