Final Art Process Reflection

• Identify two works from this school year that you find to be the most successful examples of your creative development. Include image, title, and project for each. 

The two works that I found were my most successful pieces were:

1. Someone Protecting Them Self. (Plaster Sculpture and Clay Moquette)

2. Exploring the Woods. (Ink Drawings and Photographs in Book)

• Explain, using art vocabulary relevant to the project, why these works stand out to you. Also, articulate the development each work illustrates (ie the craft, formal and/or conceptual qualities that you honed in the making of the works). 

Plaster Sculpture: 
     This work stands out to me as a successful work because of all the thought I put into it to simplify the form of the figure. I revised and simplified my figure on paper, as clay, and, finally, as plaster. After focusing on and simplifying the form of the figure, I ended up with a simplified, fluid gesture sculpture.


Book:
     For my book I focused on working with different line qualities. I worked with two different types of drawings: one with a brush and the other with an ink dropper. With both of these I focused on drawing in the dark parts of tree bark in ink, and leaving the lighter parts as negative space. As you can see, the concepts of line quality and shadow were very important aspects to my drawings, and I paid very close attention to these elements of my drawings.

• Identify your least successful work. What did you learn from the experience of making the work? What would you do differently knowing what you know now?

I think that my least successful work was my Texture Sculpture project. In the experience of making this work I learned valuable information about staying focused during class. I had to create lots of different elements to create my sculpture, and I did not use my class time effectively. By not staying focused I ended up with a lot of work to do and not enough time to finish, which led me to rush my work and not pay close attention to detail. This error resulted in a very scrappy looking final product that is not very successful. After learning this valuable lesson I put more focus into our work periods, and my last two projects, the two after my texture collage, are the two that I am most proud of.

• What skills do you consider to be your greatest strengths?

I think that my greatest strength is drawing. Throughout the year we have covered many different mediums, and I have discovered that I am most successful in drawing. Especially during the wintertime, I have honed my drawing skills by drawing in my two sketchbooks (one in class and one at home). From the beginning of the year, when I had no artistic experience to now, to now, I have improved tremendously in all aspects of art, but especially in drawing.

• Evaluate your overall effort in this class. (In what ways did you give it your all? Where could you have improved?)

For the most part, I have put a lot of effort into my classwork. I feel that I always, even if talking to friends, focused on drawing rather than the conversation. In Ms. Seal's words, I always "moved my hand more than my lips". There was one section of one or two days, as I stated above, where I did not focus completely on my artwork and chose to talk to friends instead of working. I definitely learned my lesson when I did that and focused for pretty much the rest of the year. 

• What are you most excited about pursuing in future artistic endeavors?

On looking back at my first year in art, I see the extreme amount of progress I have made. I started this year with no artistic experience, and in one short year I have improved drastically. I am excited to further explore art to see what I am truly capable of with more time dedicated to art. I am planning on taking Intermediate Drawing and Painting next year, and I am looking forward to learning more about painting, as well as pushing my drawing to another level.

• How might skills you've developed in this class impact your learning and process beyond the art studio?

In this class I have learned to be careful. When drawing or chipping away at a sculpture, you have to go slow and work carefully. This act of slowing down applies to many situations in everyday life, you have to go slow and live in the moment, a concept that I think about on a daily basis. By slowing down you begin to love what you have, which makes you a happier person.

 For my book I chose for my theme to be trees, and, specifically, tree bark. In my drawings I have drawn in the shadows and dark areas of the tree bark, which leave the areas of the bark that catch light as negative space.  In my photographs I believe that I showed the form of the landscapes well by strategically capturing textured foregrounds, which adds a layering effect and a third dimension to the photographs. The line quality in some of my drawings are very specific, and one is able to tell that lots of attention was put into the detail of the drawings.

Plaster Sculpture Reflection

How did you come to consider the idea or concept of “Metamorphosis” through your work in this project?  How does your work physically address that insight?

I think that my sculpture has changed and grown throughout this project. It has changed from a figure to an abstract sketch to a clay sculpture to a plaster sculpture. Through this transition I feel that my sculpture has changed to portray the motion more thoroughly. I was tying to show the viewer the tension in the arm protecting the figure, and how it cringed away from something above. I think that I did a good job in showing the movement.

How did you push yourself to gain a better understanding of the physical properties of the plaster?  In what ways to you come to better control the various tools you employed?

Throughout the plaster carving process I learned a lot of helpful information on what to use each tool for, mostly through trial and error. I had to closely watch what kind of texture each tool made on the plaster, and use these attributes for the better. I also learned how plaster crumbles and how to carve the plaster without causing damage to the final product. Overall this project was a large learning experience for me.

In what ways did your intentions change over the course of your project?  What opportunities or occurrences led to these changes?


 At the beginning of the plaster carving process, I planned on making a removable head similar to that of my clay sculpture. While working with plaster I realized that making this sphere would be nearly impossible. After learning of the physical characteristics of plaster I had to change my sculpture to make it work. I am content with the changes, and am glad because I have different sculptures between my clay and plaster sculpture.




Given what you know now about the material, how might you have changed your concept or approach to working?


