Required Question: How have you grown as an artist? Reflect on what your portfolio (all work you created through semester) may or may not reveal about the semester. Do you think the work in your portfolio is an accurate reflection of your development in the class? Discuss each piece (the one from the beginning and the project you picked) 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: Over this semester I think I have grown a ton as an artist. At the beginning of this class, I had never worked with clay before. I started off with a basic pinch pot and slowly worked from there. I think when I look at my first piece, my pinch pot, compared to my most recent piece, my sea turtle, I can see how much more detailed and developed my pieces have become. My portfolio shows how I have grown as an artist with materials and how I work with all different kinds to create a sculpture. Before this class I had really only drawn to create art so creating sculptures was completely out of my comfort zone. I think my portfolio is an accurate representation of my development in sculpture because I show all my in progress and ideas on how a piece turned out. My first ever sculpture piece was my pinch pot and it was really hard to make. I had never worked with clay before and I had the hardest time making a little circular bowl. As time as gone on I definitely have improved and a piece that really helped me work with technique and gain skill was my music slab. When I created a slab based off the song "Heat Waves" I knew it had to be creative and different. I tried many new things like adding and subtracting clay. With what I had learned from my pinch pot and my music slab I was able to create my final piece, my sea turtle, with lots of creativity and elements. My pinch pot practice helped me create the body of the turtle and my music slab techniques help me create the textures and the head. All of my projects I have done in some way helped me improve in my later sculpture and I think my portfolio shows that well.
Do over: If given the opportunity, which project would you do over? Describe why and how you would redo this project: If I was given the opportunity to do over a piece, I would pick my altered book. I really love everything I did with this piece but I wish I could have added some more to it. At first, I was super inspired to make create a "journey" through the book because I have been to Peru and wanted to add some insight and personalize it. I had a ton of trouble figuring out where to start and how to use the exacto knife. I felt my cut outs weren't clean enough and it was a mess. I kept getting frustrated and ended up turning the page so I could start new. I wish I planned and mapped out more on where I wanted everything to go before starting. I still love how it ended up with the Amazon River and my personal pictures but wish it had a bit more to it. If I were to redo it, I definitely would plan out better and practice with the exacto knife.
Regardless of whether a project was successful or not, describe the one where you learned, grew, or developed the most from? Please explain: I think the project I grew the most from was my music slab piece. This was my first big piece where I had to use a ton of different techniques. It was my first time adding and subtracting clay to create my designs. I felt super creative with this piece because I based it off of the song "Heat Waves" and I wanted that piece to look like how that song makes me feel. The song is upbeat, makes me think about summer, and overall gives off happy vibes. I knew that with this song being my inspiration I wanted to create a summer time free spirit vibe. I wanted lots of different textures, element, and colors. This piece was a huge step out of my comfort because I usually go for more minimalistic and cohesive designs so adding all these elements to the piece and still making it look like it goes together definitely was a learning opportunity. Everything I practiced and learned from this project helped me a lot in later on pieces.
Which project was your most successful? Why was this project successful? Describe the theme and or topic and the process you went through to complete the project: I find my sea turtle piece my most successful one. This was my last project I made in sculpture class and I think it accurately shows how much progress I have made as an artist. I took lots of time on this piece and started with looking at images of sea turtles and drawing sketches. Once I felt that I was ready and had a good idea of how I wanted the sea turtle to look, I started with the clay. The whole time I was working on the sea turtle whether that was sketching, sculpting, or painting I had many reference images pulled up. This piece shows lots of technique with proportions and textures. I am super proud of how the face turned out and how I created all the features of making more realistic detailed. I also love how I did the legs and added the textures and colors. I had the most fun completing this piece because I felt so inspired and confident. I was confident because all the previous pieces I have done made creating this one much easier. I knew exactly what tool created what texture and was able to use that knowledge to create my vision. I am very happy with how this piece came out and it really shows the vision I had for it.