Foundations Of Art

My overall experience in Foundations of Art was great, I learned many new techniques and overcame many artist challenges. Throughout the year I feel that I have really grown as an artist and started to learn more about what types of materials I enjoy using and those that I do not, I created some things that I was very proud of some that I’d rather not show. Overall this year in Foundations of Art I have grown tremendously in the ways I think, create and understand art.

Over the year I learned how to use many new tools, techniques, and processes that have enriched my understanding of ways materials work and affect the overall product. During the year I learned how to use charcoal and to master the use of using white charcoal to add depth and texture to an image. I also learned how to make prints, before this I had done a little printmaking but only the kind we had done with the extended gelatin print but I had not worked with the linoleum. I learned how to cut and carve linoleum to create an image. Looking back on the year, I didn't learn how to use that many new tools but I did learn and gain more experience with everything we did this year. Almost every day I was in the art room and even if I had finished the project for class I was spending time working on making something better or practicing using each material.

The most challenging project for me this year was the self portraits. I struggled with this project mentally because I don't particularly like drawing people and I have always struggled with drawing people, I think one reason why I don't drawing people is because when I draw something I want it to look the way that I imaged in so when drawing people I can never get the outcome that I want. When this project came around it wasn't something that I was excited for and because I wasn't really looking forward to creating this project I didn't have the drive to work really hard and made it good. This is one reason that I wanted to add people into my independent work of art because I felt that I didn't put a lot of effort into portraits the first time around. My favorite piece of work that I created this year was my last attempt at charcoal and ink. I created a dog and the reason I loved this image so much was that I had I already done two before, so I had gotten used to/gained more practice with using the charcoal and ink. When drawing the dog I was able to build off my the knowledge I had learned from the precious to make the dog look realistic and the way that I wanted it to. This project was my favorite because I created something that I was proud of and a piece of work that I really loved the outcome of.

Along with learning to use many new tools and techniques I also learned the importance of critiquing and analyzing the work that I have done and taking those thoughts and transferring them to the next project. I also learned how to construct evaluations of others work that fit a differing set of criteria. Before this year I would make something and not ever look back on it to see what I could improve or change in the next one. This year that changed, (mostly because I didn't have a choice) with each project I had to look back and reflect on what I had created and where I fell on a rubric. I think that this really helped me grow as an artist because it made me realize what I could change to make it better, these ideas I could then bring along to the next project. For example, if during the candy still life I looked back on my project are realized that the candy didn't look like it was coming off the page because there wasn't really any highlights and there wasn't really a clear source of light I could then carry that knowledge on into the next project. When learning how to reflect on my own work and others it helped me focus on what I needed to improve to get better. When looking at others work it helped me see what other people interpreted the prompt as and the different ways that they chose to use the materials. The skill of criticizing my art is something that I will definitely caring on throughout my years of art to help improve.

Overall in art I feel that I have really grown, in the beginning of the year I couldn't draw a person and in the end my people still weren't great but so much better. I learned so many new techniques and ways of looking at art. The major thing that changed for me this year in art was my attitude. Before this year I would just do the work and be done but during this year I really started to enjoy art so much more and spend more and more time created things just because I enjoyed what I was doing. Looking back on this year, one thing that I think I could improve on is slowing down and focusing more on one project and all the little details and keeping the idea that “Art is never finished, only abandoned” the idea that as the artist we can always come back and make it better.