Sculpture Final Exam

When working on your art in this course you had a range of choices in each project.  This was the first year Apex’s art department used the “Open Art Room.” Do you feel that this range and choice encouraged you to grow as an artist? Please explain how it did, if not, explain how it in.

I feel the range given to us this year in the art department helped me grow as an artist. With the choice up to us on what we wanted to learn I felt I was able to successfully brush up on and grow in the things I had more desire in learning or felt that I needed work on. Since every single student was different and needed to work on different things I was happy to see that my classmates and I were all learning at out own pace. Last year when we were on a strict schedule and did everything together I felt myself being stuck working on things I had no interest in or did not need to improve on. That had caused art class to sometimes become tiresome and boring because we were not able to show our creative side through the things that we loved. If we had not been able to use this range of choices I think all of our projects would have come out the same and would not have been original at all in order to meet the project requirements. You also had a bit of independent time to use when the kiln fired and I took this as my chance to draw with oil pastels which I'd been really rusty on using, and was able to get to know their techniques better. (The image above is my character Petal-Twirler from Starbound)

Medium: which medium did you most enjoy working with and why? Which medium did you not use but wish you had explored? Include photo.

I enjoyed working with new and hardly used materials. Like materials you wouldn't think of using for most projects, like making cakes out of fabric or cardboard, because it confused people ad gets them to think. It also make you as the artist think hard about how to incorporate it into a piece of artwork people can enjoy. When we did the unconventional materials I threw so many ideas around that it wasn't hard at all to come up with an idea that sparked a great piece. I decided to use the glue bottles given to create eyes and eyelashes. The bristles on the brush used to scoop out the glue were nice and thick which was helpful when I used them for the eyelashes. The best part about using unconventional materials is that when people see what you made with it they don't realize where everything came from at first they just stand in awe of the art, but when they look closer they are even more captivated by the time and thought put into it. I wish I was able to use more metalwork's, such as melting different metals into shapes or bending them with heated hammers, but I sadly was not able to use such a medium.

Do over: If given the opportunity, which project would you do over? Describe why and how you would redo this project. Reasons might include choosing a different theme, using a different medium or creating a different idea completely. Include photo.

If I could re-do one project it would be the first one. The reason I would re-do this project is because when I made the first piece I had completely forgotten how to use clay and was very rusty. If I could redo this project I would have made it bigger because I forget that clay shrinks in the kiln and I had imagined a slightly larger pot. I also would have used a mold to make my pot out of instead of hollowing because although I wanted it to have different thickness in certain areas, I was unable to tell how deep I could cut without cutting through and it made everything a little harder. I would keep the same medium though because the clay was a good choice, for this type of piece but I would like to have spent a while remembering how to use clay. I would have also kept the idea for my piece because I really liked it, except I had a hard time making it come into play. Even though I would re-do it I'm still proud for what I achieved.

What did you find most difficult about this class? This could be anything from gathering materials, to generating projects ideas, to applying a particular technique. What could be done to resolve this issue in the future?

What I found most difficult about this class was getting used to it. Because this class had so much freedom, it became hard to get used to the fact that the teacher wasn't holding your hand through every project and expected you to think and create willingly in school, which is something most art classes don't do. Even though this is one of my most favorite things about Sculpture class I never imagined how hard it would be to just relax and art like I art outside of class. Just like when we made wearable art, everyone had made something wearable but some people use knitting supplies and made scarves or handbags and others made armor. I myself made jewelry since I adore making jewelry, but I had neglected it for a while. I also incorporated a unique set of materials for the jewelry such as buttons, glue and clay. I'm hoping in the future I begin to relax in art class and try to remember that it a place for the relaxed free flowing art I do at home but at school. This way I won't feel so strict and restricted.