Elevated Bowl

1. Manipulation of materials
I think I would get a B+ on manipulation of materials because I think that I have good form on the bowl of itself. This was my first time using clay since the first grade so I like how I kept the bowl mostly raw and I think it has good movement to it. I think the stand could use a little work though. I think its missing something or just feels a little empty but I can't put my finger on it. I like how there is just a little touch of the glaze though to keep the piece interesting.

3D Concentration

1. Negative plaster forms.

Plaster forms with a focus on negative space

2. Ceramic bowls with plaster
I would try to do a lot of contrast with the glaze and the plaster

3. Micro science and art
I would specifically focus on micro science - so cells and organelles but then going even more and more micro so bacteria, viruses, molecules

4. I wish
Go around and ask people what their greatest wishes are and make them abstractly.

5. Cards and movement

Head Piece

Manipulation: I think I did okay with the manipulation of materials. I mixed media which I never do so it was a good and new challenge for me. With the reed, I had to learn how to work with it because I never had before. To make the spiral things, I got the reed wet and then wrapped it around glue sticks and tapped it at the ends to make the twisting stick. I let it dry, removed the tape and then glued them on. That was a new challenge for me but I liked it. In terms of the cards, I think the fact that I cut them into
rectangles kind of made them look like shards so it gave it new dimension. I also think it was good how I mixed using the face of the card and the back of the card.

Paige's Feedback:
-done with consideration of the cards
-has a lot of movement

Nat's feedback:
-didn't bend but got a curve -> clean and neat
-likes the spirally things


Problem Solving: At the beginning of the project, I had some sort of crown assembled from the AP art retreat so I knew that I should probably try to work off of it because it was already started. A big concern of mine however was that the crown wouldn't look interesting. If it was too symmetrical, then I thought it would look boring. So I talked to you and we talking about exaggerating one side. As I built up one side, I thought it was still missing something. The cards were blending in too much with one another. So I looked around the room and saw that a lot of people were using the reed. I thought it would be good to incorporate the reed because it would add another texture and help with the exaggeration

Sam's Feedback:
-likes the spiraling up
-asymmetrical looks good
-looks interesting
-good negative space

Nat's Feedback:
-made a cool headpiece
-did cards in a unique way
-addition of reed adds a different and good vibe
-good comp.

Bug Hybrid

Manipulation: I genuinely have no idea where I land in terms of manipulation. I really struggled with this material. I think that its very clear that it is made of wire and I didn't really try to hide that. I think if I had more time and more patience, I would have used the mesh some more because I like the look of the mesh and the extra texture. I do think that is something that I did well was manipulating wire to so that It had different textures from my peers around me.


Problem solving: I ran into a couple of difficulties because I did this at home over break. For example I didn't have any mesh so I had to get a bit creative to make the body have some sort of depth and shape to it. I took the wire that I had at home and I wrapped it around my hands so that I got a rounded shape and then wrapped it in different directions so that it looked like a full body. Also I did ditch my virus original wire so this was basically the product of an attempt to problem solve.

Paper Form

Manipulation: I feel like it would be a B. I mean I know this isn't fantastic. I think the fact though that tried to play with texture in shredding the paper demonstrated my attempt at manipulating. Overall though I feel like it's short of something but I don't know what. I feel like I could have challenged paper a bit more. Maybe before April I'll go back and add some detail when im not so close to it. I think that's the problem, I'm too close to it right now and so I can't see those easy fixes that I think my paper form needs.

Problem Solving: I think for problem solving I'm at a B+. I tried to figure out different ways to get the paper to burn in a way that I like it but I couldn't get it down. I tried balling paper and burning. I tried balling paper, glueing the shredded paper and burning. I then glued shredded paper and burned it. I liked the way that it burned but I realized that it could be aesthetically pleasing to photograph the paper burning because it goes with my concept better.

Cardboard

Over all I'm pretty happy with this piece because I think I was creative with my problem solving. I used balloons and rubber gloves to create the shape that I needed. I went into this pretty scared because cardboard is so stiff but I realized that i just needed to manipulate the materials I had to work for me. I knew going in that it wouldn't for me to try to make something that looked geometric because I would have become too crazy trying to measure each individual piece of cardboard but I was also scared that my piece would look really messy so I think that this was a good place in the middle. If I had to change something about it, I think I would have made the fingers a bit cleaner and longer but it was hard to control both the shape and the length when I was relaying on gloves.

Concentration 9 & 10

I was pleasantly surprised by this unit. I actually liked doing the plaster forms. I'm particularly happy with my first piece - the one where I injected red die on a condom filled with water and then put it inside a condom filled with plaster. I also like the red rim - I think it gives some dimension. I'm a little disappointed that the second one broke but I think its okay.

