Unit 1 - Expressive Heads

Part I - Before We Begin, We Investigate!
How can ceramic sculpture and portraiture be applied to work in current popular culture?  

Watch the following video clips, then answer the survey questions:

The Importance of Being Real - Survey Questions Schoology Discussion

Part II - Working with Proportion and Scale
Formative Drawing Assignment
  1. Manders will demonstrate how to draw features of the face.  Follow along in your sketchbook.
  2. Review the following images.  In your sketchbook, draw 10 eyes, 10 noses, 10 pairs of ears, & 10 sets of mouths.
  3. Next, Draw a frontal view and a 3/4 view of a face in your sketchbook.
Part III - Working with Sculpting Technique
Formative Sculpture Assignment
  1. Watch all video clips below.  
  2. Get a 9" square bat from the shelf.  Use it to cut a 9" square tile (use the slab roller).
  3. With a ruler, section off a grid of 9, 3" squares represented by the picture above.  
  4. In each square sculpt an example of the listed facial feature.  Smooth and refine before firing.   

The Art Problem - summative assessment

Part IV - Planning Your Creation
Answer the following prompts in your sketchbook:
  1. List 5 impact-full experiences you've had in your life.  What emotions would you associate with these experiences?
  2. Make a list of 10 emotions. 
  3. With your camera, take a series of photographic "selfies" that would evoke these emotions.
  4. Choose one that best suits your idea.  
  5. Finally, Take a frontal picture of this emotion and a 3/4 or profile view of this emotion.  Print these pictures (grayscale)


Stuck???  Here are some ideas to consider...
  • Create yourself as an alter-ego or super hero or villain.  
  • Morph or add other elements to your head / bust that you wouldn't normally think would make sense. Look at Robert Arneson's work below.  
  • Add outside objects or found objects as embellishments.  Look at contemporary ceramic head sculptures.  
  • Paint a scene or some creative artwork on the exterior of your sculpture. 
  • Make is Surreal.

Part V - Creating an Expressive Head
Your summative art project for this unit is to create an expressive self portrait that depicts some kind of emotion or idea.  

Your sculpture should show a good understanding of proportion and texture along with understanding of clay properties.
  1. Clay cannot be greater than 1" in thickness.  This may result in carving from the inside of the head.  
  2. If the head is hollow, there must be a hole carved in an inconspicuous place to release the air.  
  3. Remember surface quality.  The surface should be smooth and free of unnecessary marks.  Unnecessary marks means that there is evidence to suggest that the student either got lazy or unmotivated to finish or simply overlooked the refinement process.  
  4. This sculpture should reflect YOU in some way; although it may be altered, the theme should stay true to who you are.

Robert Arneson

Born in Benicia, California in 1930, Robert Arneson was encouraged by his father to draw. He became a proficient draftsman early in life and drew cartoons for a local newspaper as a teenager. After Arneson studied art education at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland he taught in a local high school, where he became interested in ceramics. He went on to receive an MFA from Mills College in 1958. Arneson became head of the ceramics department at the University of California at Davis in 1962 and became a full professor of art in 1973.

Arneson was greatly influenced by the expressionist work of fellow Californian Peter Voulkos, who had studied Pablo Picasso's works in clay. This influence stimulated Arneson to be more adventurous and to break through previously established sculptural boundaries. Arneson rejected the idea that ceramic artists produce only utilitarian or decorative items. He began creating non-functional clay pieces, contradicting the more formal traditions previously associated with this medium. He created a number of self-portraits using photographs, mirrors, and drawings; each one seemed to reveal a new identity. Although by definition self-referential, the ironic and humorous self-portraits were used as vehicles to present universal concepts and feelings. Arneson was part of the dynamic group of irreverent California Pop artists whose work has come to be known as "Funk Art." After the artist became ill with liver cancer in the early 1980s, his work became progressively more somber in tone. Arneson's own confrontation with death made him aware of society's flirtation with mass destruction.


http://www.verisimilitudo.com/arneson/