Letters to Future Students

Dear Future AP Studio Art student:

Letter 1

This class is gives you a lot of freedom to do any kind of art and really let your imagination run free. Students who enjoy making art on their own while getting AP credit should definitely take APSA. There are regular critiques when you get a lot of feedback from your peers, which is good practice if you are interested in going to art school/ take art classes in college. Be prepared that there would be negative as well as positive feedback from your peers and teacher, and you might not like what you hear. Since art is very objective, critiques like these prepare you for the real art world. Personally, having deadlines for turning in art work was a good stimulation to my creative side. I found myself getting more artwork done when there is a test date that they are due by. If you don't work well under pressure, or feel that deadlines kill your passion for art, however, you might want to think again about taking the class. because turning in stuff before certain dates is basically all this class is about. 

Letter 2

Dear new AP Art student,

First of all, welcome to the class! I'm giving you a bit insight into my experience of this class for you to know what to expect. The AP Art class focuses on learning and applying elements of design and your already existing knowledge and talent in art. Especially in the beginning, you will probably follow more the guidelines and principles of design like perspective and depth, practice, and explore them. For the first semester, there are a lot of suggested assignments with deadlines usually every week. The assignments will help you get ideas of what to draw, paint, photograph, or create, but the time pressure is very high from the beginning on. It is an advantage if you already have 2-4 pieces done before class starts, so you have more time to paint new pieces. With all of the other homework, the workload in Art becomes very stressful. Meeting deadlines is probably the most essential part and pressure in the class, so be prepared to manage your time. It is also possible that because of the time pressure, your love for Art might diminish. That is one thing to think about before entering the class as well, if it is worth it to lose that passion if you don't want to attend Art school. 

A big advantage of the class is that you more or less work independently. Any ideas you have, you can turn them into a project. There a really no limits to your work, as long as you meet the deadlines.

One last tip: Don't be afraid to try out new techniques and materials. I never worked with clay and wood before, but discovered my interest in it, and was able to use them in my portfolio.

Letter 3

Dear future AP Studio Art student, 

First off, this is an AP course, and should not be taken lightly just because it's an art class. There are high expectations and a certain amount of skills, interest and dedication is needed in order to do well in this class. Ultimately, you will have to submit your work to collegeboard, which they can literally grade you however they think is appropriate. What is difficult about this class is that art is subjective. What you like might be very different from what your teacher likes. To be very honest, I feel like the fact that someone is judging my work subjectively is unfair. However, at the end of the day this class is suppose to prepare for a college level art class. So make sure that you are confident in what you are doing and also willing to take criticism. As an artist, I believe that all artists should have their own voice and should not be afraid to say what they want in their art. Do not take this class thinking that it will be an easy AP. It might not be the hardest, but it is definitely time consuming and without passion, you will hate this class. 

Best of luck, 

Letter 4

Dear Future Student,

Congratulations on taking AP Art! You are a brave soul. So what to expect…I would say definitely take this class. You will make a lot of art this year, and you will feel like you really accomplished something at the end of it. Also some AP credit never hurt anyone ;).

Some advice:

·      Think about/plan for your concentration. I know it seems like it is a long way off, but having an idea is key. Your idea should be EASY! Don’t try to over complicate things. Start with something that you can visually portray 12 different times and the “central idea” can come later. To be honest, when I wrote up my paragraph about my concentration it was a lot of BSing, but it sounded good and it made my concentration work. I have seen many an AP art student get derailed because they had no concentration idea or they had a concentration idea that was super deep and meaningful but really hard to portray visually.

·      Listen to Mrs. Scott. She is the teacher. She knows what she is doing. If you don’t want to listen, you shouldn’t have taken the class. Working with the teacher will help you way more than working against her.

·      Be able to take criticism. You’re playing with the big boys now. Be a freaking man and don’t get whiny and annoying every time someone tells you they don’t like your piece.

·      Plan your time. Everyone says this I know, but you will fall behind and then you will end up with six pieces and six close-ups instead of 12 actual pieces (my life).

·      The concentration will be way harder than the breadth. Prepare for that.

·      You will hate your concentration by the end. No one can work on the same idea for half a year and not want to shoot the idea in the face.

·      Remember that you are awesome and your art is awesome and if the AP board doesn’t like your art and you get a 2 they can suck it and don’t let them stop you from making art.

·      Chill out. Don’t let yourself get frustrated. I know everything in this class isn’t perfect, but neither are you. Let it go.

Have fun future student! I believe in you.

Love,

Letter 5

 Hi future student,

I liked Ap art because we have a lot of freedom regarding deadlines and the subject matter of our pieces. For the concentration, it helped that I chose a broad, conceptual topic because I could experiment more. I didn’t feel like I did the same piece every time, and I didn’t go insane working on repetitive pieces for half the year. The nice thing about deadlines in the class is that you don’t have to turn your piece in on the deadline. The teacher grades mostly on progress, so you can just show her the piece when you’re done and get full credit (which gives you the chance to make art at your own pace). The worst deadline is the AP submission deadline. It was the worst part of the class for me, involving last minute pieces, photographing at break, and uploading at all possible moments throughout the day. Don’t underestimate the time it takes to upload, matt, and photograph, because it is a long and painful process. Though some people in my class were driven insane by the loosely structured class periods, when we had a lot of freedom to work at our own pace, I liked that structure. If you’re someone who needs a lot of direction and structure in the curriculum, this probably isn’t your kind of class. It’s also really good to get work done in the summer or in break, because in the last two weeks before the submission I finished four new pieces (one of them the night before) and I still had two missing pieces in my concentration. It was one of my most time consuming classes this year. I didn’t mind working on the art, but it took away from the time I needed to work ahead on my other APs. If you take this class I recommend not taking too many other hard AP’s because it makes time management difficult. Otherwise, it’s a fun class and a stress relief until the last few weeks before submission to the AP board.   

Dear new students,

As a former student in AP Studio Art, I hope all you guys can have a nice and joyful year with art. Of course APSA is not an easy AP, you may have to do extra works in weekends, and you may have to spend hours on art outside the school. As you know there are 12 Breadth pieces and 12 Concentration pieces to be done by the AP week, it is really important to have a nice concentration idea. I’d suggest start brainstorming for that from the beginning of the year, so you may have more choices and better choices when you are doing your concentration parts.

Wish all of you can discover your passion about art and have a great year!