Ms. Sudkamp's Final Exam

1.Which project was your most successful? Explain.

Out of all the projects I have done I came to conclusion that this piece was the most successful, my candle holder. The theme was to create a vessel. The process in making this was not too hard. I first got the right amount of clay and formed a thin circle for the base of the candle holder. After I did that I formed a tube big enough for a candle to fit in. After the main outline of the candle was formed I added in the details.The details included cutting out small triangles for the outside of the circle and small round balls on top of the circle. I then left it out to harden and then fired. After it was put in the kiln I then glazed it. Size was definitely beneficial to enhancing this project because I had to make sure that a candle would be able to fit inside of it. I really like how it turned out in the end!

2. Discuss one project where you felt you overcame most obstacles.

I overcame most obstacles on the relief project. Obstacles included trying to create a pretty enough rose and shaping the flowers to make them look realistic. This project took quite a long time to make, maybe 2 or 3 weeks. Cutting out each flower, pedal and stem took a lot of time and patience. The biggest risk I took making this was the blue background. I originally wanted a gray or something along those lines of a light color, but someone suggested that I make the background a bright blue. Taking this risk made me a better artist because I got to explore and experiment out of my comfort zone regardless if the outcome would be successful or not. To me, I think taking this risk was a good idea because I really like the blue background over a gray background.

3. What two pieces show your growth as an artist?

 These two pieces in my opinion show my growth as an artist. I think my application of materials were creative in both projects because in my repetition project I found blocks at my house and covered them with newspaper to have the repeating look of words. In my nature project I found leaves, flowers and twigs to create a clock. My technique and skills in both projects were very precise and neat. I made both pictures look as professional as possible, and that falls under the category of artistic vision because looking at the pictures they are cropped just to the right size and you are able to tell if they are three-dimensional or not.

 
















 4. This semester we introduced a new way of teaching and learning and students had choices in subject matter and materials. Explain how effective this was to you.

I liked how there was a wide variety of materials because it made brainstorming a lot easier for me. There were a lot of materials available for students to use. I also think that blogging your art pieces was a good idea because now anyone can see it and read about the story behind your piece. It gives you and opportunity to express yourself to anyone. I learned that taking professional pictures of your art make it look a lot better than it already does. For example, my nature art project looks really good in the picture, but if you were to just look at it in person you'd get distracted by everything around you and not focused on the clock. So taking a picture and cropping it down just right made it into a better piece.