Topic: Anyone been to an art academy?

[Holy Diver]

So, I'm aiming to become an art teacher in my village(or anywhere close really) cuz I really like it here and I really don't want to go work in foreign lands like many people in my country.
So since I'm last year of our equivalent of high school I have about a year to make 30ish pieces and to learn art history since there is no arts in my school.

So:
-Are the pieces there just to show tehnical skill or is it advisable to throw in a few avant-gardy thought provokingish thingys(hopefuly that doesn't sound obnoxious/stereotipical)?
-They mentioned something about pieces being from observation and imagination.
What exactly do they mean by latter and is the latter necessary?
-Does displaying more drawing tehniques give me any extra points?
-Does the fact that my high school didn't have an art class deduct any points?
-Probably a no, but is there any place on teh interwebz where I could find the basics of art history or will I have to check the bookstores?

[zangetsu468]

Regarding Art History, this book is an excellent foundation to build upon:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Art

I read this religiously in my first year of university where Art history was a core unit. Even being a notoriously difficult subject, I managed to ace the unit. Apparently it's the highest selling art book in the world.

[Dracula9]

-Are the pieces there just to show tehnical skill or is it advisable to throw in a few avant-gardy thought provokingish thingys(hopefuly that doesn't sound obnoxious/stereotipical)?

both, yes that's advisable (just be sure that whatever they are, they're either pieces you ACTUALLY have some kind of philosophical/symbolic relationship with to convey, or pieces that are such that you can basically just make up a "philosophy" for it that sounds believable (you would be surprised how common this is), and no that doesn't sound obnoxious

-They mentioned something about pieces being from observation and imagination.
What exactly do they mean by latter and is the latter necessary?

most likely, the following two things are the case:

"observation" most probably means things like still-lifes and whatnot, things where the art should reflect a keen eye for, literally, observable detail which you can accurately recreate in the form of the art

"imagination" most probably means things painted without a specific real-world reference -- for example, painting a sunset on the beach from a photo or actually having a beach view, versus painting a sunset on the beach as your own mind conjures up images for when you think of the phrase "sunset on a beach" -- and which draw more from your own mind and philosophies and beliefs and views of things, rather than as those things exist in objective reality

and yes, the latter is absolutely necessary, because being able to do art from visual reference and the like is predominantly a question of technical skill, and being able to do art from those deep places within your own mind and experiences is another matter entirely and one which is very fundamentally important to understanding many, many different artists and pieces and periods within the history of art

-Does displaying more drawing tehniques give me any extra points?

yes, but not nearly as many as you might think

understanding the "why" aspect of art is more important than understanding the "what" or "how" aspects

all aspects are important, but it takes more knowledge and intrinsic comprehension to understand the different "why" aspects throughout history than it does the different "what" or "how" aspects

-Does the fact that my high school didn't have an art class deduct any points?

i don't know your situation's exact grading system, but if i had to wager a guess, probably not

it wouldn't be fair to detract points for aspects you have no control over, after all, and doing that wouldn't give you anything to learn from since it'd be deducting values from things other than your own knowledge or lack thereof

-Probably a no, but is there any place on teh interwebz where I could find the basics of art history or will I have to check the bookstores?

there is a place, and it's google

that sounds cliche, but considering art is inherently subjective and you have a few thousand years of material to cover and everyone who wrote about it will have a different perspective, it's simply more practical to just tell you to start with google and branch out on your own time and perspective than to give you my personal preferences

the importance of the journey of art is to find your own path along the way, and if i gave you my path and said "go here"  i'd be derailing you a bit from finding your own way

but i will say, start with google, and make it a point to explore as many different sites and perspectives as you feel comfortable with, because having more unique frames of mind will give you more and more little pieces of the whole, which is really what understanding art and its history is all about



hope this all helps, even if just a little bit, as i've had to go through a lot of this in art school myself (though i wasn't going for teaching, but i did spend a year as a professor's aide so i have a tiny bit of insight into the art-teacher side of the matter) and to be perfectly frank it can be an absolute nightmare to go into blind

(it's still a nightmare, art schooling always is, but it's at least a bit less nightmarish if you have SOME level of preparation)

[Holy Diver]

Thank you both.
You both sweet peaches

[zangetsu468]

Thank you both.
You both sweet peaches

Thanks for noticing, I have been watching my figure 

[Holy Diver]

Ok, so my pieces will have to be in a 70x100 cm (27.5x39.4 inches) format and I have no clue where one can find hard paper of that size. I've tried googling and found nothing in my country, then tried to search through ebay but my limited english skills made it quite hard. I have no clue how to translate "likovna mapa" into english. Literaly it's art map, but that doesn't help me much. So if anyone knows what's the word I'm looking for or where I can find it I'd really appreciate it.

Nevermind, the word(s) I'm looking for is probably hard cover sketchbook.
I'm still baffled as to where I'll find one in that size.
If anyone knows please tell.

[Dracula9]

https://www.jacksonsart.com/lambeth-cartridge-paper-170gsm-70x100cm-50-sheets

[Holy Diver]

Wow, that was quick.
Thanks again.

[Dracula9]

not a problem friend

figuring all this out and materials acquisition sucks if you're going in blind

[Shiroi Koumori]

Ok, so my pieces will have to be in a 70x100 cm (27.5x39.4 inches) format and I have no clue where one can find hard paper of that size. I've tried googling and found nothing in my country, then tried to search through ebay but my limited english skills made it quite hard. I have no clue how to translate "likovna mapa" into english. Literaly it's art map, but that doesn't help me much. So if anyone knows what's the word I'm looking for or where I can find it I'd really appreciate it.

Nevermind, the word(s) I'm looking for is probably hard cover sketchbook.
I'm still baffled as to where I'll find one in that size.
If anyone knows please tell.

You need a B1 sized sketchbook!! Maybe you just need to buy a lot of B1 sized papers then bind those together to form a "book".
Or you can buy a B2 sized sketchbook (do those things exist?) so that when you open it up, it forms the B1 size (however there will be a folded line in the middle)
You also need to take note of the gsm (paper thickness). 100gsm is ok for dry media (sketches using pencils or pens), get 200gsm for watercolor or other wet media (acrylic, markers, etc.)

[Holy Diver]

You need a B1 sized sketchbook!! Maybe you just need to buy a lot of B1 sized papers then bind those together to form a "book".
Or you can buy a B2 sized sketchbook (do those things exist?) so that when you open it up, it forms the B1 size (however there will be a folded line in the middle)
You also need to take note of the gsm (paper thickness). 100gsm is ok for dry media (sketches using pencils or pens), get 200gsm for watercolor or other wet media (acrylic, markers, etc.)

Thanks Shiroi.
I tried looking for the format name and couldn't find it.
Now that I know it I might find it somewhere close, as I thought 70x100cm isn't a "standard" format.
The paper drac suggested seems fine but is a bit costy at the moment.

[Shiroi Koumori]

I'm glad to be of help.