Foundations Of Art

Artist Reflection-2021 to 2022

In what ways does your work illustrate your strengths and weaknesses as a learner? Over the course of the year, my work has shown how much I've loved projects and worked hard to excel at them, while others have shown how much I dreaded or struggled with the project, disliking the material or not loving my idea. As I've learned new ways to create art, my strengths have started to come through when I've done my clay projects, as I love working on 3D designs, and as we progressed through the year, that has become very prominent as all my independent projects have been clay. On the other side, I am not a very strong learner when it comes to wire and some drawings. I struggled to love these projects, and the hardest part throughout the year was trying to find the time to finish the projects I did not love. In the end, I developed many new skills through working with different materials and wonderful suggestions from my friends and teacher, and found a new love for different styles of art, and new hate for others.

How does your work show how you have improved? I feel as though each new art piece shows how I progressed in different ways. The wire, mixed media, and scratchboard projects were all demonstrations of how I challenged myself to improve throughout the year by learning time management, figuring out the best way to work with new materials, or giving myself the confidence to keep pushing through even the hardest of projects. My first painting improved to become my last painting, and I've started to use the linear line drawings in real-life situations. From beginning to end, every painting, sculpture, or coloring improved in different ways, and overall I feel as though my artistic skills have grown, and I've started to look at art in a new way.

What was the most challenging project and why? The most challenging project for me was the Color design project. It took me so many hours to get that completed, and I even had to turn it in late because of how stressed I felt and the lack of confidence while doing the project. There were too many colors, and to be completely honest, I hated the process and hated the turnout. Looking back, I still hated that project. It pushed me to my limits, and although it was a good learning experience, I do not think I will be participating in another project such as this one. There were too many tedious colors to create and then to add three layers of each felt like watching paint dry, literally. In the end, Im happy that it's over, but I do love how vibrant and colorful it turned out.

What project are you most proud of and why? I can very honestly say that the project I am most proud of consists of two projects. As mentioned before, I love sculpting and 3D design, so it is easy for me to say that my favorite projects were the Artist-inspired independent project and the final Indepepdnent project. This is because I've always had a love for clay and to be able to choose my own ideas and choose my own material and bring it to life is something I love. Having the artistic freedom I had with these projects made them the most enjoyable and therefore I am most proud of the enjoyment I felt with these projects and the turnout overall with how amazing they look.

What are your artistic goals for the summer/future? My goals for the summer and the future is to continue my love for 3D design and clay, but not so much the other artistic elements such as wire sculpting and scratchboard that I wasn't so in love with. I plan to take ceramics 1 and possibly even ceramics 2 my sophomore or junior year depending on whether I get in next year or not. Over the summer, I will most likely not have loads of time for pursuing my love of clay, so instead, I plan on doing more hands-on projects such as building with wood, and finding new more creative materials to build helpful things for my household. Finally, I plan to pursue 3D design if possible, either my senior year or junior year if I can fit it into my schedule because the clay they use is the material I used for my independent projects, and would love to have the chance to develop more skills with that specific clay.