IDEAS FOR SUSTAINED INVESTIGATIONS
(From AP College Board) Remember:
- A Sustained Investigation is not a series of work involving cats, cars, emotions, and so on, appropriated from appealing images found online.
- The Sustained Investigation idea is not discovered one week prior to the submission of a portfolio by searching for commonalities in a group of divergent works.
- A Sustained Investigation is under way when students come to "own" their imagery, whether objective or nonobjective, based on personal observation, experience, ideas, research, and experimentation, or a combination of these.
STUDENT ART GUIDE
SCHOLASTIC ART AWARDS
NARRATIVE/STORYTELLINGA sustained investigation could be one narrative, but different iterations...somewhat like the Spiderverse Movie...does that make sense?
Great Narratives
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UNIVERSAL IDEASOverarching concerns that affect all humans, such as:
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Example Research Questions (not all Art Related)
- How do the decisions and actions of characters reveal their personalities?
- What are the factors that create an imbalance of power within a culture?
- What are the benefits and consequences of questioning / challenging social order?
- How do stereotypes influence how we look at and understand the world?
- What does it mean to be invisible? (context: minorities)
- In what ways can a minority keep their issues on the larger culture’s “radar screen?”
- What creates prejudice, and what can an individual overcome it?
- What are the causes and consequences of prejudice and injustice, and how does an individual’s response to them reveal his/her true character?
- What allows some individuals to take a stand against prejudice/oppression while others choose to participate in it?
- What factors shape our values and beliefs?
- How do values and beliefs change over time?
- How does family play a role in shaping our values and beliefs?
- What happens when belief systems of societies and individuals come into conflict?
- When should an individual take a stand in opposition to an individual or larger group?
- How might if feel to live through a conflict that disrupts your way of life?
- How does conflict influence an individual’s decisions and actions?
- How would we define a utopian society?
- How has the concept of utopia changed over time and/or across cultures or societies?
- What are the ideals (e.g., freedom, responsibility, justice, community, etc.) that should be honored in a utopian society?
- What are the positive and negative aspects of both chaos and order?
- What are the responsibilities and consequences of this new world order described as “global”?
- What role does chaos play in the creative process?
- What are the politics and consequences of war, and how do these vary based on an individual or cultural perspective?
- How do we form and shape our identities?
- In a culture where we are bombarded with ideas and images of “what we should be,”
- How does one form an identity that remains true and authentic for her/himself?
- What turning points determine our individual pathways to adulthood?
- In a culture where we are bombarded with other people trying to define us, how do we make decisions for ourselves?
- Have the forces of good and evil changed over time and if so, how?
- How do different cultures shape the definitions of good and evil?
- Do the attributes of a hero remain the same over time?
- When does a positive personality trait become a tragic flaw?
- What is the role of a hero or “she-roe” (coined by Maya Angelou) in a culture?
- How do various cultures reward / recognize their heroes and “she-roes”?
- Why is it important for people and cultures to construct narratives about their experience?
- How does the media shape our view of the world and ourselves?
- What is the meaning of life, and does that shape our beliefs regarding death?
- What is reality and how is it constructed?
- What tools can the individual use to judge the difference, or draw a line between, illusion and reality?
- How do friendships change over time?
- What impact does family have during different stages of our lives?
- What can we learn from different generations?
- How is conflict an inevitable part of relationships?
- How do you know if a relationship is healthy or hurtful?
- Who defines “truth”?
- How does perspective shape or alter truth?
SUCCESSFUL CONCENTRATION IDEAS
Add depth and inquiry for new Sustained Requirements
Abandonment of both places and people.
Evolution of Illness: Student' s grandma had Parkinson's disease and so she illustrated through photographic collage, stitching and writing the process of that illness on her grandma's memory, physical ability. Each image (portrait of grandma) had a poem she'd written about the grandma interspersed. She printed images on silk organza and layered them with drawings that depicted anatomical body parts effected by the disease. The portrait became blurrier and blurrier with each image. (2D Design mixed media)
Identity: Hiding behind masks and other roles that we play, specifically women. The student started out photographing people wearing masks, but eventually move away from this and developed a broader interpretation of how we hide behind our roles as women "masking" who we are.
Series of work based on places a student visited that her deceased father had visited. She used mixed media...photography, collage, painting for a drawing portfolio. I
Painted abstractions derived from microscopic cellular structures.
Works inspired by a story about the first flower blooming on the site of the Cambodian "killing fields".
Life in celebrity culture: Voyeurism into other people’s humiliation, pain, weakness, and betrayal.
Society based on most efficiency: Explore the most efficient system for: living, food, education, birth, transportation, etc.
The body as landscape.
Documentary style works of local veterans who fought in Afghanistan
Self Portraiture in action (at play) from early childhood to later childhood with a focus on color and texture
Human influences on the environment, using photos the student took of aesthetically unpleasing human made structures (oil rigs, factories, etc.) Student then developed the photos and used them to do hand coloring, collage and experimental mixed media techniques, finding the beauty within the ugliness
Flight shown in extremely technical drawings and paintings which included sinking helicopters in the jungle as well as birds on a wire, UFO’s over the southwest. Winged Creatures‐ drawn in high detail‐moths , bats, bees
Children as consumers and advertising.