Intro to AP3D

My AP3D Goal:
I think my main goal for AP3D would be to remain calm. I'm pretty nervous about taking it just because I haven't worked in 3D since middle school so I really don't know if I will be good at it or if I like it. I think I have to adopt the mindset that things will go wrong when I create 3D art and that its just part of the process.

My personal goal:
I think this year everything is about balance. I feel like I am being pulled in a million different directions between school, family, and friends and so I have to find a way to fit it all in while making sure I have some non stress time to myself so I don't crash and burn (which I know will happen inevitability but I want to reduce the amount of times it happens). But I figured the way that I will remain sane is by making sure I have at least one night in alone on the weekend so if I want to I could watch a movie by myself or get work done that I'm feeling extra stressed about.


What is art?
Art for me is the purest form of letting yourself be completely vulnerable with creativity.

What is form?
The form of a work is its shape, including its volume or perceived volume. A three-dimensional artwork has depth as well as width and height. Three-dimensional form is the basis of sculpture.

There are some other terms commonly used to describe form and shape in composition; these have to do with what kind of representations the forms have. If we can recognize every day objects and environments, we refer to the images as being realistic, or naturalistic. However, if the images are difficult or impossible to identify in terms of our normal, daily visual experience, we may refer to the images as abstract.

Form and shape can also be described as either organic or geometric. Organic forms such as these snow-covered boulders typically are irregular in outline, and often asymmetrical. Organic forms are most often thought of as naturally occurring.

Museum Art Gallery Visit 3

While we were in Williamstown we also went to the MASS MoCA, a small kind of hipster, modern museum hidden in an old building. My mom and I went there just thinking we would check a Museum art gallery visit off the list - little did I know this exhibit would end up being so incredibly helpful. What we didn't know going in was that most of the museum was filled with 3D pieces, leaving me with many take aways.

The first thing that I noticed was that the lighting of the rooms really changed the interpretation of the art pieces. If you look at these photos, you can see that there is some sense of electricity. I feel like if the art gallery people lit the room normally, we would loose that sense of energy. It was almost like the whole room was a art piece itself. It was really a full body experience which I thought was really cool.

Another take away was the use of movement could take a piece from being interesting to downright terrifying. As you can see in the video, there was a table set up with little mundane objects. Alone the piece would have been fine. However, above the table was a robotic bird flying around in circles over your head. It made it feel like you were in some sort of nightmare as the music was also selectively picked to fit the intensity of the piece. It was probably one of my favorite parts of the entire museum as the flying crow almost commanded you to pay attention to it.


My last take away was that deceiving the eye can be one of your most powerful tools. Some of the first art pieces I had seen looked like just normal objects with nothing interesting about them. But then you would read the description and see that the deflated basketball was actually made of glass or that the rubber bands were also made of glass. It was so interesting because the artist got the texture completely right and you would have no idea unless you looked closer.

Another way one artist would trick your eye was by these really interesting drawings. They were drawn on bent glass but it looked like they were just drawn on a normal canvas. I realized that it must take so much talent and patience to do one of those pieces but they were some of my favorite in the gallery.

Museum Art Gallery 2

When I was visiting Williams College this summer for my mom's 30th reunion, one of her former classmates rented out the Clark Museum just for her class. The Clark Museum had just put up a new exhibit which featured nude painting from various eras in Europe. As I strolled through this intense exhibit with some of the most brilliant and education human beings in the entire world, I ended up having some very interesting conversations. Unfortunately, they didn't allow me to take photos.

I was talking to one of my mom's close friend Jen about how the depiction of women have changed in from then to now. For me personally it was very interesting comparing these two times. Today, within the click of a series of buttons, I could send a nude image to over 100 boys in my contacts. However back then (sorry don't remember the dates), men had to travel to private rooms where these erotic images were stored. It was a cultural taboo to go to these "art brothels" but today it can become almost like a competition to see who can get girls to send the most nudes.

This striking contrast has circled through my mind throughout my summer, even though it has been over a month since I was there.

I think what was also interesting about this exhibit was that the focus was on the theme rather than the aesthetic of the art itself. Of course, it was an art gallery like there is going to be focus on the art but when the guides were taking us through they really wanted us to look at the big picture. If you asked me what medium most of the pieces were in - I couldn't tell you. But I think that represents a bigger point. Art can be examined and different levels. It just depends how far we want to zoom out.

Overall, my trip to the Clark Museum was a fantastic experience.

concentration 9

concentration 10

Museum Art Gallery 4

1. I think this kid is going to be an art student. First of all this kid - is only in the third grade. They are able to think conceptually on a much higher than any of the other kids that I saw - like wow. Secondly, I can recognize that they drew a bird and the ideas and the concept behind their idea. I'm impressed.

