What is an Artist Investigation?
An artist investigation is a sketchbook assignment that allows you to delve deeper into the work of 1 particular artist, learn about their life and what shaped them to be the type of artist they became as well as looking closely several pieces of their work and using art specific language to analyze what you see happening.
The artist investigation also requires that you do some artwork and page designing to imitate their style or something you specifically notice that they do in their work. Be creative in how you design and decorate the page. Think of the art style your chosen artist employs and create a page inspired by them! You are welcome to use any art materials you have at home for these 2 pages.
Requirements of the artist investigation:
-double page spread in sketchbook including information about the artist in complete sentences.
-title at the top of page (Artist's name)
-use of complete sentences when personally responding to the artwork and introducing the artist
-use of descriptive art vocabulary when describing artwork (see Artwords for Images pdf for support)
-a drawing/painting inspired by the artist you chose in acrylic paint.
The artist investigation also requires that you do some artwork and page designing to imitate their style or something you specifically notice that they do in their work. Be creative in how you design and decorate the page. Think of the art style your chosen artist employs and create a page inspired by them! You are welcome to use any art materials you have at home for these 2 pages.
Requirements of the artist investigation:
-double page spread in sketchbook including information about the artist in complete sentences.
-title at the top of page (Artist's name)
-use of complete sentences when personally responding to the artwork and introducing the artist
-use of descriptive art vocabulary when describing artwork (see Artwords for Images pdf for support)
-a drawing/painting inspired by the artist you chose in acrylic paint.
Writing requirements:
WRITING PROMPTS (answer in complete sentences)
-Introduce the artist:
Where they are from?
Where did they live?
When were they born? If they passed away, what year was that?
-Early life and influences:
How did they end up as an artist?
What are their greatest art accomplishments? What are they famous for artistically?
What artists or writers were they influenced by?
What big ideas or themes are they exploring in their work?
-Select 1-2 interesting quotes by this artist OR by a well known art critic discussing their work and write them down somewhere on your double spread.
-Your connection to this artwork:
Why are you drawn to this artist's work?
What do you find visually interesting about it?
What might you want to "borrow" about their technique or style in your future art project?
-Select 2 artworks by this artist. Choose works you gravitate towards. Do a mini-analysis of these 2 works (prompts below). If you can color print at home, print these 2 images small size to fit on your double spread. I can also color print for you at school by adding your images into a google doc and place the document into our shared drive-folder link here. Make sure you leave some space on your pages to paste in your 2 printed images.
Mini-analysis of 2 artworks (BULLET POINTS ARE OK for mini-analysis)
Answer the questions/prompts that apply to the artwork you have selected (some may not apply).
-Introduce the artist:
Where they are from?
Where did they live?
When were they born? If they passed away, what year was that?
-Early life and influences:
How did they end up as an artist?
What are their greatest art accomplishments? What are they famous for artistically?
What artists or writers were they influenced by?
What big ideas or themes are they exploring in their work?
-Select 1-2 interesting quotes by this artist OR by a well known art critic discussing their work and write them down somewhere on your double spread.
-Your connection to this artwork:
Why are you drawn to this artist's work?
What do you find visually interesting about it?
What might you want to "borrow" about their technique or style in your future art project?
-Select 2 artworks by this artist. Choose works you gravitate towards. Do a mini-analysis of these 2 works (prompts below). If you can color print at home, print these 2 images small size to fit on your double spread. I can also color print for you at school by adding your images into a google doc and place the document into our shared drive-folder link here. Make sure you leave some space on your pages to paste in your 2 printed images.
Mini-analysis of 2 artworks (BULLET POINTS ARE OK for mini-analysis)
Answer the questions/prompts that apply to the artwork you have selected (some may not apply).
- Add the title of the artwork, year completed and media used for each artwork
- Use Artwords for Images for vocabulary support
- Go through the list of the elements of art. Which elements of art are dominant in the work? Choose 3 dominant elements and describe HOW they are used. For example, if you see the element of line being used in the work, describe the quality of the line you see.
- If color is used as one of the 3 dominant elements in the work, how is color used? How would you describe the color? Is it muted or is it saturated? Is there a color harmony/scheme used in the work? Does the color of the work create a particular mood or emotion in the work?
- Go through the list of the principles of design. Which elements of art are dominant in the work? Choose 2 dominant principles and describe HOW they are used. For example, if you see the principle of movement in the work, describe how movement is visually created? Is it the use of flowy broken lines that guide your eye across the painting?
- Composition of the work: How are shapes organized within the frame of the canvas? Is there an area of emphasis or not?
- Positive Space/Negative Space: How is space being used in their artwork?
- Medium used: What art media was used to make this artwork? (ex. oil paint on canvas, digital photography, ink on paper etc)
- Imagery/subject matter/text used: What imagery do you recognize in their artwork? How is this imagery important to the ideas they are exploring in their work? Is there text present in the work?
- Content of the work/Narrative: Is there a story/narrative to this artwork? What is this artwork inspired by?
Visual Study
-Visual Study of an artwork (1 page in your sketchbook)
There are many approaches to this visual study:
-You may zoom in to an artwork by this chosen artist and draw a small version of it using whatever materials you have at home.
-You may copy an artwork of theirs to the best of your ability. There is learning to be had in imitation.
-You may take their style and apply it to a subject of your choosing.
-If your artist works in color, you should do this visual study in color. As we are working with acrylic paints, I encourage you to use acrylic paint.
There are many approaches to this visual study:
-You may zoom in to an artwork by this chosen artist and draw a small version of it using whatever materials you have at home.
-You may copy an artwork of theirs to the best of your ability. There is learning to be had in imitation.
-You may take their style and apply it to a subject of your choosing.
-If your artist works in color, you should do this visual study in color. As we are working with acrylic paints, I encourage you to use acrylic paint.
DO's and DON'Ts
DO:
-cite your sources: write down/print out the websites you used to procure your information about this artist
-make sure to add titles to the artworks you are using by this artist, with year completed, media used
-make your page emulate the style of the artist you are investigating-use whatever materials you have at home!
-draw out small details copying parts of the artist's work to design your double spread. You are learning by copying in this exercise.
DON'T:
-Plagiarize. Write in your OWN WORDS.
Some artist investigation examples: