AP Art students stretch their creativity through individual portfolios developed under the guidance of teacher Pat Johnson. He takes his students’ creativity very seriously and the art students consider his classroom to be a positive environment.
In art, students are not working on the same projects – they are creating their own portfolios. Johnson does not create the assignments for his AP artists, he only sets a year-long curriculum that focuses on the design, like 3-D design portfolios. Johnson said, “It kind of sets your creativity back when things are decided for you.”
Students have to rotate through three different portfolios, which requires them to take AP Art a total of three years. This school year, Johnson has AP students working on 2-D design portfolios with 15 pieces of the student’s personally investigated theme that they must stick with throughout the year.
Students like Valeri Villegas and Kaylee Sullivant enjoy the environment that Johnson has created for his students. Villegas said, “In AP Art, it’s really peaceful, like that’s the first word that comes to mind. He doesn’t want us to talk, he wants us to focus on our work which is understandable.” He allows his students to get the feel of working on their creations without set curriculums. Sullivant said, “I think it’s pretty fun. You get to express a lot of creative freedom, but you have to work a little harder because it’s an AP class and we have to get 15 pieces done so it gives us a taste of college I guess.”
Johnson said a safe place to think is important to him when it comes to his students. “On a day to day basis, I keep it quiet and still. They come in and get their work out and they work until 5 minutes before the bell and they put it away. Just so they can get inside their head without a phone ringing or getting text messages.”
Johnson has this task called “Class Critiques” where he has his art students present their investigation (a theme that an artist researches) and explain to their classmates how the investigation relates to their portfolio. “They get to feed off each other’s creativity at that point,” Johnson said. He also joins in on the class critiques as a teacher to give out positive criticism and suggestions.
At the end of the year, students must have a total of 15 art pieces with exactly 100 words explaining each piece in order to submit their artwork to the AP College Board. “They score you from zero to five,” Villegas said. This class is open to 10th-12th grade artists interested in taking their art seriously.
