Foundations of Art

Foundations Of Art Final Exam

My work throughout this year’s foundations of art class has really shown my strengths and weaknesses as a learner and an artist. For instance, I learned I am 100% a visual learner and do so much better when I can hear directions verbally, instead of just reading them online. I, unfortunately, learned this when I got covid for a week during the second semester. I found it really difficult trying to understand what was being asked of me when reading it on google classroom in comparison to when I am in person. This has its perks though. This also happens to mean that I usually can get the directions once and be perfectly fine and go on my way doing the project with some headphones and good music to drown people out. I am very confident that I perform better as an artist and student when I can be there in person to learn and ask questions as needed. I do however think my art has improved immensely throughout the school year despite the setbacks of not being there for lessons or not quite understanding. This growth really shows when you look at my very first piece of art i'm comparison to my final pieces. When I look at my self portrait, I see many things I could improve. When we fast forward to my mixed media work, it is much more realistic and I was definitely much more confident in that piece in comparison to my previous work.

For me, the sculpture projects were the most challenging. I found these specifically challenging because I just happened to be out for two weeks worth of classes when we were working on these very projects. To add, the end of the year was rapidly approaching so I really had to hustle to get them done while also making sure they at least looked presentable. Through this, I really learned time management and how to produce a good product while also juggling ten other things and catching up from previous classes. Throughout this, I really appreciated the ability to come into Mrs. Medsker’s room during my study halls, lunches, adn advisory so I was able to catch up quickly. Specifically, the wire sculpture project was difficult for me because I found my fish hook connections not connecting correctly leaving my wire dangling and I could not seem to make it sturdy enough which was particularly frustrating because I am not the strongest of people so when I had to go back and use the pliers to clamp, unclamp, and reseal the connections over and over, It got very tiring and repetitive and my hands hurt so bad. I felt like I was getting nowhere (i wasn’t) and I didn’t have enough time to finish (I did).

I am definitely the proudest of my AOC acrylic painting and my mixed media charcoal drawing of my baby brother. For the AOC project, I was particularly proud because I finished a class early, and I was incredibly happy with the end result. I really felt like I had nailed the assignment, and I had nothing else to add. I filled in dead spaces perfectly so as not to be too crowded but not just blank patches that add nothing to the end piece. For the charcoal drawing, although the most timely and difficult perspective and material-wise, I had a lot of fun doing it and felt really happy with the end product. The material charcoal itself is incredibly tricky. It is really messy and smudges super easily. Once I got used to it, It was quite easy to work with – minus the completely covered fingers and face by the end of the days I would work hours on it. I really enjoy using charcoal because it is easy to blend and you can erase it. I also really like the texture of charcoal as a whole. I’m a person who really struggles with textures and I really found charcoal soothing to use. As for the drawing itself, I am really happy with it. I feel like it is some of my best work and really realistic. The onesie in particular is my personal favorite. I think that this project being so fun, and actually being happy with it throughout the entire project was a huge confidence boost and made me actually want to work on it. Art really has a huge mental aspect. If you aren't feeling the art it can really affect the amount of effort you put in and how you feel about the final product which was a hard lesson to learn this year.

Overall, I really enjoyed Foundations of art and will take away so many different things. For one, My time management has gotten significantly better. Mrs. Medsker’s strict deadlines and specific way of doing things were really helpful for me and I really appreciated it. Deadlines are a huge help when you feel like you're suffocating under work. I also learned to ask for help more often art is art no matter what it is. This was a hard pill to swallow because I am a perfectionist and I like to get everything right and done the first time and perfectly. Mrs. Medsker really helped show me that if you mess up or feel like it's not working, keep going, try something new, look at it differently, and don't give up. All art is art adn all artwork is beautiful. I no longer look at someone and their art and say “wow they are so talented” I saw wow that is really beautiful I bet that took so long to make. I dont belittle my art and find every way it isn’t good because the person next to me’s art looks different or they took a different approach. My goals this summer are to continue to paint things and create art and not give up. I had a period of time when I wanted nothing to do with art and I was convinced that it looked awful but I am going to keep working at it.