Course Reflection:

Jillian Wight

Andreson

Foundations of Art

May 29, 2020

This year, I learned so much about the techniques and processes used to create great art. This class expanded my knowledge successfully, not only teaching me more about the styles, movements, and elements of art among other things, but also helping me to feel confident in my work and consider a future in the art industry. Going into this year, I knew very little about the basic aspects of any work of art. Within my first week of class, I had learned about the elements of art— color, value, shape, line, space, and texture, and the principles of design— contrast, repetition, unity, movement, balance, and emphasis. Throughout the year, I was able to develop my usage of these, drastically improving my skill as an artist. I also learned so much about the history of art this year. My knowledge of the movements that I acquired from the midterm and my understanding of influential artists like William Morris from the self-portrait has stuck with me. I have used this knowledge in other classes and explored it in my own sketchbook. Not only have the lessons and projects been valuable to me, but I have also found that being in a classroom with so many skilled artists and being exposed to their unique styles during critiques has encouraged me to play around with different materials and ideas. The work of my peers has awed and inspired me all year, and I'm so grateful to be creating alongside them. Overall, my experience with Foundations of Art has been extremely successful. I have stepped outside my comfort zone, pushed myself, experimented, and improved greatly.

Personally, I have found this year that the hardest aspect of the course is meeting deadlines. Although I have been able to do this on most occasions, I often choose an ambitious and arduous design and find myself with 1 or 2 class periods left and more than half of the piece left to finish. For the first semester, I had a studyhall before art and then advisory, so I overcame my struggle by devoting these periods to finishing up my pieces. However, during the second semester, I had a bit more trouble with this. Although many of my creations have still been complex and intricate, I have been able to overcome my struggle with deadlines in semester two by using class periods more effectively, and planning out my designs before I begin. Even though at times I was stressed about finishing my projects on time, I found that Mr. Andreson was understanding, which was very helpful. I also recognize that my struggles this year have helped me to learn better time management and planning, both of which are skills that I know will be useful and important in the future. Even throughout distance learning, when it is especially hard to motivate, the skills I learned during the year have served me well. I am confident that going forward, I will have benefitted from my mistakes and will have a better sense of what I can realistically get done.

My favorite project this year was the Abstract Shoe drawings. I loved doing the origional sketches, and thought that this step not only challenged by ability to shade and illustrate depth, but also to portray perspective (since my shoes were a fairly strange shape). The next step, in which we zoomed in on one of our views, was also very beneficial. Playing around with the different specific areas of the shoe that I could zoom in on helped me to recognize some common traits of my artwork, for example the fact that I am not drawn to minimalist designs, and tend to do more complex pieces. It also taught me the value of looking ahead to ensure that the basic composition I had laid out allowed me the space and leniency I needed to be creative with my design. Finally, my favorite step was the creation of the final product. At first, I was unsure of how to go about this. Even so, in the end, I was so proud of my design! I used each space effectively and creatively, and made sure that the city theme was constant throughout. Since circles were a big part of the very top and bottom, I added circles in the wide, open space towards the middle to create unity and balance. My pen work was detailed, and I made the piece meaningful to me by weaving the lyrics of a song called "Hey There Delilah" in between circles in the top right corner. Overall, I loved this project because it challenged me and forced me to try styles I was uncomfortable with, inspired me, and in the end, my piece was successful! For these reasons, my favorite project this year was the Abstract Shoe drawings.

If I had to pick a least favorite project for this year, I would say it was the Zine. I really loved the idea of creating a mini-magazine to express some of the complex emotions we all are sharing during this time, and I especially loved the focus on making the piece relatable to any and all readers. My creation had the potential to be really unique and engaging, but I believe that the idea of displaying my emotions so openly scared me a bit, and I chickened out. Instead of exploring the deeper feelings that would have given the piece meaning and intrigue, I chose to display very lighthearted themes, such as having time to work out and eating a lot. In the end, my zine came out fine, but I don't think that it had much character. I had envisioned something with a shock factor, something that stood out, and I don't think I was able to achieve this. There were aspects of my piece I was proud of, such as the way that my colorwork emphasized certain aspects of each page. However, these traits were not enough to give it the depth it had the potential for. In the end, I felt that I had not lived up to the expectations I had for myself. Usually when I take a risk with an assignment it pays off. However, I failed to step out of my comfort one with the zine project, and it resulted in a bland product. Even though I wasn't proud of my work, I learned my lesson. In the projects following the zine, especially the gestalt design study, I made an effort to do things I wouldn't normally think of. I loved my piece, and the mistakes I'd made in the zine project paid off. It is for these personal reasons that the zine project was my least favorite. Even so, I know that it served me well, and the experience will continue to benefit me in the future! I had so much fun this year, and progressed so much as an artist. Next year, I hope to expand my horizons and grow even more!

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