Free ArtsFirst Event

A Day of Hands-On, Career-Oriented Visual Art Workshops for High School Juniors

The Art Institute of Boston is pleased to present ArtsFirst, a free, one-day career event, held specifically for young visual artists who are currently in their junior year of high school. ArtsFirst will include hands-on visual art workshops with faculty from AIB and lunch with a guest speaker. This year, our speaker is a member of our Art History department and will discuss what it means to be part of an art school community and through his own experiences with art and working with artists, show students which steps they could take to get from high school through college and into a rewarding profession doing something they love. Workshops are taught be top AIB faculty and Department Chairs who are professionals in their fields - design, illustration, photography, animation, computer graphics, and fine arts.

Participants will exhibit their work in a joint show with AIB summer school students. ArtsFirst participants will receive certificates for attending the conference and taking part in the exhibition. Download application form [pdf].

May 26, 2010 ArtsFirst Event

8:30am - 9:00am
Participant Registration
Continental Breakfast, AIB Gallery, 700 Beacon St
Pick up workshop registration and packets

9:00am - 11:45am
Artist Career Workshops
Participants choose one; descriptions below.
Designers Make Things That Make Things Happen
Still Life Re-examined & Transformed 
Illustration Toolbox
Photo Studio
Animation Festival

11:45am - 12:45pm
Pizza Lunch & Guest Speaker
Stuart Steck: The Art College Community

12:45pm - 2:45pm
Workshops Resume
Students receive particiaption certificates.

Application Information

Application deadline:
May 12, 2010

Apply early! Space is limited!
Download Application Form [pdf]

Application requirements:

• Completed ArtsFirst application form
• Completed teacher recommendation form
• 3-5 pieces of artwork (slides, photos, disk, or originals) *Portfolio requirement waived for students who have previously taken a pre-college course at AIB
• Grade level: current high school Junior

Mail application package to:
ArtsFirst Workshops
The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University
700 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02215-2598

Location:
The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University
700 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02215
map and directions

If you have questions or would like an application mailed to you, please contact Linda Harris at (617) 585-6724 or via email: lharris@aiboston.edu.

Workshop Descriptions

Designers Make Things That Make Things Happen
Nathan Felde

Design is a way of thinking, a strategy for action, a method of doing that proposes new and different possibilities. It is how we accomplish change in the world, hopefully for the better. In this workshop we will learn techniques for generating ideas and expressing them so others can understand them and benefit from them. Using our brains, language, memories, imagination, and our shared minds to create ideas and concepts, we will sketch and diagram them, critique them and improve them until we have a coherent presentation of each concept. Then we will outline our strategies for making these things happen in the world.

You will come away with a new goal for your mission of being a designer in this world, a means to achieve it, and hopefully the inspiration to pursue your study of design as a way of being in the world.

Still Life: Re-examined and Transformed
Arlene Grossman

This workshop will provide you the opportunity to explore the creative possibilities of working from still life: using still life as reference for working out ideas, exploring compositional relationships, and further sharpening your observational skills. You will have the chance to stage your own set-ups and/or work from examples provided. Ink, pencil, charcoal, paint, and collage materials will be provided, as well as a variety of surfaces to work on.

Illustration Toolbox
Keith MacLelland

This course will be a brief introduction to what it’s like to be an illustrator. You’ll be encouraged to let your mind fly, make stuff, and have fun. As a class we will be discussing a variety of concepts and techniques currently used in the field of Illustration and taught in the Illustration Department at AIB. Students will be using Corel Painter to explore the use of a variety of exciting, cutting-edge media tools—including filters, masks, floating objects—as they create illustrations based on an actual job assignments.

Photo Studio
Josh Winer

Photography and the still image are no less current or a part of our culture now than at any time since the ‘discovery’ of photography in the late 1800s. In our contemporary world, photographers work as artists, sell ideas and products, document events, and have a very immediate impact on how we understand ourselves and the world at large while making very personal decisions and choices.

This short workshop will touch on the world of Commercial photography as a starting point for exploring the power of the still image. Setting up a simple studio environment and working with professional lighting and camera equipment to make portraits of workshop participants, we’ll explore how seemingly simple choices affect the outcome of the finished image.

Animation Festival
Peter Murphey

The animation career day workshop will begin with a discussion about animation as an art form and a career. The students will view a variety of animations and hear about the various jobs people can get in the animation industry. This period will include a question and answer session and a class discussion about animation.

Students will then get a mini lesson on some basic animation techniques and will then get to animate their own film using clay and stop motion as well as hand drawn animation on paper. A DVD will be made of all the student work done during the workshop and sent to the students later in the month.

[ back to top ]