Art 2 Final Portfolio

1.      Which project was your most successful? Describe the theme and or topic and the process you went through to complete the project. Were the choices you made regarding material, size, technique, etc beneficial to enhancing this project. Please explain.

I believe the project that was my most successful due to the way the piece looked overall and how it was made. The theme was to do an nontraditional  portrait of a loved one and I chose to do my two brothers, my step-brother, and myself. In the beginning I was going to do the portrait with checker pieces or chess pieces with paperclips only being an after thought. But as the planning got more thought out about all the lines that I wanted to use and needed I started to lean more towards paperclips. I chose them because they could give me the curved and straight lines that I desired more than any other object could have. But right away I realized that it was not the case because this project was so hard to complete cause paperclips do not cooperate at all. Getting all the lines I needed was incredibly difficult but in the end I believe the weeks of getting stabbed and poked was worth it. The project turned out nice and my family loved it and is now hanging on my step-moms wall.

 

2.    Discuss one project where you felt you overcame the most obstacles. What were those obstacles and how to work through them? Explain how taking risks or challenging yourself made you a better artist.

 My book carving project was probably my most difficult next to my nontraditional. This project posed quite a few problems starting from beginning to the end with finding the correct book and getting the design to be right. For the inside of the book I kept continuing to mess up and rip quite a few pages while cutting with the exacto knife. Then came when I tried to glue the pages together and ended up bending half of the book and having to tear out about twenty pages just to make it smoother when it closed. And then I messed up continuously with my coloring and had to paint the entire book black just to start over. Throughout this project I felt like there was really no end to my problems and like I really couldn't fix them without completely starting over. But in the end I think the obstacles made me that much more determined to complete the book and defeat all my obstacles by making the book know who was boss. By painting it black I was able to paint the details white and give the actual design true character I think.

3.    Look at your body of work over the semester and choose 2 pieces that show your growth as an artist. Discuss each piece and how you grew in the following areas: application of materials, techniques and skills, artistic vision, use of the principles and elements, creativity, intuition and subject matter.  

The project on the left is my what's the point project, also my first project, and the one on the right is my sticky situation project. In my first project I think it was a bit more lifeless and didn't really show all that my art skill could offer. Only using square shapes and having value but none that really brought out the contrasting that this project required.  But in my circles I think it showed some potential that I could have had given me doing a better topic to chose instead of exclamation points. In my sticky situation project I used paint which isn't my favorite medium but I know that I'm decent at using it from art 1. It showed how I grew in the department of shading and some perspective, and also highlights. In this project I believe I grew in the amount of creativity I showed with all the different colors and how different the idea was. This artwork was difficult to complete but I believe turned out well and showed growth from my other project.

 

4.    This semester we introduced a new way of teaching and learning. Students had choices in subject matter and materials. Explain your thoughts on how effective this was (or if it was not) to your learning experience in this course. Provide examples through your art projects so we can see evidence of your learning.

 I believe that learning this way was much better than being told exactly what to do and use. Being able to chose my own materials helped me learn as an artist by what mediums and materials worked well together and which ones did not. Like in my amusement project the medium I used did not work with the gel medium and tissue paper because it made the paper curl in on itself. By having this happen to me I was able to avoid using these materials together in future artwork pieces. 

Also being able to chose my own materials and have my own ideas really helped my creativity like in my painting, nontraditional, and book carving. They really brought out new ideas, and new horizons for the way that I view art and how it can be made. By letting me think about the best way to challenge myself and how I could extend my capabilities to the next level then from what I had previously done before. Doing all of this was very new to me and helped me rediscover why I really do enjoy art in the first place and that is to be creative and make something for others to enjoy.