Monday, January 21, 2008

Idiotic New Visual Arts Assessment for Washington State

I complained about Washington's 5th grade "music WASL" which asks fifth graders to sing music by sight from sheet music, and compose a new theme based on animal on sheet music, when most 5th graders are doing well if they can sing in a choir by ear.
Well, the 10th grade visual arts test requires all art students to sketch and do a final portrait in one of three styles in 3 half hour sessions, and explain how you use "hue, intensity and a range of values" to reflect a chosen style and define three dimensional forms.

Here is the document for the 10th grade visual arts classroom based assessment Whoever

The Perfect Gift
Students are asked to create a portrait using a student-selected classic artistic style. Students will be assessed on their understanding of the color attributes and form of the chosen artistic style. Students will also be assessed on their understanding of the creative process.


You must meet the following task requirements when creating the portrait
• Choose one style to use in your portrait.
• Use the color attributes of the style you selected:
• hue
• intensity, and
• a range of at least five values to create form.
**** The choice of colors has NOTHING to do with whether the style is impressionist, cubist or surrealist. Hue is just the base color (green, red, etc), intensity is how pure the color is (bright red, dull red) "Value" is simply which color, or what intensity is used. ***
• Use form to create depth within the features of the face.>
• Use color or value to define form(s) within the features of the face
*** Color is not used to define forms, value doesn't even make sense in this context ***
• Create expression of the facial features using at least three elements of visual arts.

Students must answer the following questions after they complete their portraits:
1) What style did you choose?
2) How did you use each of the color attributes in your portrait to define the style you selected?
a. How does your use of hue reflect your chosen style?
b. How does your use of intensity reflect your chosen style?
C. How does your range of values reflect your chosen style?
3) How did you use color and/or value in your portrait to define your form(s)?
4) How did you use shape to create emotion in the facial expression of the portrait?
Relate your answer to your selected style.
5) How did you use form to create emotion in the facial expression of the portrait? Relate your answer to your selected style.

"Teachers should choose three styles of artwork which are familiar to their students. If art prints cannot be used, photographs of realistic people may be used.


Some examples of portrait styles are:



• Salvador Dali (Surrealism) "Face of Mae West"


This isn't even a realistic portrait of a person, it's a face superimposed on a doorway with a perspective horizon. It shows no emotion other than closed eyes. Color and value do not define the form

• Vincent van Gogh (Impressionism) "Self-Portrait with a Grey Hat"




• Pablo Picasso (Cubism) "Woman with a Hat"




This isn't a realistic portrait either. The face is bent with the top and bottom halves in different directions, and it is drawn with nipples, a questionable technique for 10th graders. It shows no emotion








• Max Beckmann (Expressionism) "Self-Portrait"

This portrait isn't even in color, it makes NO use of hue, intensity, or range of values. It doesn't show any emotion either.

1 comment:

BlArthurHu said...

here's more:

http://hu1st.blogspot.com/2008/01/idiotic-new-visual-arts-assessment-
for.html

Dunno if anybody got the joke, so I posted a blog page that has the sample art for portraits. The cubist picasso is a lady with the top and bottom of her face pointing in different directions, and she's got the bra-less look thing going. At least it's not as bad as the 3rd grader who brought a cubism book as reading material during the gifted presentation, complete with distorted naked people. The surreal "Mae West" is basically a garage door with eyelashes and lipstici. The other one looks like a portrait, but it's done in black pencil when the requirements are to use "hue, intensity, and value" to define the style and 3d form.

As further proof that the people don't know what in the blazes they are talking about, I actually know enough about color computer graphics to know what hue, intensity and value are. On a computer, you're not limited to a box of 16 colored pencils, every dot on the screen can specify the base color, how bright it is, and how much white or black to mix in. The set of colors you use has NOTHING to do whether something is surreal or cubist. The use of a garage door or a face that looks like it's in a broken funhouse mirror determines that. This exercise does not specify what the media is. You can't create your colors with pastels or pencils, you have limited blends with oil or water color, and you can have any color you want if you're using a computer drawing system. Is each student going to be given an easel and complete set of pens or a computer sketching system with a tablet?

It's completly crazy to ask anybody to do a pencil sketch in 30 minutes
and a finished 3D color portrait in 60 minutes unless you're somebody
at the Puyallup fair that does that professionally (and I don't think
the the one guy we hired from there is even there anymore, since nobody
does painted portraits anymore in favor of photography)

Specifying a style is even crazier. In art appreciation, you identify
cubist or realist, you don't PAINT one anymore than you'd ask a 10th
grader to compose a baroque, classical, or impressionist flue concerto
(oops, I may have given somebody an idea)

I have absolutely ZERO formal training in the visual arts, and I can
this sheep from shinola. Why is it that you've got to be an absolute
raving ed reform critic to be an effective BS detector?