Advanced Art & Design

Final Reflection

As the year progressed, I improved my work in a few ways. Through my sustained investigation, I was able to explore a theme that was genuinely meaningful to me: the emotional connection between people, memory, and place. At the start of the year, I created a concept map that laid out ideas around nature and environment, people and interactions, sports and athletics, emotions, and family. Rather than choosing one of those ideas, I combined them into one broader theme that could incorporate all of those ideas together. Over the course of the year, I worked to explore that theme in different ways, sometimes more literally or more abstractly.

My artwork shows my strengths and weaknesses as a learner. One of my strengths this year was my willingness to try different mediums. I worked in acrylic, oil pastel, watercolor, collage, colored pencil, charcoal, and linoleum printmaking, and I tried to make intentional choices about which medium fit the piece. I also revised a piece, going back to Dandelions, and reworking it was a good reminder that a piece doesn't have to stay the way it started. I think experimentation was honestly one of my stronger areas this year, but it's also something I want to keep pushing. I still tend to lean toward realism and capturing a scene accurately, and I'd like to become more expressive and take bigger risks. My weaknesses showed up, as well. Time management is something I struggled with at times. Art takes a lot of hours, and I didn't always give a piece the time it needed. Some pieces felt rushed, and I can tell when I look at them. Payette Lake is an example of that, a piece capturing a lake in Idaho where I spent a lot of time with my cousins growing up, but I didn't give it the time it deserved. The idea behind it was to capture the calm, serene feeling I connect with that place rather than exactly how it looked, and I think that came through to some extent, but I wish I had spent more time on it.

Some of the most challenging pieces this year were the more realistic ones. These took the most time and commitment, but they were also the most enjoyable to make. Two of my favorites were Favorite Destination, a nighttime painting of Flatbread from the water, and Valley, my linoleum print. Favorite Destination pushed me to work with reflected light and contrast in a way I hadn't really tried before, and Valley was a totally different technique of linoleum printing. I loved working with light, contrast, and perspective across a lot of pieces this year.

Looking back at this year, I'm proud of the work I've done and the growth that's in it. I'm excited to keep making art over the summer and into college at Middlebury, where I hope to continue exploring ideas and materials.