Foundations of Art

Foundations of Art

This year's art class was an enjoyable experience, especially because I like art. But that was not the only reason I had a good time in art class. I learned a lot of skills this year, and they weren't just art skills—they were life skills too. I acquired many skills like various techniques in art, patience, confidence to try new things, and discipline (like the ability to meet a deadline). I learned many new techniques this year, and I improved as an artist in many different aspects. I now know how to identify and show negative space, create pure contour lines, use pen and ink effectively with hatching, cross hatching, and stippling, and I learned how to create value with charcoal. And these were just the drawing techniques. I also learned how to use pliers to effectively create wire sculpture, and how to perform print making with ink and with gelatin—a way of printing I had never heard of before. I also improved my scratchboard skills by working on value with a value strip and and full project. Lastly, I learned to make an armature by creating a full sculpture of a bird at the end of the year. At the beginning of this year I think I knew how to shade with paper and pencil, and now I know so much more and see a world of diversity and opportunity in art. Not only did I learn techniques through art, I also learned patience and tenacity. One project definitely comes to mind at the mention of those two words. The project was a color study, where I took a person's face and mixed oil pastels to recreate the tones of their skin, hair etc. on another piece of paper. The twist was that I had to do it by filling in every single centimeter of his face individually, so that took a while. I did learn to make the tones of his face with pastels, but I also learned patience through doing every single little centimeter. I had to keep working, I had to be tenacious even when I became very bored, and I learned to expect an end result with hard work and effort, and by putting the time in. I learned it wouldn't come as quickly as I would want, but the end result would be fantastic. I also learned to meet a deadline, a very important skill in life, because every project had a due date, as well as a portfolio entry with each project. I had to plan ahead to be finished with my work by those dates. This was a great skill acquired because it will help me a great deal moving forward in life. Foundations of art was a great experience, and I learned and improved so much more than I thought I would back in September.

I learned a lot this year, but not every project was easy or enjoyable. I already talked about the painstakingly slow color study, and there were others like this. One such project was a project in which I created a wire sculpture. I had a rough start to the project because I had trouble making solid connections between wires. The connections would be flimsy and the wire would move around way too much. I also felt a little like the wires were out to get me because I cut two of my fingers in the same class. In the end I got through the project and the I think end result could've been worse. Now I'll know that wire sculpture probably isn't my thing, but at least I learned and gave it a try. Not all processes were bad though. I especially liked doing a few projects. One of them a was a charcoal self portrait. I enjoyed this process because I like working with charcoal. Something about the slight messiness and the absence of precision is appealing to me. I liked making the different values of my face using the dark charcoal. The boldness of the charcoal was a nice contrast to the usually dull pencils I use. One more project I like was the color wheel project. Probably the main reason I liked this was because I love bold and bright colors, and I was required to use them in this project. I loved that I could incorporate them into something connected to my life too, which was a campfire scene (I go camping a lot). Throughout this year there were some tough processes, but in the end I learned to get through them. Mostly though, I enjoyed the projects and the process used in each one, so it was an all around enjoyable year.

The skills and techniques I discovered and mastered were essential inside the classroom, but many things about art and about what I learned are applicable elsewhere. As I was saying before, I learned about meeting deadlines for my projects and portfolios, and that is very important. This skill I learned is applicable to many parts of life, and the project I learned to hand in on time could soon by a college research paper. Art is connected to my own life outside of school too. Art is important to me and some of my family members. My dad is very interested in it and made some art work when he was younger, and my great grandfather was a skilled painter. Sometimes on my own time I'll be inspired by the world around me, such as when I'm watching a hockey game, to create art based upon that thing. In the end, I'm proud of what I've accomplished this year. I like the outcomes of most of my projects, especially my third place winning three material drawing in the art show at Freeport Public Library. I know that the techniques, skills, and experiences I've obtained during this year in foundations of art will be important for me moving forward into 2D and 3D design, but they will also be an important part of my life, so I hope they stick with me.