Now that I know about plaster, I may have not have originally planned on making a removable head. Luckily before I made irreversible changes I contemplated the shape of my sculpture and decided against the head. After completing this project I realize that I have learned a lot about working with many different materials, and which tools to use for any given situation.

In Process Reflection

Someone Protecting Themself

I am working on showing the shape of the figure, the action is very natural and instinctual, so I am trying to portray this action as a fluid shape.

Degree of Exploration

How well do your drawings capture the gesture of the figure? 

     I think that my drawings capture the gesture of the figure well, as there is a clear sense of movement in the drawing that represents the models motion well. 

How thoroughly did you explore the process of simplifying and “abstracting” the gestures in order to best capture your intended form?

     The simplification started with my original sketches, in which I tried to just cut down the human form into very few lines, linking many limbs and body parts into one, flowing line. This simplified the figure into the key lines that I based my later sketches around. In my later sketches and diagrams of my sculpture I made these lines three dimensional, creating a simple, abstract clay moquette.

In what ways have your intentions change over the course of your project so far?  What opportunities or occurrences led to these changes?

     Originally, with my first motion drawings, I tried to simplify the models motion into the key lines of the figure. Once I had to make my figures three dimensional I could not have a stick figure, and thus i had to have some changes which included making lines into thicker, blobs of clay. This was the main transformation that I have encountered so far, and I am expecting to encounter even more transformations as I switch medium again, to plaster.

Motion Drawings

Value Final Post

I felt more comfortable in the drawing medium, as I could create and change the drawing as I went on. this is the opposite in the darkroom, as you cannot see your prints until you develop them, which makes it so you cannot change your prints and you have to start a new print rather than change the thing you are working on. I think that I was more in control of how the craft turned out with drawing, as I had the drawing in front of me as I worked rather than a blank piece of photo paper. Overall I think that I was able to express myself better through the drawing than the prints.

To better improve both my experience and my results in the darkroom I will take better, more in focus pictures originally, which will help provide me with a wide variety of good, in focus pictures.I am very happy with my drawing experience and results, which is why I enjoyed the drawing portion of this project much more than the darkroom portion of the project

1. To develop craft with this assignment I started by taking pictures using a manual camera. We had these photos developed at a developing store. We used these developed pictures in the darkroom using the enlargers to transfer the photos to paper. With the paper we used chemicals to develop the photos, which gave us our final product.

2. The materials that I used in my process so far was a roll of film, a manual camera, an enlarger, photo paper, and chemicals. Some of the methods and tricks I have used have been to wave my hand in front of the picture, to move the photo paper mid print, and to test all of my prints on small test strips.

3. One problem I have encountered in my creation of this project was that many of the pictures that I took were taken out of focus, which turned out in out of focus final prints.

4. I solved this problem by sorting through my photos and finding a couple that were taken in focus or had portions of the picture that were in focus.

Value Drawing

1. To develop craft with this assignment I started out by using a light pencil and making outlines of the objects in the drawing. After drawing the external lines I focused on the internal lines, making all of the contour lines look exactly as I saw them. After completing the contour lines I started to focus on the value of the objects, and I am still in the process of portraying the object's values.

2. So far in the project the tools I have used are a 6B, 2B, HB, and 2H pencil and a drawing board. The main method I used with the shading of my drawing so far (I have only just begun shading) was smearing the graphite with my pencil.

3. I had a little trouble with the scale of the objects, and having everything be to scale in the drawing.

4. I solved this problem, with the help of Mr. O, by looking more deeply into the shaped and sizes of the objects in context to the other objects.

Texture Sculpture Project

Texture Sculpture Reflection

Throughout this project I worked hard to bring together a collection of different, interesting, and exciting textures. In my sculpture I had three main textures which I created out of wood, wire, sand, and plaster. I focused on keeping clear lines, and putting all of my attention towards texture rather than colors, which meant that I would have to make my entire sculpture one color, a variation of white, black, and mostly gray. I wanted to immerse myself in texture, which is why I experimented with many different mediums of creating texture and In the preparation of creating my sculpture I immediately knew what i wanted to do to create texture, and, although it was an extreme amount of work, I worked through it and came out with a sculpture that clearly shows experimentation with texture. Throughout the entire texture project I have learned to look closer at things and to imagine the texture of something when I look at it. I worked hard throughout this entire unit to get down to the bare texture of something, and showing the simplicity and intricacy of different textures. In my process of collaging I made many efforts to organize the collection of texture on paper, to see what these textures would look like interacting together later in a sculpture. i designed my sculpture around my photoshop collage, which I worked on for a long time to perfect the placement of each texture, and each textures interaction with other textures. I believe that all of my final product collages were free of technical difficulties, and that they were all fairly easy to create. The main difficulty that I encountered with my final product was that at the beginning I put too much work on my plate. I planned to drill large holes in wood, to create a net of wire, to plaster, and to make a sandpaper texture out of sand and paint. Although it was an extreme amount of work, I succeeded and finished all the aspects of my project on time. Overall, I am proud of my work throughout this unit and successfully attempted to portray texture in many ways.