Ms. Sudkamp Final Project

I made this candle holder in the middle of the year unfinished and I thought that for my final project I'd finish it and not put it to waste! This was originally for the vessel project but I made two candle holders instead of one. This was an extra one I made. The process in making this was pretty simple. I cut three even circles of clay and placed them unevenly on top of each other to give a unique look to it. I also added small round balls on the corners of each circle as well.  I like how its just a simple looking candle holder because I think it could look good in any room and not stand out too much.

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.

Mr. Sands Art 3 Final Portfolio

1.Which project was your most successful? Please explain.

I would have to say that the intertextuality project was my most successful because I think that I did a fantastic job cutting out stencils which made the whole piece look fantastic. It took me quite a while to complete the steps in making this though. I first had to trace the stencils. By doing that I had to separately put a filter on the one hundred dollar bill and the Barbie picture in order for me to trace it. After that was done I placed a huge sheet of paper onto the white board and projected the pictures up on for me to trace. That was the easiest step. After that was done I began to cut out the stencils that I traced which was a very confusing process for me, but it all worked out okay. When all the stencils were cut out I found a large enough poster board for me to spray paint on. I messed around with different colors and ended up liking this one the best. I'd have to say making this was definitely beneficial to me because I had good practice with cutting out stencils which really helped me later on through out the year.

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

I for sure overcame the most obstacles working on the time project. I honestly can say I do not like this project so much. It's well done and neat, but there's just something about it that bothers me. There needs to be more to it in my opinion. I re-did this at least 2 times doing different techniques until I ended up with this. I tried watercolor and acrylic paint from what I can remember. Though, this does shows me taking risks even if I ended up not liking how they turned out. I can say that it did make me into a better artist. I explored different techniques until I found that making a collage for this project was the one best for me.

3. What are 2 pieces of work that show your growth as an artist? Discuss.

Looking through my art I found that these two pieces show my growth through out the year all together as an artist. In the layers project I can say that I have had lots of practice cutting out stencils. Cutting out two layers of Styrofoam for each letter sure took a lot of time. To make the background I took a pillow case and cut it open so it could be one huge sheet that I could tye dye. In my artistic vision I am in love with the tye dye background and quote. When you read the quote you can understand the meaning of the piece more. "I feel most colored when I am thrown against a white background", meaning at first the background was white until I added the tye dye which was where I felt most colored at. I also grew as an artist making the perspective project. I grew in perfecting lines to make the picture look proportional as well as shading. In my artistic vision and hopefully everyone else, I can see the proportions of the building. Materials that I used were obviously drawing pencils, and to add something different to it I used tissue paper for the sky and road.

4. This semester we were introduced to a new way of teaching and learning. Explain your thoughts on how effective this was to your learning experience in this course. Provide examples through your art.

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've learned that sticking with an idea you really like despite anyone else's opinion can turn out better than expected in the end. For example, my layers project. I had an idea that Mr. Sands was not too fond about but I stuck with it and he ended up really liking it in the end.

Marble Drop project. I worked on this project with Lizzie and Emma. After brainstorming a few ideas we all came up with the idea "Winter Wonderland". I like how the marble starts by dropping through the snowman, through the clouds and down the Christmas tree. It took a while to get it all to work out, but in the end the marble drop worked 95% of the time. My favorite part of this project is the snowy sky. We lightly sprayed white spray paint on top of blue paint to make it look like it was snowing. I also like how we hid the cardboard in the sky with cotton balls made into clouds  to make it look more realistic, just so that you can't see cardboard in the sky. The only thing I would change about it is to make the snowman at the top smaller and maybe make the box bigger so everything would fit better. I think overall the project turned out pretty well.

Perspective project. I chose to draw perspective over taking a picture of perspective because drawing is something that I find more fun to do. I searched the internet for ideas and I came across this. To change up the idea a little bit I added color to the background. I tried to make the sky look like it was fading from a dark blue to a light blue by using tissue paper. I also used tissue paper for the road. The tissue paper I used for the road was originally white, so I added just a little bit of black to the glue. That is what gave it the grey look. I definitely think adding tissue paper to the background added a lot to the project overall. To me, the dark blue tissue paper at the top of the building helps it pop out. I really like how this turned out and I would love to improve my perspective drawing skills for sure.

Layers project

Repetition project. I thought of this idea after I was looking around my house for supplies. I found these blocks and figured out an idea. I thought it would be cool to cover them in newspaper to have this repeating look of words covering the blocks. I experimented ways on how to stack the blocks after I glued the newspaper to them. It ended up having a pyramid-like look to it. To add more meaning to the project I highlighted my favorite words on the blocks like "strong", "blaming", and "goal". This project is definitely something different than what I'm used to making and I'm happy with the way it turned out!