Foundations of Art

Q.1 - *In what ways does your work illustrate your strengths and weaknesses as a learner?

My work illustrates my strengths and weaknesses as a learner through the way my work is created, understood, developed, and reflected upon. This year, I have been successful in countless ways, as well as struggling in many concepts I encountered. An example of when I struggled was the wire sculpture - through the process in which I created it. Starting the wire sculpture was quite a difficult task for me, and during the creative process of constructing the sculpture I had difficulty with the fish hook connection technique. I also struggled during the last project: the assemblage sculpture. For this task, I couldn't decide what to do. I eventually took inspiration from the spring season and birds. I chose to do a birds nest, which would be very difficult to recreate - especially the components that make the nest, like sticks. I didn't know how to come upon this, other than paper mache: layering paper over and over. I also asked Mrs. Medsker for help, and she suggested using sticks from outside to make the nest. I did not use this way, because I didn't want to make a "realistic" nest. I should have taken that suggestion because it would have been a much quicker and easier way to make it. The paper mache was very difficult to get to work. The nest came out looking absolutely horrible, and I took SO much time to do. I wish that I chose something easy, like flowers. People were able to use cardboard to very easily and quickly realistically represent them, and get a good grade. Moving on, my reflections helped me illustrate my strengths and weaknesses shown in my work. In each project, we create a reflection - this reflection contains or should contain three paragraphs/sentences answering common questions asked - like "how did we make it?" The reflections were used for illustrating the processes we went through, as well as our inspiration. In each of my many reflections as well as my extra "unit overviews", I chose the processes section to look back upon the ways I was successful and the ways I struggled in every project, in many different aspects. Sharing and reflecting upon how I was successful and struggling is very beneficial for me, the artist. Finally, as we all look back, we can see each and every one of our issues and successes in our physical, produced work. As the artist, we notice every single flaw, but sometimes skip over and don't acknowledge the successes that deserve to be seen. In every project, we further improved our skills and areas showing weaknesses.

Q.2 - *How does your work show how you have improved? 

To start this off, I would not say that my work shows improvement as time went on, and as we explored new and undiscovered areas as an artist. I would rather state that through each of my reflections, I am able to illustrate my improvement through the creative processes I went through, and the questions I asked myself. Each reflection was different for every different project. I also can see improvement through projects that we did multiple versions of. By practice or repetitive actions, we improve. In my opinion, it is hard to acknowledge my overall progress towards improvement by looking at this class as a timeline, because we did different mediums; all different mediums carried different levels of difficulty and ease. For example, I struggled to a very high degree with both the assemblage sculpture and the wire sculpture, which were both the last two projects in the year. In turn, I was very successful with almost all of the projects earlier in the year. This is because I was previously very familiar with colored pencil, and somewhat familiar with using acrylic paint. Also, I have some background with graphite (pencil). I think that improvement is determined by previous skill and ability, while failure is determined by the amount of will and the lack of previous skill. I struggled with both wire and assemblage because I have no background with using wire, and little to no experience with assemblage. Aside from ways this course does not reflect my improvement overall, I improved with time management. This is shown in powerschool. At the beginning of the year my time management was much worse than it is now. I had a ton of assignments marked late. While now, most or all of my assignments this year were on time. 

Q.3 - *What was the most challenging project and why? 

Personally, the most challenging project or the one I struggled with the most was the assemblage sculpture, mentioned above. I struggled with this project because I started with an idea that I brainstormed around that was complex. Besides this, I came upon creating it in a way that was very inefficient, and in a way that made it look horrible. Mrs. Medsker suggested I used sticks to formulate the birds nest I was going for, but instead, I used paper mache. I didn't want to make the nest look super realistic - instead, I wanted to represent the nest in my own way. Mrs. Medsker's suggestion of using sticks and hot gluing them to create the nest would have been much more productive then paper mache. I wouldn't have to try very hard at all to make it look like a nest, nor take the extensive amount of time I used for the paper mache. Summing these ideas up, I struggled with the concept of effectiveness, and representation. It was also challenging because other peoples ideas for their project in my opinion were much easier to represent with paper mache, and other techniques. My opinion would be different if I used the stick technique to create the birds nest. Additionally, it posed a large challenge because after all of the hard work of creating the nest, it didn't look so good. I would have earned myself around an 80 for something that took me more than just a couple of hours. Finally, this project was extremely challenging because I have had very little experience with assemblage. We spent practically no time introducing and practicing with this concept like we did with earlier units in the year. It was quite a time crunch. Because of this, I was confused with how to start and navigate my project, as well as create it in an efficient and good looking manner. 

Q.4 - *What project are you most proud of and why?

Currently, I am most proud of the color design project- by far. For this project, I used a wooden cutting board and painted over it. I am most proud of this because of the many processes I went through, driving me to completion; and additionally, my little experience with painting and how the finished product came out. Through every single process, I both learned and experimented more. Considering I spent upwards of 15 hours or more on it, I was very happy with how it looked. With this, my painting accurately represented the fruits or symbols I was trying to communicate through my work. I was able to incorporate all 84 colors on the color checklist. We needed to paint or represent all 84 colors including tints and shades to receive a desired score, in completion of the unit. With my little experience in the painting field, I was able to produce a work that communicated my ideas, and met my expected and desired outcome. I was very surprised by this, especially since I have never really tried to paint realistically. An interesting process in my piece was how I used a toothpick to paint all of the tiny details, because I didn't have tiny paint brushes. This took me EXTREMELY long, and I made many mistakes which I was drawn to repair.

Q.5 - * What are your artistic goals for the summer/future? 

I have big plans for the summer, as well as the future ahead of me. During this summer - starting now, I would like to complete multiple series of car drawings for every big car brand (Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Porsche, etc.). I want to realistically represent a couple car designs from each brand, through colored pencil drawings. These drawings will hang on my walls in my room. To share the process and final results of my work, I hope to receive recognition on social media by posting videos and/or pictures for each drawing or series to show the products and processes. I could also sell these drawings or prints of them on an online storefront. I really would like to take a lot of time this summer to continue art, as it has been really hard with my intensive school schedule- this will also most-likely remain the same for school in the fall. In the general future, I hope to create art during the span of my entire life; as a hobby or even a small side job. I would like to experience as many art mediums as I can, and also perfect my skills in mediums I enjoy the most. And even additionally, I could share my work with others. This year, I was very happy with the foundations of art class. Although I became stressed out and dissappointed with myself numorous times this year, I greatly improved as an artist and a person. Throughout the rest of my highschool years, I plan to continue taking art classes.