The school year is coming to an end!

I can't believe the year is almost over! So much has changed in the past year, including academic changes. Last year, my grades were slipping quick, I was far behind in projects, and I would constantly procrastinate. For art, I would never fully put my heart into the projects- I would tend to believe I was but I never put the full effort into it. For the book project for art, i was missing several pages and had to use blank paper to make up for the missing pages. Overall, the book was incomplete, dysfunctional and had lacked a "theme". This year, my grades have been A's and B's, I've been organized and up to date and this year, I had pages to CHOOSE from to put in my book! I'm so proud of myself, in a way, I feel like this book represents me.  Although it isn't complete, it had a theme to direct all my pages to, like a goal. It's more organized and functional, neater, and I really put my all into this book!

Metal Finished!

My metal is finished! This years metal piece was alot more complex but I was ready for the challenge! Instead of breaking 10+ saw blades like I did last year, I only broke two. I really am proud of myself for the way my piece turned out. I really like how the copper (the flame) turned out to look. The colors range because of the flux put on the metals before soldering. As a plus, I finished even earlier than the due date! 

Blurry Stars

Anna looked up into the blurry lights above and wiped the tears away from her face, she's been hiding her feelings for quite some time now. Every so often, Anna would visit her "secret spot" away from town which gave a lovely view of the night sky and hilltops to clear her mind. Although Anna was not feeling any better she began to get up until she heard snapping twigs and she froze. Terrified, Anna began to quickly search for a weapon in reach, since she's never seen anyone or any trace of a person here before. Frozen, Anna locks eyes with a pale man with gentle blue eyes.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I see you found my secret spot," said the man. "My names Matthew."
Matthew reached his hand out and shook Anna's shaky hand.
"I've been coming to this place ever since I was little. Once in a while I see you sitting by the rocks," Matthew continued, "but today I felt the need to talk to you, you've seemed upset. Is everything alright?" Matthew looked at Anna with a genuine smile.
"I'll be okay, thanks."

"No you're not okay, what's wrong?" Matthew said, urging her to speak.

"It's just.. I've been struggling through alot, I really appreciate you asking." Anna said.

"Like what? I'm here, I'm listening."

Anna stared at Matthew for a long minute and have a little smile. "My names Anna, and here is my story."

There are people out in the world that genuinely care about others, but people struggle to open up when they desire specific attention from certain individuals. What people need to realize, is that if the desired person isn't paying attention or caring, they are not worth your time. There are people out there, people need to open their hearts and listen, because someone out there truely needs an ear to talk to, or a mouth to listen to. It is more appreciated than words can express.

Updates!

Currently our class is working on a cup, plate and saucer based upon the artist we picked for the previous assignment. So far my cup and plate is done (I just finished my plate today!). My artist is Vincent van Gough, and my cup is based upon nature that he often drew and my plates idea originated from the starry night. I'm excited to see how things turn out!

Finished Blind Contour Drawing!

I finished my blind contour drawing! I'm really proud of it although looking at it now I should have used black to color in the hair. I really enjoyed using the prismacolor colored pencils, enough to want to buy some of my own! I really liked this assignment because not only did we use a drawing to express who we are- but basic sentences that describes each and every individual. I think depending on your word choice and effort, these small sentences can hold a strong factor in the assignment.

Bowls, bowls and more bowls!

Ah, back to pottery! I absolutely love working with clay and watching it transform into beautiful pieces of art (that we can eat off of too!). Last year I really enjoyed the pottery unit just as much as I enjoyed it this year. This year is the year of the Empty Bowls Dinner! All our bowls will be on sale and can be eaten on on February 9th. This year is everything pasta themed, I love pasta! I'm looking forward to going, as it only happens once every two years, and it's for a good cause! I encourage everyone to go, not only does the town come closer together when helping people, but it's all for a good cause and who knows, maybe you might make a new friend! I can't wait to see everyone eating from the bowls our classes made!

Blind Contour Drawing

Although I am not a fan of drawing portraits, I found this assignment really interesting. For the assignment we were to create a self portrait using only a mirror and a pen. However, we could not look at the drawing at all times of drawing, and to not take our pen off the paper. I really liked this assignment because after drawing our portrait we were to add small sentences about ourselves. Some sentences I have in my drawing is; "I am flawed." "I try." "I am loved." I have not finished this assignment but I plant on it soon! The back round has been really fine consuming but in the end I know it's going to be worth it! I really am enjoying this assignment. :)

Paper Lantern

In our Creative Arts class this assignment was to create a paper lantern based upon a season of your choice using an Exacto knife. I found this assignment really entertaining. I really enjoyed cutting the paper mainly because the season I chose was Spring and on my lantern I cut out trees. I liked all the ways I could bend and cut out designs on the tree and I thought this assignment was fun.

