CONCENTRATION SECTION
Rationale
A concentration is a body of related works that demonstrate a student’s commitment to the thoughtful investigation of a specific visual idea. It is not a selection of a variety of works produced as solutions to class projects or a collection of works with differing intents. Students should be encouraged to explore a personal, central interest as intensively as possible; they are free to work with any idea in any medium that addresses drawing issues. The concentration should grow out of the student’s idea and demonstrate growth and/or discovery through a number of conceptually related works. In this section, the evaluators are interested not only in the work presented but also in visual evidence of the student’s thinking, selected method of working and development of the work over time.
Requirements
For this section, 12 digital images must be submitted, some of which may be details. All images should be labeled with dimensions (height x width) and material. The Digital Submission Web application incorporates space to include this information. Regardless of the content of the concentration, the works should be unified by an underlying idea that has visual and/or conceptual coherence. The choices of technique, medium, style, form, subject and content are made by the student, in consultation with the teacher. For this section, 12 digital images must be submitted, some of which may be details. All images should be labeled with dimensions (height x width) and material . The Digital Submission Web application incorporates space to include this information. Regardless of the content of the concentration, the works should be unified by an underlying idea that has visual and/or conceptual coherence. The choices of technique, medium, style, form, subject and content are made by the student, in consultation with the teacher.
Concentration Assignments (due dates are located on calendar)
Picking a Concentration Theme
When you pick a Concentration theme, choose a subject that interests you and that can be sustained over 12 works. Some things you'll find interesting won't last over 12 artworks and when April rolls around and you've done eight and can't think of a single thing more to do, life gets really tense.
So how do you come up with a good Concentration?
You are also showing growth and development and increased complexity of an idea.
How to choose your concentration subject.
So pick something that's interesting to you, interesting to the judges, edgy (but not TOO edgy) and can be sustained over 12 works (and most importantly you need to be passionate about your topic).
Things to keep in mind:
How to write your Concentration Statement
When you turn in your portfolio online, you'll also have two questions to answer. These questions are not graded but you need to take this part seriously. This is your opportunity to explain your work. When the reader grades your portfolio, you won't be there to explain a concentration that is not immediately clear. (First, if your concentration is not immediately clear, maybe you should rethink choosing it.) The questions are:
1. What is the central idea of your concentration?
2. How does the work in your concentration demonstrate the exploration of your idea? You may refer to specific images as examples.
Think of question 1 as the thesis statement for your Concentration. Don't be too wordy answering question 1. The readers rarely read past the first paragraph and if it takes more than that to explain your Concentration, you need to rethink your approach. One short, well thought-out paragraph will do.
Question 2 allows you to refer to specific artworks. For instance, you will say something like "In C1, the beginning of the life cycle of a teenager is depicted as a moth in a pupa. This work starts out the life cycle of the moth/teenager with a metaphor of how a teenager emerges from childhood into adulthood. In C4, the moth...." Again, you don't have to write a book here. Three or four examples of your BEST work will do. There is no profit to be gained pointing out your weakest works.
In any work you do, your true professionalism will show in the presentation and the details. Sloppy writing, bad grammar, and poor spelling have no place in a portfolio you poured your heart and soul into for over an entire year. No, this area is not graded, but none-the-less, you have plenty of time to think about these questions ahead of time. Think over your answers, have your friends read them so that what you mean to say is clear to a stranger and use spell-check! Don't use any text-speak, no jokes and no flowery language. If you keep your comments short, clear and serious they will benefit your portfolio and help display your work in the best possible light. Keep your comments short, clear, concise and to the point.
Rationale
A concentration is a body of related works that demonstrate a student’s commitment to the thoughtful investigation of a specific visual idea. It is not a selection of a variety of works produced as solutions to class projects or a collection of works with differing intents. Students should be encouraged to explore a personal, central interest as intensively as possible; they are free to work with any idea in any medium that addresses drawing issues. The concentration should grow out of the student’s idea and demonstrate growth and/or discovery through a number of conceptually related works. In this section, the evaluators are interested not only in the work presented but also in visual evidence of the student’s thinking, selected method of working and development of the work over time.
Requirements
For this section, 12 digital images must be submitted, some of which may be details. All images should be labeled with dimensions (height x width) and material. The Digital Submission Web application incorporates space to include this information. Regardless of the content of the concentration, the works should be unified by an underlying idea that has visual and/or conceptual coherence. The choices of technique, medium, style, form, subject and content are made by the student, in consultation with the teacher. For this section, 12 digital images must be submitted, some of which may be details. All images should be labeled with dimensions (height x width) and material . The Digital Submission Web application incorporates space to include this information. Regardless of the content of the concentration, the works should be unified by an underlying idea that has visual and/or conceptual coherence. The choices of technique, medium, style, form, subject and content are made by the student, in consultation with the teacher.
