Foundations of Art

End of Year Final Reflection

~Foundations of Art~

The 2020-2021 school year has been a hard, yet good school year. Throughout it, art has kept me going in many ways. I feel very grateful to Ms.Medsker for giving me many new skills in Foundations of art. We have explored so many mediums and they have helped to expose me to the many possible ways that art can take form. When I look back at my portfolio, I am amazed at how much we have done!

This year, my artwork has improved tremendously. I have gained much better control of the materials that I didn’t have at the beginning of this year. My work shows this just in the comparison between some of my earliest pieces like the time capsules and later works such as “A Mushroom Walk” really show that difference. In my time capsules, the lines have little to no varying texture qualities to them. There is hardly any depth and no shadows in the piece. But in “A Mushroom Walk” there is very clearly more depth and texture to it. I was quite surprised at how much I discovered this year in art. There were so many mediums that I hadn’t played with yet and it was fun to explore them. One medium that I hadn’t used before, that also shows how I have improved artistically this year, was the Surrealism Collage. Mine, titled “Continue to Exist” was made using acrylic, and it was based on a collage. Near the start of the year, I would not have been able to make this piece, simply because I wouldn’t have known how. But, after doing the Duck Stamp, and Color Design using acrylic, I felt confident enough to use it as a medium there. To finish, art class this year has given me so many opportunities to improve upon my art skills, especially technically.

My artwork this year has given me some insight into the strengths and weaknesses that I have as a learner. I have found that a weakness I have is doing things in a certain amount of time. I have found this to be very difficult, and for almost all of my projects, there is an element or two that I would love to change if only there was more time. For me, art is hard to do on a schedule, because I don’t feel that I am as creative then. However, I have seen that when I am given restrictions in art, the product is usually interesting at least. A strength that I have found this year is my ability to come up with creative ideas that still have a tie to some sort of symbolism. Creativity is an area that I generally do quite well with. In relation to art specifically, I have found that I have a weakness in creating symbolism before the piece. Having a balance in symbolism is important so that there is the freedom to simply create, but also having a theme that you are working with can be helpful. Finding the balance of hen to bring in symbolism has been difficult and it is something that I am still working on. My art-related strength is something that I had not discovered at all up until this class. I have found that I am quite good at technical work and in making a piece using the gridded method, especially when using unconventional mediums like charcoal or scratchboard.

I would have to say that the Surrealism unit was probably the most difficult project this year. This said, there are many that tie for the second most difficult. Color design, Artist Inspired, and the Duck Stamp all are in the latter category. As for Surrealism, it was the most difficult because the collage I originally made was far from simple. I had included a host of different elements, including text, into the college, so when it came time for painting, it was difficult to even start. Each of the pieces in the college could be a painting in and of itself, so trying to accurately recreate it was challenging. I remember doing so many coats on the waves in the painting that when I took off the masking tape on the border, you could see the paint sitting on the canvas. In the end, I enjoyed the final product, and it turned out to be one of my best pieces as well. This is a piece where I found that balance between the creativity of creating it, and the symbolism behind it.

My artistic goals for the summer are to continue to make art using mediums that I struggled with. I want to try painting more, and also sculpture. I enjoyed the sculpture work, and I would be interested in making another. As for the future, so far I would like art to be a key part of it. I am interested in an art school, and I would like to get the chance to go to one. I do not know if this will happen or not, but it would be amazing if it did. Scholastics is also something I have been thinking about for the future. I will be submitting artwork (and maybe writing) next year. I feel very grateful to have gotten to take Foundations of art this year. There is so much growth that has happened for me this year which has shown up in my artwork as well as in other areas. I am so excited to take 2D/3D Design next year, and hopefully, I will get to take AP Art History sometime in the coming years, once my schedule allows. I will be doing all that I can to keep taking art throughout high school and beyond.