Illustrating Teenage Issues and Insecurities Through Artwork

I have always had a love and passion for creating artwork. My parents were always very supportive and would encourage me with all the art related activities I decided to do. My continuous curiosity in creating art has also led me to working with different mediums and deciding what I liked working with more. Creating art has always been one of the methods I use to portray my emotions. As I start to dive into my early teenage years, I start to experience certain issues and insecurities. Personally, I consider myself as a pretty private person, so I tend to keep most things to myself. This is why, overtime I’ve learned to express my feelings through creating art.

I have decided to use this project as an opportunity to further improve my personal art skills, as I create art that focuses on the topic of issues and insecurities teenagers face in their lives. Thus, for my personal project I aim to research different painting and sculpting techniques in order to create a series of artworks that represent teenage issues/insecurities. Hopefully, the art I create could reach different audiences and open up the eyes of some who may not be aware of certain issues that teenagers go through.

Though I definitely have experience when it comes to the mediums of art I have decided to focus on for this project, I am certain that I still need to improve on certain aspects of it. This project will be challenging for me because I will have to find ways to improve my painting skills. As well as build up my almost non existent skills when it comes to sculpting.

Global Context

The global context I have decided to focus on for my project is Personal and cultural expression . The reason as to why I chose to focus on this particular global context is because it focuses on the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and values. My project will explore the expression of insecurities and issues of myself and those around me through the form of multiple artworks created by two different mediums.

Product

The final product I created is a total of three paintings and two clay sculptures. Each of the artwork I created represents a different teenage issue or insecurity. These final products illustrate issues such as body image, overworking yourself, parental pressure and or strict controlling parents, public speaking, and a self-doubting feeling you get when you feel that you are speaking too much. My fifth product however, illustrates something more positive and acts as a representation of a solution to all of these issues. As a way to display my final products, I also designed a metal display.

Reflection

The process of this project has certainly made me reflect on IB Learner Profiles. Ones that were most reflected from this project are, ​communicators, inquirers and ​thinkers. The whole journey from start to finish was definitely not a one-man job. It required a significant amount of ​communication with experts, teachers and even my peers. I had to constantly initiate conversation. Whether it was to ask for feedback, comments, or if it was an interview held for research purposes.

Connecting it with the topic of conducting research, I had to conduct many researches throughout the whole process. Conducting/initiating research is a way of showing the ​inquirer ​IB Learner Profile, because being an inquirer simply means that you are curious enough to acquire new information and or skills. Seeking for new information was something constantly done as I was always learning new skills.

The process of creating my artwork required a lot of ​thinking ​and creativity. In order to make my output appealing and original, a lot of thought went into the brainstorming process of each artwork. The process of brainstorming was not an easy task and I hit many bumps and issues. This is where I had to solve problems by critically thinking of what would work to solve certain issues.

IB Learner Reflection

Through working on this project, I have been able to have a better understanding of the global context ​Personal and Cultural Expression​. Since this global context focuses on creative expression, I have definitely learned how to express my ideas and thoughts, even very personal ones in this case, through a creative outlet. Specifically, a type that does not limit one’s creativity.

All in all, this project was also a learning experience in the topic of teenage issues and insecurities. I got to learn that there are other people going through similar, if not same, situations as I am and through these artworks, I was able to express what I have never been able to express before. Other than that, this project has also helped me build and grow my art skills. This project served as a good opportunity for me to further develop my acrylic painting skills. It has also served as an introduction and skill building of using clay to sculpt, which I had almost no knowledge on prior to this project.