3-D Design

Hello everyone and welcome to 3-D Design.   I am very excited about this year, and have a fantastic year planned, full of interesting art making and powerful learning experiences.

There a a few important things you need to know both as parents and students  coming into the course.

You can Read a copy of the 2010-2011 Expectations here

You can download The Grossmont High School 2010-2011 Student Handbook here

Each student will receive a printed copy of the expectations.  There  is a signature sheet on the last page along with a student work release form.  Please go over the expectations with your students, and fill out the information on the form.  This allows me quick access to the most current contact information if there is a need.  I prefer to communicate via email for regular business, as I do not normally answer my phone during class time.  I prefer to focus on your students.   My email is pspiller@guhsd.net.  The release form will allow me to photograph the fantastic work my students are doing, and feature them here on mudandmetal.net which is the Grossmont 3-D Design Website.

The first homework assignment of the class is due on Wednesday September 15th.   This homework assignment is an located online.  You can access it from here: Introduction Homework

I keep a running list of the Fall Homework assignments on the Homework-Fall Semester page which has a link under pages to the right of this post.  All relative documents for the fall semester of the class are located on the 3-D Design Documents (semester 1) page which also has a link to the right.

Thank you for choosing 3-D Design at Grossmont High School.  It is going to be a year full of fun and exciting challenges.

We are busy getting down to work in 3-D Design.  Grades as of Feb 22nd are posted online.  Be sure to add 2  zeros to the front of your student number to access your grade.

We are slowly working our way through the great PBS series called Crafts in America, which provides an interesting and profound view of why crafts are such an important element in the American Culture.

Crafts in America

The final grades for the fall semester have been posted online as well as in the window of the outside  door of my classroom.

To access grades online, please click on the “GRADES” link above.  You will then need to select you period in the drop down box.  Type in your last name in the appropriate box, and then your student number preceded by two zeros.  for example:

your student number is: 123456

type in: 00123456

Please email me with any questions, and I will see you all on monday.

The first part of the projects are wrapping up for the beginning 3-D Design students, and they are headed to the kiln for a bisque fire.  The students have worked hard on their pinch pots, and effort shows.  These pieces will be fired late this week, and ready for preliminary grading next week.

I will post grades online today, but please be aware that they reflect a very limited amount of work, and are not the best example of how your student is doing.  Please email me if you have concerns.  pspiller@guhsd.net

To access your students grades you will need your students period, as well as their student number as the password.

The new Syllabus for the 2009- 2010 school year is available online now.  Please use the this link to read the syallbus:

2009-2010 Class Syllabus

Welcome to Grossmont High School 3-Design.  This is your central location for information regarding your class.  Here you find links to grades as well as documents pertaining to your class.  I am excited about all my classes this year, and looking forward to a year of fun and learning.

Your students should be becoming very familiar with the elements of art at this point.  We have been working on them the last two weeks.  We will be moving on to the Principals of design next week,  and then begin preparing for a test on the elements and principals.   Below is a list of the elements of art.

• Line
• Shape
• Form
• Value
• Space
• Texture
• Color

Ask your students about them.  These tools will vastly improve their skills as artists,  and vastly improve their understanding as viewers of art.   My goal by the end of this year is to allow each of my students to make informed judgements about a work of art,  and have the vocabulary to explain their judgement.

We are very busy in 3-D Design,  and the majority of students have been hard at work making a bunch of really great pieces.  This year there are 6 3-D Design classes,  and we are in a space crunch.  I have no where to put any of the projects.   I need shelf space.   If any parents out there has a set or two of self standing shelves in good condition that are not in use,  I would be grateful if you donated them to 3-D Design.   They would serve us well.

I will post the newest grades next week as the glaze kiln gets unloaded on monday,  and the students begin grading them.  Be on the look out for some great clay guardians, coil pots and mugs coming home next week.

The first progress report grades are posted online.  You can click on the grades link on top of this page to get to the grades program.   You will need your students last name,  and their student ID to see their current grade.     Contact me if you have any problems.

All classes are now underway in the exploration of ceramic materials as an art medium.   We are loading our first bisque fire into the kiln, and I am excited about what I see. Next week we will begin learning how to throw on the potters wheel,  and things may get a bit messy.

In addition to wheel throwing and hand building, we will begin with the elements of art and then continue on to the principals of design.

I will be posting initial grades early next week.  Please be aware, that these may not be a great indicator of your students progress, as it is based on just a quiz.  After the first projects are graded we will have a better understanding of everyones progress.