I couple of months ago, my principal suggested an art class where students paint on the walls, graffiti style or whatever, plus maybe some sidewalk chalk art (my forte). I got seriously jazzed because I love street art. Within a month, I had a new course proposal to him. Now I am beginning to build the curriculum.

Here was my summary description in the proposal:

This yearlong course will provide students with an opportunity to examine street art from around the world and to create street art of their own.

Street art is art created in public places, and it includes murals, graffiti, stencil art, sticker art, poster art, performance art, art cars, and street installations. The term Street Art is used to distinguish contemporary public-space artwork from territorial graffiti, tagging, vandalism, and commercial art. Street art has emerged as a distinctive art form, and a powerful element of urban culture, its influence being felt in areas such as design, advertising and fashion. Artists who otherwise feel disenfranchised utilize public space to reach a much broader audience than traditional galleries allow.

Students will learn about the history, varying philosophies, and aesthetics of street art around the world. Famous street artists such as Banksy, Shepherd Fairy, and Mark Jenkins will be explored. Students will be challenged to document and analyze art they see in their own neighborhoods. They will be encouraged to emulate the spirit of art in public places without acting in an illegal manner.

The students in Natomas live in highly diverse, urban neighborhoods with no art galleries and little public art. Therefore, this course is intended to cover the state visual arts content standards in a way that is highly appealling to urban teenagers. The appeal of the course comes from introducing students to artists with backgrounds similar to their own, and the nature of an art form which breaks the mold and the walls of the traditional art museum.

Here are the notes I’m taking down:

Media/Methods
Graffiti
Sticker art
Stencil art
Wheatpasting
Art cars
Murals
Street installations
Street performance
Street intervention
Packing tape

Supports
Walls indoor and outdoor
Paper
Sheets of plywood
Sidewalks
Sketchbooks
Digital

Materials
Respirators
Gloves
Paper
Plywood
Markers
Basic art supplies

Similar Genres
Lowbrow art
Lowrider art

Aspects
History
Geography & cultural contexts
Trends
Influences on mainstream culture
Planning
Production
Health, safety and the law
Anti-graffiti arguments
Individual vs. group effort
Elements & principles of art
Documentation

Famous Names
Banksy
Shephard Fairy
Paul Litherland
Mark Jenkins
6emeia

Online Resources
http://www.woostercollective.com/
http://www.streetsy.com/
http://streetart.antville.org/
http://www.wikihow.com/Draw-Graffiti-Names
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/streetart/
http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/street_art/

The real bugger is going to be meeting OSHA standards when it comes to spray paint. Our auto tech guy knows a lot about it and it doesn’t sound good. For example. he’s saying we won’t be able to spray paint outdoors on walls. It must be under OSHA-approved hoods or whatever. That sounds asinine.

In my design classes we’ve been working on making posters for our classroom walls. Each poster gives a visual representation of the 4 main design principles as outlined on “The Non-Designer’s Design Book” by Robin Williams.

Proximity Poster
Alignment Poster
Repetition Poster
Contrast Poster

Back-to-School night is next Tuesday, so I recruited my students to select the best posters to display on the wall. I cut up star-sticker sheets into groups of three stickers. I have a medium rectangle table I can set up for special projects like this vote we did today. I let the students spread the posters out on the table to sift through.

We voted on the first three posters today (we’re still wrapping up the fourth.) Each student got three stickers for each round of voting, totaling nine votes per student. I had each period vote only on the posters for the other two design periods, not their own. I did this to discourage favoritism (and let kids avoid hurting each other’s feelings by not voting for someone standing right next to them.)

Here are the voting guidelines I put on the board:

Do:

• Select your fave 3 posters by affixing a star to the backs.
• Vote according to the quality of the design.

Do Not:

• Affix more than 1 of your stickers to the same poster.
• Vote according to the name of the designer.
• Keep the stickers for yourself.
• Let the posters fall to the floor or get crumpled.

The vote went exceedingly well. The students chose want they want in the room without my input. I love their choices, too, now that I’ve counted the star-votes. A few of students are really “stellar”, having received more than 30 votes across all three posters. One young lady got 65 in total. Just amazing.

Update 9/7/08
The top ten posters for each principle are now viewable in the gallery.

Nudibranchs are kind of like sea slugs. Unlike their bland land-lubber cousins, nudibranchs can be very vividly colored. Colourlovers.com has a nice set of photos of nudibranchs and their corresponding color schemes (click on the color chart to get a page with the Hex and RGB numbers for each color).

33 awesome body enhancement photoshop tutorials, from photoshoptalent.com.

This is a great tutorial resource for students or professionals would to digitally tweak faces and bodily imperfections. The linked page is a collection of links, image previews and brief descriptions for all of these fine tutorials around the Web:

Eyes
Enhancing Iris Color
Eye Shadow / Eyeliner
Make eyelashes thicker
Shadowy, Sultry Eyes
Apply Eye Make-up
Add an Eyebrow Piercing to a Photo
Using The Red Eye Tool Non-Destructively
Replace Eye Color

Hair
Changing Hair Color
Phoenix hair effect
Shining hair
Removing Hair Roots
Color hair locks

Teeth
Whiten and Brighten Teeth
You are a Good Dentist
Whitening Teeth the Professional Way

Skin
How to get perfect skin
Retouch Yellow Skin
Professional Skin Smoothing
How to smooth a skin
Makeup makeover
Airbrushing – Natural Smooth Skin
Removing Freckles

Body
Eliminate Cellulite
Trimming weight off with the Liquify tool
Removing Love Handles

Nails
Manipulating nails by increasing length & changing shade
Longer Nails

Nose
Easy Digital Nose Job
Smaller Nose
Digital Nip Tuck

Mark Jenkins: Street Installations

Mark Jenkins has a Web site that does not give much information about himself, other than that he has had shows in many places from New York City to Warsaw. He does, however, provide a great number of photos of his provocative work. And I mean provocative in the sense of provoking a reaction of surprise or wonder, not in the sense of girls!girls!girls!

On the page linked above are dozens of street installations. Many put human anatomy in unexpected places. Most are done with what appears to be clear packing tape, which gives them an ethereal quality. While Mark does not explain his work much, he does helpfully identify the location and the month/year. He must do a lot of traveling, or perhaps he has accomplices. Check out his other pages of art in nature and indoors as well.