Foundations of art

Over the course of my year in foundations of art in Freeport High School, I gained considerable knowledge about art, the processes thereof, and even some life lessons regarding work ethic and determination. Through my projects I learned a lot about art, art techniques, and art history as well, making works in all sorts of different mediums. And experimenting with mediums I have never used before. I gained lessons from the class too, starting the year off rough with a rapid and aggressive switch into the new school year, I had to get back on my feet and get on track. Foundations of art and Mrs.Medsker helped me gain a strong and passionate work ethic and made me realize that there is no time for procrastination.

Throughout the year I have shown my progress as an art student through my advancing techniques and the quality of my works. I believe that I have learned more about art techniques this year than ever before, and I will continue to demonstrate decency in my work for the following years of my art career in school. My works have shown improvement in my skills through the general quality of the pieces. Looking back at the beginning of the year, the differences between my work then and now are night and day. Not only has my work improved physically, but my process and determination towards the work have improved as well. I strive to create art to the best of my ability and dedicate hours of my week to projects. I am proud of how far I have come since the beginning of the year, and I plan on kicking off the start of next year with the same mentality.

As far as most challenging projects, there were a few. But for different reasons. For example, the wire sculpture project certainly was frustrating, and it didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted. This goes for a few. My surrealism project definitely was the worst project of the year, honestly, I think a second-grader could’ve done a better job. The duck stamp, while I am satisfied with the outcome, the process was long and had several learning curves. The color design project was grueling, it took 20 or so hours and was very boring repeating the same process over and over. Overall though, the year was a success in my book. I think that having a difficult project or two is healthy and helps you in and out of art.

For the project I am most proud of, my realistic self-portrait no doubt. My self-portrait was easily the single best piece of art I’ve ever completed. Though I have received some ridiculing comments saying it doesn’t exactly look like me, I still think it looks like a human being and that was the overall goal of the assignment. I think that I nailed the values of the drawing, personally. Though if I could master one thing before going back to it I would figure out how to draw hair better. I think that the hair is okay, though it looks blurred because I couldn’t draw it well in focus. This project also helped me with lessons on work ethic and determination. The project took about 15 hours in total, though it felt faster because I was constantly discovering and experimenting with techniques. I love the outcome of this project and I would certainly do this again if I got the chance.

For the future, I plan on continuing my art. I want to continue through my four years at Freeport, and possibly beyond that. Typically I don’t do a lot of art out of school, though I plan on stretching my art into the summer. I think that this year was a success for me surrounding my love and passion for art. I can see myself continuing art into my years, art is certainly a hobby that I could and probably will take up later on in life. Overall, my experience in school is elevated due to my enjoyment of the class. Enjoying a class not only means that you are learning, but you are making good memories as well, and I think that is important in school and life.