as long as I've known art, I've been interested in it. But my mother and I really began to invest within myself and my passion for art in my early years in school when my mom would take me to get little stuff like colored pencils and my very own sketchbooks to really be able to express myself. I would soon within this time start taking an actual art class where I would be able to actually explore art outside of drawing in a sketchbook, Later in my high school career I chose to be in the Media Arts and Design academy where I was really given the opportunity to get into the kinds of art I've always wanted like ceramics, jewelry, and fiber arts, etc.  I enjoy making cartoon style art the most.

First I planned the project by sketching it out.  Then, I started to wedge the clay that I would need for my project. Wedging the clay helps mix the clay to make sure there are no air bubbles in it and that the clay s prepped. After that, I rolled a slab and cut out an oval to create the base for my project. After that, I began to use a pin tool to sketch A overall look of how and where I would like to add my attachments. From there, I would roll out another slab and begin to cut out the organic shapes I would need for my lips ad tongue. After that, I would slip and score the surface to add my attachments. From this point,  I would move on to how wanted my teeth and how I would like the brick pattern on the tongue to look. At this point, I would cut a person out of clay from previously, slip and score the person to the tongue, and carve words into that very brick pattern. In the end, I do a roll of clay to make a border around my project, slip and score it, then attach it. At this point, I left my project out to dry out before wetting and leaving it to dry once again. I was then done with the main parts and moved on to choosing the colors I wanted to glaze with to go with the color scheme I had pictured for my project. Now I am completely done and waiting for my piece to be fired 

My artwork is overall about the problems we have had to face since the pandemic hit. I chose this topic because the world has changed since then, and I wanted to bring light to these subjects. I chose to do a mouth because it feels like all we have talked about since 2020 was the negatives. I chose to add a person and a brick wall on the tongue because I wanted it to symbolize how we can overcome these. My project reaches out to everyone as a whole to connect one another on what we all faced and took on during covid. When people look at my piece I want people to make their own connections with it. Still, I want people to look at my work and see themselves in it and be able to see someone climbing over something regardless if it’s about covid or not, especially being most people at this time never thought they could overcome the things that held them back.

From my art classes overall I have learned not only the process of planning and how important it can be but also learned how important it can be to take your time, enjoy yourself and not be so hard on yourself when you make mistakes because In most art you get to watch a mistake turn into unintentional beauty, and to not give up when things may not be going or be as easy as u wanted it to be. The skills I’ve learned in my art classes help me go into the real world by giving me a chance to see things in more of a positive light instead of being judge mental or dwelling on what’s wrong but instead focusing on the positive, how I can do better given a chance to do so and reflecting on situations and what I learned from them. After graduation, I don't have the clearest idea of what I want to do after graduation but I know my desire for art and love for it won't change because art has always been a part of my life and always will be regardless of where life takes me.

The only thing I would change about my project for the future would be my glazing in complete honesty because I am happy with everything but I know I could have done better and I will with more practice with glazing.