Effects on the American children (age 8 to 18) spending 7.5 hrs. per day using electronic devices. Cultural heritage as a resource for exploitation.
Subject dealing with fake corporate and commercial meaning in our lives.
The journey of fruit as it travels thousands of miles by plane and truck and emites 12 lbs. of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Childhood overconsumption of “anything”
loneliness/estrangement interpretations of famous Fairy Tales
micro views ‐ which become abstractions body language loss of father ‐ the missing person at seminal events
Breakdown of community - Insecurity of social roles
Stresses of modernity and globalization
Chemicals in the air, water and food affecting our brains in unknown ways.
Digital rewiring of our brains in unhealthy ways
Noise used to be rain, wind and people talking, now it is roar of traffic, drone of fridge, buzz of monitor….and it is constantly being cranked up. Stimulation addiction, or constant brain buzz (jog with earphones, sleep with iPhone, work with music, etc.) and its effect
Corporate advertising as large psychological experiment on human race: The average American receives 3,000 marketing messages per day. What is its impact? Erosion of empathy, due to overexposure to violence, pseudo‐sex, rape, torture, genocide, etc. on prime‐time TV
The jungle versus concrete jungle‐starting with the jungle and inserting elements of the city life taking over the jungle.
Consequences of cultural homogenization or lack of diversity, e.g. same hairstyles, catchphrases, action‐hero antics, etc.
Experience of information overload, drowning in an endless stream of connectivity, or experiencing digital daze: Inability to concentrate, feeling foggy, anxious, and fatigued.
Compare one person’s worldly possessions throughout history or in different parts of the world (e.g. the shoes of Gandhi vs. the shoes of Imelda Marcos)
Abandonment of both places and people.
Evolution of Illness: Student' s grandma had Parkinson's disease and so she illustrated through photographic collage, stitching and writing the process of that illness on her grandma's memory, physical ability. Each image (portrait of grandma) had a poem she'd written about the grandma interspersed. She printed images on silk organza and layered them with drawings that depicted anatomical body parts effected by the disease. The portrait became blurrier and blurrier with each image. (2D Design mixed media)
Identity: Hiding behind masks and other roles that we play, specifically women. The student started out photographing people wearing masks, but eventually move away from this and developed a broader interpretation of how we hide behind our roles as women "masking" who we are.
Series of work based on places a student visited that her deceased father had visited. She used mixed media...photography, collage, painting for a drawing portfolio. I
Painted abstractions derived from microscopic cellular structures.
Works inspired by a story about the first flower blooming on the site of the Cambodian "killing fields".
Life in celebrity culture: Voyeurism into other people’s humiliation, pain, weakness, and betrayal.
Society based on most efficiency: Explore the most efficient system for: living, food, education, birth, transportation, etc.
The body as landscape.
Documentary style works of local veterans who fought in Afghanistan
Self Portraiture in action (at play) from early childhood to later childhood with a focus on color and texture
Human influences on the environment, using photos the student took of aesthetically unpleasing human made structures (oil rigs, factories, etc.) Student then developed the photos and used them to do hand coloring, collage and experimental mixed media techniques, finding the beauty within the ugliness
Flight shown in extremely technical drawings and paintings which included sinking helicopters in the jungle as well as birds on a wire, UFO’s over the southwest. Winged Creatures‐ drawn in high detail‐moths , bats, bees
Children as consumers and advertising.
Effects on the American children (age 8 to 18) spending 7.5 hrs. per day using electronic devices. Cultural heritage as a resource for exploitation.
Subject dealing with fake corporate and commercial meaning in our lives.
The journey of fruit as it travels thousands of miles by plane and truck and emites 12 lbs. of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Childhood overconsumption of “anything”
loneliness/estrangement interpretations of famous Fairy Tales
micro views ‐ which become abstractions body language loss of father ‐ the missing person at seminal events
Breakdown of community - Insecurity of social roles
Stresses of modernity and globalization
Chemicals in the air, water and food affecting our brains in unknown ways.
Digital rewiring of our brains in unhealthy ways
Noise used to be rain, wind and people talking, now it is roar of traffic, drone of fridge, buzz of monitor….and it is constantly being cranked up. Stimulation addiction, or constant brain buzz (jog with earphones, sleep with iPhone, work with music, etc.) and its effect
Corporate advertising as large psychological experiment on human race: The average American receives 3,000 marketing messages per day. What is its impact? Erosion of empathy, due to overexposure to violence, pseudo‐sex, rape, torture, genocide, etc. on prime‐time TV
The jungle versus concrete jungle‐starting with the jungle and inserting elements of the city life taking over the jungle.
Consequences of cultural homogenization or lack of diversity, e.g. same hairstyles, catchphrases, action‐hero antics, etc.
Experience of information overload, drowning in an endless stream of connectivity, or experiencing digital daze: Inability to concentrate, feeling foggy, anxious, and fatigued.
Compare one person’s worldly possessions throughout history or in different parts of the world (e.g. the shoes of Gandhi vs. the shoes of Imelda Marcos)