Concentration Assignments (due dates are located on calendar)
Picking a Concentration Theme
When you pick a Concentration theme, choose a subject that interests you and that can be sustained over 12 works. Some things you'll find interesting won't last over 12 artworks and when April rolls around and you've done eight and can't think of a single thing more to do, life gets really tense.
So how do you come up with a good Concentration?
- Your goal is to show "in-depth exploration of a particular artistic concern".
You are also showing growth and development and increased complexity of an idea.
- Twelve pictures of essentially the same thing, no matter how well executed, do not show growth and development.
- You will need to show how something changes (over time, size, location, morphs...) or how your VIEW of that thing has changed.
- Twelve good works that are of the same subject, but don't show a progression will earn you a 3.
- Works of the same quality that show growth and development will earn a 4.
How to choose your concentration subject.
- Do not choose a common, shallow or trite theme.
- Why? Because the reader has probably seen it 100 times earlier that same day.
- It might not be fair, but it's reality that your Portfolio is going to be seen the same day as 22,000 other works from all over the world.
- Why? Because the reader has probably seen it 100 times earlier that same day.
- If you choose a theme that is unique or unusual it will perk up their interest and the judges will look at your work a bit longer and judge it a bit kinder.
- Concentrations should be based in the real world, more or less.
- Fairies, dragons, emotions, "thoughts and feelings" are not good concentration subjects.
- Copying another artist's style is also not a concentration subject, so stay away from anime', cartoon characters, and "painting like Van Gogh" as a concentration.
So pick something that's interesting to you, interesting to the judges, edgy (but not TOO edgy) and can be sustained over 12 works (and most importantly you need to be passionate about your topic).
Things to keep in mind:
- Choose something you are passionate about (12 pieces of work will get very old if you don’t feel strongly about the subject matter!)
- COMPOSITION is important, no matter what you choose!
- CHALLENGE yourself to do something above and beyond what you might have done before!
- Personalize your concentration, make it yours!
- This takes TIME, so choose EARLY to be sure that your quality will be up to par!
- Stick with it! If you’ve chosen thoughtfully, you should be able to sustain the idea through 12 pieces.
- Don’t worry that the idea ‘morphs’ a bit….it is SUPPOSED to show growth.
- DO worry if the pieces no longer look like they belong together! (Then get help from me and your colleagues in AP!)
- Choose proportions for the finished pieces keeping in mind that they fill the frame when we photograph them.
- (i.e. no long and skinny pieces which will leave a lot of negative space).
- Make the pieces large enough and complex enough to show that you put in a great deal of effort
- (nothing smaller than 11” X 14”).
- Stay in contact with me and with your peers in AP to frequently check in and get opinions from all of us. We should all be able to help each other in this class!
- ENJOY the fact that you get to participate in this challenging but very rewarding part of the AP portfolio! I promise you that if you put in your best effort, you will be proud of what you can accomplish, and how much you will grow throughout the year!
How to write your Concentration Statement
When you turn in your portfolio online, you'll also have two questions to answer. These questions are not graded but you need to take this part seriously. This is your opportunity to explain your work. When the reader grades your portfolio, you won't be there to explain a concentration that is not immediately clear. (First, if your concentration is not immediately clear, maybe you should rethink choosing it.) The questions are:
1. What is the central idea of your concentration?
2. How does the work in your concentration demonstrate the exploration of your idea? You may refer to specific images as examples.
Think of question 1 as the thesis statement for your Concentration. Don't be too wordy answering question 1. The readers rarely read past the first paragraph and if it takes more than that to explain your Concentration, you need to rethink your approach. One short, well thought-out paragraph will do.
Question 2 allows you to refer to specific artworks. For instance, you will say something like "In C1, the beginning of the life cycle of a teenager is depicted as a moth in a pupa. This work starts out the life cycle of the moth/teenager with a metaphor of how a teenager emerges from childhood into adulthood. In C4, the moth...." Again, you don't have to write a book here. Three or four examples of your BEST work will do. There is no profit to be gained pointing out your weakest works.
In any work you do, your true professionalism will show in the presentation and the details. Sloppy writing, bad grammar, and poor spelling have no place in a portfolio you poured your heart and soul into for over an entire year. No, this area is not graded, but none-the-less, you have plenty of time to think about these questions ahead of time. Think over your answers, have your friends read them so that what you mean to say is clear to a stranger and use spell-check! Don't use any text-speak, no jokes and no flowery language. If you keep your comments short, clear and serious they will benefit your portfolio and help display your work in the best possible light. Keep your comments short, clear, concise and to the point.