Summer Work 
AP 3-D Studio Art Portfolio: Mr. Ellis 
All students must: 
1. Buy a sketchbook at least 8" x 10" for planning ideas and journaling 
throughout the summer and school year. 
2. Visit at least one art gallery and one museum that display threedimensional 
art this summer. During your visit, learn the names of 
several artists whose works you like and dislike. Journal in your 
sketchbook about the date of your visit, where you went and what 
you saw. Express your impressions of the artists you liked and 
disliked and why. This is an informal assignment, and may be in 
stream-of-consciousness format, but will be essential to the year of 
work you will create. Be sure to label this journal entry "Assignment 
2." 
3. Extensively research 3-D visual artists who work in your general area 
of interest and are new to you. You may use artists from your 
museum visits or from any other sources you find. Consider the 
Internet, the library or Barnes and Noble for art, ceramics and 
sculpture periodicals and books, etc. From the numerous artists that 
you find, choose ten artists that you consider your favorites, five that 
you consider extremely weird, and five that you consider talent-less. 
Learn the artists' names and create a PowerPoint presentation 
composed of pictures of their work to share with the class during the 
first few weeks of school. Be prepared to explain and support your 
opinions of their work. The presentation only needs to consist of 
large photos of the artists' works and their names. List your artists 
from each category in your journal under "Assignment 3". 
4. From your ten favorite artists, choose five whose work could inspire 
you to create similar artwork. From these five artists sketch five or 
more projects in your sketchbook which you will make next year, 
that will challenge and thrill you. Be sure to label this entry as 
"Assignment 4". 
5. Become familiar with the art terms from the vocabulary documents 
on my web page. Come to class prepared to use these terms in 
conversation. Choose four terms from which to create a project 
exploring the boundaries of the art concepts encapsulated by that 
word or group of words. For example, design a project you plan to 
make exploring the boundaries of contrast in a sculptural piece. 
Write and/or sketch out these ideas in your journal and title it 
"Assignment 5". 
6. Continue to journal ideas throughout the summer in your 
sketchbook. Carry it with you and sketch or write in it often; be 
creative-- artists do this! Feel free to include entries that are sloppy, 
dumb and random; this is a great way to think visually and document 
your ideas. You should make this a life habit! I expect you to have 
at least 30 to 40 pages of ideas, in addition to the above assignments 
by the start of class. 

Summary (checklist) 
___Assignment 1: purchase 8” X 10” (or larger) sketchbook (journal) 
___Assignment 2: Museum and Art Gallery Visit 
___Journal entry on museum visit 
___Journal entry on art gallery visit 
___Assignment 3: Artist Research 
___List of 10 artists you like in your journal 
___List of 5 artists you find extremely weird in your journal 
___List of 5 artists you find talent-less in your journal 
___PowerPoint of above 20 artists—one slide each with artist’s name 
and picture of one work 
___Assignment 4: Idea sketches from favorite artists 
___At least 5 sketches of works you might do inspired by your 10 
favorite artists from assignment 3 
___Assignment 5: exploring boundaries 
___Study art vocabulary from teacher website 
___Chose 4 terms to explore more during the year 
___Sketches or descriptions of work to explore those 4 terms 
___Assignment 6: Free sketches 
___Minimum of 30 pages of sketches of ideas for works 
Overall Purpose of the Assignment: During the school year you will 
need to produce a large number of pieces for your portfolio. The 
purpose of the summer assignment is to help you brainstorm ideas 
from which you can choose ideas to further develop for your portfolio. 
You should turn in your sketchbook by the end of Meet the Teacher 
Night (7:30 PM), Wednesday, August 27, 2008. You can turn your check 
book in earlier to my box in the high school office.