Studio AP art: An Introduction to AP Studio Art Courses

Not everyone can draw. Some people are blessed with the power of visualization in their early life. If you happen to be one of them, the studio AP art course is for you. It lets one understand the challenges of the discipline along with individual strengths and weaknesses. It prepares students for the rigors of studio art and helps students earn college credit.

College Board

The College Board is a not-for-profit organization helping students for college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, it lets students access higher education, and promotes academic excellence and equity. The College Board is in charge of administering and grading AP tests, which are taken by students to earn college credit.

Studio AP art Course Description

Studio AP art includes AP Studio Art Drawing, AP Studio Art 2D Design, and AP Studio Art 3D Design. Although these three classes usually have no prerequisites, it would be helpful that students taking these courses should have exposure to previous visual arts coursework. These are elaborate courses with a rigorous design. Highly motivated students who want to take arts at the college level or are dreaming of a career in visual arts should pursue these courses. Students taking these courses should be comfortable with creating professional art and have a gift at it.

By taking these courses, students investigate art through research, exploration, and practice. They also develop artistic intent, craftsmanship, attention to detail, and critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The courses involve intensive homework and students should expect to spend time beyond the class for successful completion of projects. AP Studio Art does not involve any written exam for each of the three sub courses – students must submit art portfolios that they make in the class for evaluation at the end of the year. Students who have great portfolios and earn above a score of 3 on their portfolio AP exam may be eligible for college credit at certain colleges.

The guidelines for portfolios address 3 major areas:

• Concentration: It involves the investigation of an idea of personal interest. Portfolio should be cohesive with 12 actual works.
• Breadth: It covers a broad range of ideas, media, styles, and techniques and must contain 12 actual works.
• Quality: It depicts mastery through 5 actual works. One can select these from Concentration and Breadth.

Goals and objectives of studio AP art courses

• Encouraging creative and systematic investigation of formal and conceptual issues
• Emphasizing art-making as an ongoing process involving the student in the informed and critical decision-making and generation of ideas.
• Developing technical versatility and skills for using visual elements and compositional principles.
• Encouraging students to become independent thinkers and have critical & inventive contributions to their culture through art-making.

Studio AP art: AP 2D Art and Design Course

This course develops the 2D skills of the students through materials and processes like collage, graphic design, photography, and the like to create works of art that demonstrate their skills. It contains the following sections.

• Investigation of Materials, Processes, and Ideas: The students learn how artists and designers decide what they should make, along with the reasons and ways to make it.
• Making art and Design: Involves studying the processes and techniques followed by the artists and designers.
• Presenting Art and Design: Students explore what drives the artists and designers to present their works to viewers and how they do it.

AP 2D Art and Design portfolio

It contains the following sections:

• Sustained Investigation: It must have 15 digital images including works of art along with design and process documentation. It carries 60% of portfolio scores.
• Selected Works: It should contain 5 works with commentary to identify the materials, processes, and ideas. Students may select these works from the sustained investigation section. It carries 40% of the portfolio score.

Studio AP art: AP 3D Art and Design Course

AP 3D Art and Design Course helps students to develop 3D skills in materials and processes. It includes many things like sculpture, architectural rendering, ceramics, glass & metal works, etc. Students create 3D artwork and models that demonstrate their creativity and skills. It contains the following sections.

• Investigation of Materials, Processes, and Ideas: The students learn how artists and designers decide what they should make, along with the reasons and ways to make it.
• Making art and Design: Involves studying the processes and techniques followed by the artists and designers.
• Presenting Art and Design: Students explore what drives the artists and designers to present their works to viewers and how they do it.

AP Studio Art 3D Design portfolio

It includes two sections; Sustained Investigation and Selected Works.

• Sustained Investigation: It must include a minimum of 15 digital images with artwork, design, and process documentation covering investigations. It carries 60% of portfolio scores.
• Selected Works: In this section, students submit their works of art, design, and writing to demonstrate the synthesis of materials, processes, and ideas. It must contain 5 works each with 2 views; that is a total of 10 images. These works may be selected from the sustained investigation section. It carries 40% of portfolio scores.

Studio AP art: AP Drawing Course

AP Drawing is an introductory drawing course. It is composed of different skills, ideas, essential questions, learning objectives, etc. The skills cover basic to advanced learning processes and students need to develop, practice, and apply them in different contexts. It also includes the following three key concepts.

• Investigation of Materials, Processes, and Ideas
• Making Art and Design
• Presenting Art and Design

AP Drawing Portfolio

The AP Drawing Portfolio contains two sections.

• Sustained Investigation: It must include a minimum of 15 digital images with artwork, design, and process documentation. It carries 60% of portfolio scores.
• Selected Works: 5 works with identification of materials, processes, and ideas. These works may be selected from the sustained investigation section. It carries 40% of portfolio scores.

Summing up

Studio AP art course takes one on a stimulating journey concerning inspiration, creativity, and exploration. The rigorous course content sometimes seems to be frustrating. But completing this, one gets incredible joy and satisfaction besides earning college credits.

Other resources

You can learn about AP Capstone pros and cons.

You can use an AP Calc AB score calculator.

You can learn all about AP Calc BC.

You can learn all about AP Calc AB.

You can learn all about AP Environmental Science.