Fu Baoshi, or Broken Brush Painting, is a painting technique in China. We practiced painting with this technique with ink and dye to make connections between the chemistry of dye and ink and their bond to paper and the artform.

In this lab, we used cabbage and/or blueberries, vinegar and baking soda, and wax in order to dye bandanas and make connections between dyeing fabrics and chemistry & chemical bonds. 

Materials can be woven into 3D shapes, and as practice and demonstration I created this woven heart-shaped basket with techniques similar to that of my previous woven paper pieces.

We discussed and demonstrated the connection between textile weaving and molecular bonds. I created two woven pages of paper, one black and white and one in color, to represent the opposing forces in an ionic bond.
When an ionic bond is formed, one atom will "steal" electrons from another in order to have a full valence electron shell, and thus the atoms will change to a positive and negative charge respectively due to the loss/gaining of electrons. In my piece of woven work, the strips of colored paper are the electrons, and the contrasting color schemes are negative and positive charges. 

Mandalas were first created as a Hindu symbol. They're used as a meditative/reflective and medicinal tool. In Hinduism, they're drawn or painted or created from fine colored sand and symbolize order and the divine. 

Mandalas likely show up in multiple cultures and civilizations due to shared cultural traits, diffusion of said traits elsewhere and common design elements, alongside similar spiritual values. Their designs contain patterns, rhythm, repetition, balance and variety. 

In my opinion, art is any creation- whether it be original or a combination of existing parts in a new format- that is meant to instill some form of a connection with a viewer. Whether it's a story someone can relate to, a satirical and humorous installation meant to confuse or upset certain audiences, or an upbeat song that makes someone happy, the root of art is its aspects of the human experience- making things and feeling emotions about things. Other subjects can relate to art in varying ways- science can be the ingredients of an artwork, science can involve creation. We study art's effects and refine its mediums through scientific means. History contains art, art we study to learn about the past and its experiences. Art is defined by its time period and we can use knowledge of history to learn more about an artwork. English concerns writing, an extremely important medium of artwork for direct expression to an audience- reating interesting imagery, telling stories and connecting to the audience through written words. Math is yet another element of art. Geometry, symmetry, patterns and the like are all involved in creating a pleasing composition, measurements are required for more involved physical mediums and timing is an important aspect of music.