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Summer Reading List and Advanced Art Assignment

Dear Students and Parents,

The following Summer Reading Lists contain the required texts for each class and grade level.  These books are required to be read before the start of the 2022-23 school year. Remember to make good use of your Public Library this Summer!  If you do not have a library card, you can learn about how to acquire here: https://www.libraryvisit.org/our-happenings/library-card-services/

Happy Reading!

English Reading List – Grade 9

English 9

  • Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
  • Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck

Honors English 9

  • Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
  • Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
  • The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank – Anne Frank

English Reading List – Grade 10

English 10

  • Siddhartha – Herman Hesse
  • Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe

Honors English 10

  • Red Scarf Girl:  A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution – Ji-Li Jiang
  •  Siddhartha – Herman Hesse
  •  Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe

English Reading List – Grade 11

English 11

  • The Crucible – Arthur Miller
  • The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
  • To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

Honors English 11

  •  A Raisin in the Sun – Lorraine Hansberry
  •  The Crucible – Arthur Miller
  •  To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
  • A Streetcar Named Desire – Tennesse Williams

English Reading List – Grade 12

English 12

  • A Man for All Seasons – Robert Bolt
  • The Lord of the Flies – William Golding

Advanced Placement Literature and Composition II

  • A Man for All Seasons – Robert Bolt
  • Heart of Darkness/Secret Sharer – Joseph Conrad
  • The Lord of the Flies – William Golding
  • Macbeth – William Shakespeare
  • Pygmalion – George Bernard Shaw

Advanced Art Assignments

The primary purpose of this program is to assist students in developing their compositional skills, self-expression, and creativity by providing knowledge, experiences and assignments to do so. The program is rigorous and students are held to high expectations. High-quality artwork requires dedication, determination and the ability to meet deadlines.

The main purpose of this class to help students develop a body of work investigating a strong underlying visual idea that grows out of a coherent plan of action and investigation. The second purpose of the program is to guide the student so that he or she will have the needed skills and experiences to pass the AP examination to attain college credit.

Note that the summer assignments are due at the beginning of class on the first day back from summer.

REQUIRED MATERIALS

1⁄2” binder with pockets to store loose leaf paper, 8” x 10” sketchbook (or something close to those dimensions), drawing supplies.

ABOUT 2D DESIGN

The College Board does not have a preference for any one particular medium when it comes to creating two-dimensional works of art. It does not matter if your work entails any combination of dry media like graphite, Prism color, oil pastel, acrylic paint, oil paint, even photography.

DRAWING – – ABOUT MARK-MAKING

Drawing centers around physical mark-making as a part of the process in your production. The College Board does not require you to only use dry media like graphite pencils or vine charcoal. This means the use of wet media like acrylic or oil paint is just as acceptable as dry media.

COURSE BREAKDOWN

Your summer assignments are divided into two parts:

  • Part 1: Medium-specific Creation
  • Part 2: Sketchbook Exploration

PART 1: MEDIUM-SPECIFIC CREATION

Artwork must be at least 9” in width by 12” in height. No work may exceed 18” x 24”. You have the freedom to do 5 different assignments or all 5 may be the same assignment done in a different way. Each work must be a finished piece that shows a range of value, tones and shades. Any dry, wet or digital medium may be used. Note that you are NOT allowed to draw from photographs. Choose 5 assignments out of the list below:

  1. Create a portrait or self-portrait that expresses a specific mood/emotion: anger/rage, melancholy/loneliness, happiness/joy, etc., in a composition. Work with lighting, values, and color to enhance the psychological atmosphere. Consider the environment/setting. Research portrait artists for inspiration.
  2. A close-up of a bicycle/tricycle from an unusual angle and not just a side view. You must include a shadow.
  3. Still-life arrangement of at least 3 reflective objects. Something should be reflected in the objects.
  4. Drawing of an unusual interior like a closet, cabinet, refrigerator or under a car hood. 5. An extreme close-up of food that is almost to the point of abstraction.
  5. Combine text with art and collage other elements.
  6. Create a colorful design for a handbag, clothing, or chair.
  7. Create an album cover for a musician/music group that does not exist in real life.
  8. Drape a person in clothing with lots of folds. A sheet works well too. The point is to show the correct proportions of the figure and to carefully render the intricate folds. Including the subject will make this drawing even better.
  9. Contrast of textures. Place 3 eggs on a towel, cloth or crumbled paper (preferably patterned) to create an interesting composition.
  10. Create a futuristic cityscape.
  11. Do a drawing of your hands in a variety of poses. You must carefully plan your composition for the separate units to visually work together.
  12. Create a self-portrait that mimics a famous portrait.
  13. Explore mix media by creating a composition that involves at least three different types of mediums (e.g., a wet medium like acrylic paint, a dry medium like using a Sharpie and clippings of text from a magazine).
  14. Create a movie poster for a movie that has never existed. Note: you must create your own title and characters that have never existed before. In other words, do not create a new Star Wars or Marvel movie poster.

PART 2: SKETCHBOOK EXPLORATION

Complete 5 (five) pages of good, solid work in your sketchbook. Drawings must be fully finished and take up the entire page. You may do the sketchbook assignments in any medium. Choose 5 assignments from the following list:

  1. Draw an object in daylight and then again at night by artificial light.
  2. Fill 2 pages with a collage of images and words that appeal to you. You must add at least 2 hand drawn images that overlap.
  3. Draw the interior of a mechanical object. Zoom in then focus on details and shading.
  4. Come up with a new design or improvement to an object that currently exists. Think of something that you might use every day. How can you improve it?
  5. Illustrate a dream that you have had.
  6. Find a quiet place in a crowd. Draw the crowd.
  7. Draw a piece of furniture in your house
  8. Empty your wallet or purse and draw what you find.
  9. Draw something using one continuous line. Put the pencil on the paper and do not take it off the paper until the entire drawing is finished.
  10. Draw tools that belong to a certain profession.

TIPS

Always incorporate a range of value.

Draw from observation and not from published photographs.

Fill up the entire compositional space. Never intentionally leave negative space around the person, place or thing in your composition.

Always give equal consideration to the background. Never focus on just the foreground. Consider the surrounding environment or create non-objective marks that underscore elements of art and principles of organization in your composition.

Summer grading is based on your ideas, craftsmanship, unity in compositions, and meeting the deadline.

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