Foundations of Art

Art has always been something that I loved doing. Going into this class, I did not have much experience with art other than the standard art classes that I took in middle and elementary school. I have probably created more art than I ever have in this class. I was introduced to so many new materials, methods, and techniques of art. Looking back over this year, I am extremely grateful for what this class has given me.

My ability to create art and my technical skill has definitely improved since the beginning of this class. Looking back at my time capsule drawings, you see an extreme difference in skill when comparing it to my self-portrait made in November and the mixed media drawing I made in December. With just a few months of working with the materials, I was already showing so much improvement. I think I also improved greatly because of the fact that there was so much freedom in this class when it came to working with materials. I worked with a lot of new materials which allowed me to expand my range of art skills. The materials that I was not at all familiar with were charcoal, wire, printing ink, linoleum, and more. I had never used these materials but it was so interesting to learn how to. My strengths and weaknesses were definitely put to work in this class. Usually, when I create art, it doesn’t always look how it did in my head in the end. I think one of my weaknesses going into this class was creating a final product that looked like my plan. This showed a lot during the many projects I completed this year. I learned that your final product will not always look like your original plan, and there is nothing wrong with that. I ran into many different situations where I had to make a decision to do something that I didn’t plan. This strengthened me as a learner because it allowed me to be more flexible as well as more creative. One of my strengths this year was completing every project I ever started. I can confidently say that I got every project done on time and with my best effort.

One of the most challenging parts of this class was probably working with wire. This was a very new type of art that I had never done before. It was also just different from what we were doing throughout this whole year. What made working with wire so difficult was that it was challenging to create strong connections that did not slip. It was also very repetitive to the point where I would lose motivation to complete what I was doing. My hands would get covered in grease from the wire and I would just want to put it down. I did end up creating a final wire sculpture that I liked although I was fine with being done with it. A piece of artwork that I am most proud of from this class is probably my realistic self-portrait. I am most proud of this project because I had never created a self-portrait that actually looked like me before. I used the gridding method which was confusing at first but it guided me through the whole project and allowed me to create a final product that resembled me. This was the first time I was ever satisfied with a self-portrait. I also created the whole thing using only graphite pencils and exploring the range of graphite was really interesting.

This class has changed me as an artist. I have grown so much and feel very content with what I have created this year. I had never really used the skills I learned from art class in my personal life until I took this class. I feel a lot more confident in my ability to create after learning so much about art this year. Not only have I learned so much, but I have also been able to connect with friends over the projects in this class. I am so grateful that I took this class and I am happy that I can now use what I have learned in my future art classes and for the rest of my life.