Carys Lam

We offer AP studio as the culmination of the high school art program. Students are only allowed into the class as seniors, and they must have completed at least two full years of art courses leading up to their AP year. Those prerequisites ensure a strong skill set in the media of their choice (whether that is digital, photographic, or traditional media such as painting and drawing). Many of our AP students have taken three full years of art courses before their senior year. While inquiry mainly begins in the AP year (prior years are more standard teacher-given assignments), we do offer opportunities in level 2 and 3 art courses for students to take more ownership into their planning and projects. They often have a choice between project options and/or media, which begins to train them to think for themselves what they want to create. Carys was on an art pathway right away in grade nine, taking an art course every semester throughout high school.

Students submit a number of pieces for consideration of the Selected Works component. I review the work with the student to help choose the strongest selection. When possible, we stage a peer review, where a number of students discuss the possibilities in order to determine the strongest set. Because they have multiple art courses prior to the AP year, they have also created a strong body of work that does not come from their sustained investigation. While the sustained investigation pieces can and should be strong, they can also be very similar. Having the option of pulling pieces from other courses that are not from the sustained investigation series gives us more options to choose from.

Over the summer prior to their AP year, students are required to complete a planning book, which is 10 pages, front and back, in a sketchbook documenting ideas in written and visual form. This project is due the first week back at school and informs their sustained investigation. Each of the sustained investigation pieces is accompanied by further documentation of the planning, process, and progress of the work, from initial thumbnail sketches, color and media planning, conceptual writing, and a photographic record of the artwork as it takes shape. Carys's plan book is a thick, vivid record of the AP year, bursting with color swatches, layouts, step-by-step photos, and documentation. She actually donated one of them to the art department when she graduated, and it is on display for current students as an exemplar.

I would suggest that the AP year begins long before the AP year. Gaining a strong sense of composition and design, and developing a high level of technical skill in at least one medium, is necessary to success, and that starts well before the AP art course. The more art classes students can take in the Pre-AP years, the better they will be and the more smoothly the sustained investigation will run. Pushing AP Studio to the senior year gives them the crucial developmental years of early high school to become skilled—as art teachers, we are teaching a skill! Why wouldn't we want the students to be as prepared as possible when they build their portfolio?