Ron+King

​Artist Interview: Rhiannon Robinson

Ron King

Most artists that you can name off the top of your head work in a single medium, or perhaps two or three, and tend to stick to it, rarely experimenting beyond the medium. Ron King, on the other hand, has a much more open-ended idea of art.

The first time one meets Ron King, one notices his restlessness and his tattoos. (Upon longer association, one also starts to notice that he gets bored with one type of facial hair as well.) King decided early on that he would never be an “Ph.D egghead—not that that’s bad or anything, but it’s just not who I am.” And thus the first tattoo was born: a stylized snake on his forearm, to lock himself into his mental strata of choice. What is so interesting about King’s tattoos is simply this: they are not his work. Tattoos are tattoos, indicative of culture and choice, but not his art.

To say that because he does not put his art on his skin King is not an artist would be to tell a lie.

Found-object sculpture, screen printing, pinhole photography—these are just the latest things King is working with. Upon entering his office, one sees old bicycles side by side with a giant blown up picture of his son, while on the shelves boxes upon boxes of odds and ends that King picked up. He enjoys playing with the edges of the box, tweaking different things, trying new things, just to see what comes out. Limits are the bane of art to his mind. “I see a tire on the ground, I’m going to look at it in many different ways; sure it’s a tire, but I could do so much more with it—including using it as a tire.”

Art is something to be explored, to paraphrase King, something to be experimented upon. One of the best things about art is that it can change as oneself changes. King says, “My art generally deals with naked women and war; now that my son is born, it’s less about the naked women.”

Lesson Plan: Diann Smith Time: Hour a day for a week Objectives: The students will build a sculpture about their vision of Halloween.

Supplies:
 * Clay
 * The tools for clay
 * Pictures.

Art Content:
 * Show the students sculptures by Ron King and other artist.
 * Let the students play with the clay during class before letting them loose on their projects. I can teach them techniques during this time.

Method of Instruction:
 * We will use pictures during group time.
 * Have the students play with the clay at their tables.

Instructional Content: Assessment: TEKS: Other TEKS: (2) History. The student understands the origins of customs, holidays, and celebrations. The student is expected to (B) compare the observance of holidays and celebrations, past and present;
 * The students will study the holiday activities and traditions of Halloween.
 * They will write a small paragraph about their sculptor.
 * I will assess the students on their sculptures by looking at the techniques they used and ideas on Halloween.

Art TEKS: (2) Creative expression/performance. The student expresses ideas through original artworks, using a variety of media with appropriate skill. The student is expected to: (C) identify and practice skills necessary for producing drawings, paintings, prints, constructions, and modeled forms, using a variety of art materials.

Lesson Plan: Calye Anderson Time: One hour a day for a week Objectives: Students will create their own screen painting on an overhead projection sheet (which will be placed on a window when finished) which portrays what their perfect escape would be.

Supplies:
 * Overhead projection sheets
 * Paint

Art Content:
 * Show the students screen paintings created by Ron King and a variety of other artists
 * Teach the students different kinds of painting which include: dry brush, wet on wet, ect.
 * Make sure the students understand that they should step outside the box and be creative! The students can escape anywhere they wantlike a beach, another country, their tree house, even outter space. There are NO LIMITS!)

Method of Instruction:
 * Have the students learn different ways to paint and form pictures such as shadows and textures.
 * Show students what it will look like when their picture is hung on a window while the light is shown through.

Instructional Content:
 * Students will learn about different places around the world as well as in our own community.
 * Students will also learn about other student's personalities. Ex: One student could paint a beach or an amusement park, while another student could paint their tree house, or their room. Everyone will be able to explain why they drew what they drew.

Assessment:
 * I will assess the students on their painting as well as their explanation around it.

TEKS (A) use terms, including over, under, near, far, left, and right, to describe relative location; and (B) locate places on the school campus and describe their relative locations. Art TEKS (3.2)Creative expression/performance. The student expresses ideas through original artworks, using a variety of media with appropriate skill. The student is expected to:
 * (4) Geography. The student understands the concept of location. The student is expected to:
 * (b) Knowledge and skills.

(A) create artworks based on personal observations and experiences;

(B) develop a variety of effective compositions, using design skills; and

(C) produce drawings, paintings, prints, constructions, ceramics, and fiberart, using a variety of art materials appropriately.

Lesson Plan: Michelle Harris Time: one hour a day for a week Objectives: The students will build a sculpture of themselves.

Supplies:
 * Play dough
 * cookie cutters (for different shapes)
 * Roll pin
 * Photos of different people and a photo of themselves.

Art Content:
 * Show the students sculptures created by Ron King to have a visual and something to guide them but not ruin their creativity.
 * Demonstrate to the students how play dough can be used in different ways.
 * Allow the students to get a feel and play with the play dough, so they can have an idea of how they can use it and create their sculpture before actually start their project.

Method of Instruction:
 * The students will sketch a picture of what they want their sculpture to look like
 * The students will have time to play with the play dough and think about where they will begin.
 * The students will have plenty time to talk to each and come up their ideas.

Instructional Content:
 * The student will look at different pictures of different types of people to understand that everyone is different and have unique physical characteristics.
 * The students will learn about the different ethnicities by looking at photos.
 * The students will study the pictures and talk about their individual sculptors to the class.

Assessment:
 * I will asses the students on their sculpture and accuracy of body form.

TEKS

** (K.2) Creative expression/performance. ** The student expresses ideas through original artworks, using a variety of media with appropriate skill. The student is expected to: (A) create artworks, using a variety of colors, forms, and lines; (B) arrange forms intuitively to create artworks; and (C) develop manipulative skills when drawing, painting, printmaking, and constructing artworks, using a variety of materials

//The student understands similarities and differences among people. The student is expected to: //  // (A) identify personal attributes common to all people such as physical characteristics; and // // (B) identify differences among people. //