Final Art Reflection

 1. I believe that my two most successful works from this school year have been my texture sculpture and my gesture sculpture. My texture sculpture included rocks, toothpicks, feathers and cloth glued onto a wooden board, and my gesture sculpture was made out of hardened plaster.

2. My texture sculpture stands out to me because I think that I did a good job of conveying texture to the viewer. As opposed to my drawing of textures, I think that this sculpture did a nice job of separating the textures from the objects that they are attached to, so that when the viewer sees the sculpture, the eye and brain are drawn not to the actual object that was glued down to the board, but to the textures contained in the objects. This was really the goal of the project--create a sculpture that highlights textures, not objects--and I think that I achieved this goal, which is why I think it was such a successful work for me. I especially think that I grew in my capacity to envision and express in this project, because in order for my sculpture to be successful I had to first envision what I wanted the outcome to be, and I had to figure out a way to express my vision to others via the materials I was given. For my gesture sculpture, I think that it was very successful, because I captured the gesture of the figure, but did not focus so much on the human figure itself. I spent a while trying to think of a way to create a sculpture that exemplified a specific gesture more than a general figure, and had to practice the "engage and persist" habit of mind in order to finally reach my goal and come up with this design.

3. I think that my least successful work was my texture collages. I really struggled with how to express textures through a digital medium, and it was hard for me to find a way to be successful with that. However, by doing other projects with texture (like the sculptures), I was able to learn from my mistakes with the digital form, and I think that I would be able to do a better job now. 

4. I think that expressing and envisioning are my greatest strengths. It comes pretty naturally to me to visualize how I want a piece of art to turn out, and then I have to use my skills of expression in order to make that vision come to life on the canvas, in the photo, etc. They kind of go hand in hand, because without one you cannot really go anywhere with the other. 

5. I think that I definitely gave it my all in most areas of this class--I have always loved art, and it's really fun for me and a nice way to relax sometimes. I have always tried my best with the given assignments, and done whatever I can to meet my goals. I know that sometimes I can get distracted in the classroom, but I am working on that and I think that I have improved.

6. I'm just excited to continue art class next year––I know that there are many schools without an art program available, and I feel extremely lucky to have such excellent resources at my fingertips. I look forward to continuing my passion for art, and also to receiving constructive criticism so that I can improve in my artistic abilities.

7. The skills that I have developed in the studio can definitely help me in places that are not specifically art class--just having the creative side of my brain stimulated regularly helps me concentrate in my classes, and I really enjoy having a creative outlet as a break from academic classes, which I can sometimes become stressed out over. Participating in art also allows me to have a more expansive understanding of how concepts relate to each other, and I can compare more abstract things that I otherwise could not.

 In this project, I focused a lot on trying to capture the best perspective on a landscape, so that the viewer could really imagine what it would be like to stand where I was and view the scene with their own eyes. When I was drawing the landscape pictures with black ink, I focused on trying to use line and form to convey the feeling of the setting on paper. I found it to be harder than I thought it would be to get everything necessary into the image, but eventually I got the hang of it and I found that I actually really enjoyed it. I did have some trouble sometimes with remembering to draw the foreground first and then the background, so I sometimes ended up with an out-of-place line going through a tree which was supposed to be a part of the hill behind it. However, I usually found a way to incorporate it into the drawing and make it look intentional, which was a skill that I learned and was able to develop through this project. For the photographs, I liked the idea of a definitive foreground and background in an image, so I took pictures where the foreground and backgrounds contrasted nicely with each other. In the first photo of the book, the foreground is the plant growing out of the rock. I liked this because the plant is very slim and slender, but it still stands out because it is in front of everything else in the picture. In the second photo, I tried to contrast the two ends of a trail visible through the lens, although I don't think that this one was as successful as the first one. Overall, I really enjoyed this project and I learned a lot about the value of line and form in a landscape.