I began to show an interest in art in middle school it was mostly out of boredom but I found a sort of solace in drawing and it began to become a growing interest of mine. since being in high school I've taken at least one art related class each year freshman year it was drawing and painting sophomore I took digital art and animation as well as ceramic arts and for junior and senior year I have taken ceramic arts. currently i like to do digital art with a tablet I bought whether that be sketching or animation as well as pottery both decorative and functional. art classes through the years have taught me many things such as planning and perseverance  this will help me in the future because I will have the skills needed to go into things prepared and how to handle things if anything goes wrong.

After deciding on the BLM movement for my topic i sketched out what my project was going to look like into my tablet.  After that i rolled out two slabs of already wedged clay. Then i cut the two slabs in the shape of my hand so i can have a base for the palm and for the back of the hand. From there i started making each finger individually by cutting clay in the shape of my fingers and slab building to add depth. After i finished making each finger i added them to the base i had made and  added knuckles. once i finished that i  attached it to a forearm base i made  by slipping and scoring and adding a coil for some extra reinforcement. And while it was drying i made a cuff from some left over clay that would be connected to my  project later after they were both done. After letting it dry for a bit i carved out some details like wrinkles and palm lines. Then i let dry fully so it could be fired. After it came out of the kiln i had to smooth it out with sandpaper and also reattach a piece that broke off in the initial firing so after i had sanded it and washed it i had to paint the entire thing while avoiding the broken part and after i had done that i had to put in glaze on the broken part then attach it quickly and apply some pressure to it  when i finished with the fist i focused on the cuff and by using a combination of applying uneven patches on top of the first layers and using water i was able to give the cuff a rusting effect. And finally after the second firing i used a cahin i hand made to attach the cuff the hand.

The topic my piece covers is the BLM movement. I chose this topic because it is something that started up back in 2020 with the murder of George Floyd and it's still going on, the problems people are protesting against are still going on even as recently as October 2022 when a 15-year-old boy Jaheim McMillan became a victim to the police and lost his life and to this day as of January 2023 the case has been left with everybody wanting us to forget another victim without justice but people are protesting and they keep talking about it, to not forget and to put pressure so that we can get justice and find out what happened or even the case of Breonna Taylor who lost her life in her own home and these are just some of the more notable cases that got attention there are many more that this movement was made for, to fight for the justice of these people and to fight the injustice that caused these people their lives and it seems like more and more people are just forgetting about it and that’s why I chose this topic to remind people that these problems are still going on and that this movement is still going. I want people to know that these are issues still going on in America. I chose to make my design the BLM fist holding a chain connected to a cuff that may be broken but that it still holds onto it as a reminder of the prejudice that we as a country have “abandoned” as a reminder of what the movement is about, to fight the injustice that people of color face. One thing I want to say is to be aware and pay attention to the news from multiple from multiple sides, the ones that agree with you but the ones that don’t too, and finally to not take things at face value and do research beyond what is told to you.  

In the future there is not much I want to change as I dedicated a lot of time to it, I thought out my next steps thoroughly, I asked for help and advice from someone to get another perspective that being said there is still some stuff that I would like to change such as rushing myself even though I thought out my next steps carefully I still rushed a bit and that shows with that fact that after it was fired a piece on the back had broken because I didn't slip and score that part properly not to mention that I should've taken my time when smoothing it out as there are still some rough patches and bumps on the final piece.