Thank you all for your positive feedback. The students are justly proud of what they have accomplished - and I'm proud of them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Terri Ficenec
That lack of 'knowledge' forced a real examination of the reference and removed any preconceived notions or symbolic representation.
|
Exactly right Terri. This is such a great project for many reasons. As you indicated, most of the little pieces were very abstract - some, of course, had an idea of what they were working on - the plant pieces were pretty obvious...most students who got the "fur pieces" didn't know what they were drawing. So it forced them (and I forced them) to focus only on value (primarily), proportion (of course) as well as color - and edges. If I didn't push them, 99% of their pieces would have been WAY too light. That was their overall tendency.
I also hope that it drives home, to some of them at least, that in order to do a piece that is really grand, beautiful, lush....it requires a LOT of work, a lot of patience. Hopefully some of them will now be more willing to put in the extra time, extra hours on a foot or a face, a lotus blossom or a bit of fur to reach the goal, the big "payoff," - and thus enjoy the accolades.
This piece of course is extreme. 1800 student hours! I told them that if they wanted to be paid minimum wage for their efforts, we would have to charge more than $12,000 for this piece. So I told them that if I can sell it for that amount, I'll have the buyer make out the check to me.... and then we'll have a pizza party when they return from Spring Break!!