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The Seventh Grade Curriculum-Trimester (twelve weeks, class meets twice a week for 50 minutes)
The trimester will begin with an intensive unit on Ceramics. Students will study the tools, techniques, and science behind this medium while creating a hand-built bowl and a mask exploring the student's position within contemporary culture. After discovering the technology and science behind ceramics, students will create a bowl incorporating pinch, coil, and/or slab techniques with an emphasis on surface decoration, craftsmanship, and proper attachment. Once students gain basic skills in ceramic hand building, they will transfer this knowledge to the creation of a ceramic mask. This mask will serve as a visual identity symbol as students explore themselves in the context of their culture. Use of symbolism and solid design concepts will be emphasized, as well as an application of knowledge from research on mask creation in cultures around the world. What can masks tell us about the people or culture that created them? What might not be said?
The trimester will conclude with a unit in Altered Art. Students will explore mixed media and will change an object in a way that changes a viewer's perception of that object to reflect a new idea. Material usage and visual communication will be stressed.
Homework will include sketchbook assignments based on research of Avant-Garde artists in the 20th/21st centuries. Students will conduct basic research on several artists and will write short reviews of their work to familiarize themselves with the contemporary art world.
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