2. On a relative scale, the art produced in our SAS art room is very very very good.
I'm going to be honest when i say that I never really feel like my art is very good - there are a couple of pieces that I like but other than that I don't like a lot of my art work. Seeing these kids' art work made me realize just how talented the people around me are. Of course, these are 8 year olds but still, I think we take our talent for granted.

3. My favorite are pieces came from the kids who didn't over do it. I think I sometimes overthink my artwork and then I make them complicated but really I think when I make art, I should internally simplify whatever I was going to create and then work off of the rudimentary idea.

Museum Art Gallery 1 and Synesthesia

Last week, my grandfather's art work went up in the Cascadia Art Museum in Seattle. I was flooded with photos and videos of the exhibit and quickly realized something incredible.

Your mind is about to be blown.

Ready?

I think my grandfather had synesthesia.

As I was looking at the images of his painting - they felt very familiar. Something about the movement of the colors in his pieces, the way the that colors interact with one another - it was like he had painted what I see in my mind. Of course, its not exactly what I see in my mind but the way that the colors are layered feel identical to what I see when I hear music.

This piece on the right looks like a Foster the People song, Houdini. The colors are similar to different parts in the song - when I saw this image my mind automatically responded by recalling this song.

What's also interesting is that he got it "right". In the past, I've tried drawing or painting what I see when I listen to music, but it never looked right to me. I think its because I was drawing it how I would draw a something if I had a tangible image to reference to - rather than looking at it like one big concept. I asked my dad how my grandfather would paint, because my grandfather passed away years ago, and my dad said that he would lay a large canvas board on the ground and go around with a paint brush and add one color at a time. I think this summer I might try to paint what I hear and what I see. Because the difficult thing about my synesthesia is different parts of songs look differently because of the instruments used might changed or it might be softer or louder. So I would always be frustrated. Maybe I should stop looking at sections of the song and rather look at it as a whole.

Apart from the synesthesia, there was something else that was interesting. One of my grandfather's art pieces looked very similar to some of mine. This image on the right is one that my grandfather did. In February of this year, there were three weeks when I did maybe five sketch book drawings that looked relatively similar to my grandfather's piece here. At the time, I wasn't actively recalling my grandfather's art work - it was just a stress reliever to draw abstract lines in the form of a circle. I thought that was interesting because I know I have seen this piece of his before but when I was sketching in my notebook, it was completely subconscious.


Overall though, I think seeing these photos at least was incredible for me because, especially for the synesthesia, it finally felt tangible or looked right to me.


///FAST FORWARD TO THIS SUMMER TO WHERE I ACTUALLY WENT TO THE EXHIBIT///

WOW IT WAS SO INCREDIBLE. I loved going it was amazing. Ok heres the thing though. When you look at my grandfather's pieces from a far, it looks like 'oh yeah totally he has synesthesia' but when I looked at them closely - it was actually quite different. His pieces were so much more detailed than I had ever appreciated before. His use of color was so much more precise than any memory or photo had ever conveyed. His concepts and themes were so much more personal than I had ever expected. I don't know it really was just so incredible.

Concentration 7

Museum Art Gallery Visit 3

Over winter break I visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. This gallery was full incredible history and beautiful art, leaving me with many take aways.

1. Art on furniture is a weird but amazing way to story tell. In the museum a lot of the art was delicately painted on the furniture especially on the arms and backs of chairs. It made wonder why - what was the purpose of putting art on furniture - what is the story and message and idea the painter wanted the viewer to get. I noticed that the art on the chairs depicted war and suffrage but if someone were to sit down- the art would be covered and hidden. Maybe the artist wanted us to remember that we should acknowledge history but not let it define us.

2. The history behind the museum is very interesting. In 1990 a pair of thieves stole 13 pieces of art work that costed a total of $500 million. This made me think - it made me wonder how we put a price on art work and how we judge it's value. I have seen such incredible art pieces come out of this art room but it confuses me to think about how much the pieces we create could potentially be worth.

3. In the museum there were many sculptures without heads - and I know that this isn't a particularly rare finding to see at art museums but it made me question why an artist would choose not to include some's head when they have the rest of the body. I pondered all the philosophical reasonings and complex meanings but ultimately came to this conclusion - heads are hard to sculpt. Maybe the artists just didn't feel like putting time into sculpting a head.

4. This is going to sound weird but I realized architecture represents power. When you walk into the gardens of this museum you are surrounded by tall walls with bricks and intricate glass windows and its intimidating. I don't think this was the museum's intention to scare me (not really scare but that idea) still it just made me realize how important architecture can be in conveying an over all theme for an entire museum.