I’m a junior and I want to do AP Studio Art so I can solidify my skills and learn in a more structured environment. However, my school does not and never has offered AP Studio Art. We have pretty much all the other APs, yet we seem to be the only school in the area that does not offer any AP arts. I asked around and was told that the reason we don’t have AP art is because there isn’t enough interest or we don’t have the resources at the moment. So, I surveyed a few classes and found that we do have enough interest to meet the minimum number of students required for a class, but we may not have a classroom or a teacher available.
To anyone who has taken AP Studio Art, did you enjoy it? How is the class taught? If your school didn’t offer the course before, what changed?
I’m taking AP 2D Studio Art this year at my school. I’m a senior and it’s been offered for my entire 4 years of high school, so I’ve always had it as an option. I’m enjoying it so far, but it definitely depends on the teacher because of how loose the curriculum is. We have 2 teachers who teach 5 periods of the class each. Each period has about 35 students. My teacher is a first year teacher, so we do very little ‘real’ work honestly. It’s a lot of playing around with cameras basically and turning in a slideshow/quick paragraph write up every now and then. The other teacher is a lot more serious and actually teachers photography & assigns a lot of work. The kids who just want the extra grade bump don’t like it, the kids who are actually interested in art do. As far as resources, all we’ve really needed is adobe Photoshop and our iPhone cameras. Resources shouldn’t be too big of a problem. Good luck!
I took AP Studio Art 2D as digital photography (my school offers both this and the more traditional version). It was tough but rewarding. I got an A in the class (hard-earned) and a 4 on the exam. Pretty much we learned about a lot of design fundamentals, the adobe photo editing programs (there’s multiple), and obviously stuff about cameras. Resources: school has DSLR Cameras (I can’t believe @lemondrop77 's school has them use iPhones, that’s weird for a photography class), tripods, lenses, studio lights, computer lab, adobe suite etc. I’m not sure if you’re interested in photography specifically, so I’m not sure how much this applies because you can submit pretty much anything for the AP Studio Art exams. (I think the categories are 3D, 2D, and Drawing).
I think for you, after you decide what kind of art you want to do, some options might be:
-see if you can take the class online (you’d need your own resources)
-see if the teacher will sponsor a “independent study” for you
-take a dual enrollment art class at a CC instead (might be very time consuming, make sure you know what you’re getting into with this one)
-take a community based art class (through a local art center, museum, etc.)
@snowfairy137 Yeah I thought it was pretty weird as well when I first started taking the class. My school is public and very academically focused so all of the money and innovation goes to core classes. It’s that way in a lot schools in my district, so I’m sure the quality of an AP 2D class depends on the school district you are in. The only reason there’s so much interest at my school is honestly because it’s an easy grade bump.
@lemondrop77 that sucks bc photography and knowing how cameras and lenses work is interesting and helps you take better/more interedting and varied pictures and you’ll actually learn something useful which is the point of an ap class. If a school offers ap photography imo they should have at least a class set of dslr cameras (or one for every two students) with some varied lenses.
Iphones, especially the new ones are great but they’re designed to be easy to use, not super customizable with the settings, so you never really learn the mechanics behind photography. Plus, it kinda discrminates against those who dont have the newest phone.
@snowfairy137 Yeah, that’s all very true. I’m sure a lot of people at my school who are heavily interested in photography would benefit from having a better equipped class. So for the OP, I’d make sure your school/district has the ability/is willing to buy necessary resources for the class. Realistically, any school can offer the class but the quality of it depends on how much the school is willing to put into it. For me it’s just an extra period to do homework and work on college apps while getting a grade bump for it.
Oh wow I actually didn’t realize that Studio Art involved that much photography, but I think we have the technical resources. I’ll ask around some more and see if we can sort out some sort of program for next year. Thank you all so much for your responses!
If your goal is to have dedicated time to create art, can you talk to your art teacher and see if you can sign up for an existing art class and just do your thing in the back of the room? If you want to get college credit, is there an opportunity for Dual Enrollment at the local CC?