Leonardo da Vinci

Born April 15th, 1452 and living to be 67, Leonardo da Vinci grown to hold a bold title of a Italian Renaissance polymath. Not only was he a successful painter, he was also a sculpture, engineer, inventor, geologist, anatomist, cartographer, botanist, writer, musician and much more! With his large fascination with his scientific studies and human anatomy, he was able to create art pieces most realistic as possible.

Leonardo decided not to use the conventional fresco methods of painting in most of his art pieces, meaning he worked at his own leisure and complete the project without the limitation of time in the way, although he was criticized for this technique, he still remains as one of the most brilliant people of all times.

Leonardo is often remembered by three of his many masterpieces, the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and Vitruvian Man. My favorite out of the chosen three is the Mona Lisa. I like this masterpiece because the lady's facial expression remains a mystery and only the artist truly knows what the lady's facial expression was really meant to portray.

I chose Leonardo da Vinci because I find it very fascinating that such a wonderful, talented artist can excel in so many other fields of subject. I also think he is interesting because not many people during those times was willing to study anatomy let alone understand it. Not only did da Vinci leave behind many masterpieces, but he left 20 sketchbooks/notebooks that eventually became footprints of knowledge and information that the future used.

Reflection on the Marking Period

In the begining of the marking period I came into the creative arts class with a more educated perspective. This marking period gave me the time to recognize that all that matters in art, is to put you're heart into something and to try your best- rather than aiming to satisfy others or "perfect" it.

Presidential Collage

For this assignment, our class had to choose a president, and a specific view they have, the collage portraying your opinion and subject without obvious features such as the democratic or republican symbols, pictures of the candidates or names. For this project, I chose Obama and his views in gay rights. In my collage I have a mirrored image. One in which portraying what people believe is wrong in black, and the other mirrored image portraying the people that believe gay/lesbians deserve the same rights. Making collages are quite difficult because there is never a goal to achieve, basically, you keep adding onto the collage until you feel as if you got your point across. I really enjoyed this assignment and I'm proud of my work too!

Shoe Drawings

Hello! Our first assignment in the 2012-13 Creative Arts, we were to draw various shoes given from all the students throughout the highschool class. I brought in a pair of my old Adidas running sneakers and they are also in my drawing. Now, drawing isn't my favorite but I love working with the pencils and knowing that each and every person in the class is drawing something from a different view, metaphorically speaking... like life!

Metals

Hello! We are currently working with metals to create a small design that will be used as a clip. Since we are using metals such as brass copper and nickel we have to use a saw to cut out the shapes and designs. Before we get to cutting our metals, we brain stormed our designs on a small square piece of paper, then cut the shapes out and used them as a template to trace them onto the designated pieces of paper representing each metal. After that we gently taped it together to take a final look at it and get approval. I'm about to start cutting my design out and it looks difficult but its possible!

Another Year of Creative Arts!

Wow, the summer went by so fast! This is now my second year of HTHS Creative Arts and I am so excited to come back with more experience! Throughout my sophomore year in HTHS I want to push myself harder and begin to organize... which I NEED to start doing!! A goal for my second year of Creative Arts is to focus more on the assignment rather than my friends in the class! I plan to look at all art assignments with a new perspective and angle that I did not look through last year. As I began my first year of Creative Arts I learned that being able to relax and opening my mind was the only way to get the assignments done! Completing a assignment with haste- only ends up being a project you did not put your whole heart and mind into... and that is one of my main goals for this years Creative Art class. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to have this class again. I am in this class for a second year because I love all the technics of art and that I was given another chance to work harder on this years project!

Creative Arts 2012- It flew by!

Hello! The end of the school year is nearing but Summer is coming! Coming into highschool this year was a huge transition for me, I learned so much and It went by very fast! I learned alot about true friends, what it takes to get good grades, finding myself and just trying to focus on doing things for myself this time. Art has always helped me clear my mind whenever. In my Creative Arts class, I learned so much, and I enjoyed all of the projects we did, everything was so new and exciting! I allowed myself to calm down and relax and sometimes forcing yourself to relax is just what you need. I love coming into class because Its just nice to take a breath and slow down for the 45 minutes ( Well, in my case, It should have been quite faster). I've opened up alot this entire school year and doing so, I've been able to make stronger bonds with people, and new ones! I absolutely loved doing all of the projects in art....I never knew there was SO many forms of art!Hopefully I get this class sophmore year!

This is harder than I though it would be...

When I was little, my friend Amy and I would sometimes go to All Fired Up when both of our moms wanted to surprise us. We had always thought it would be easy to create the small figurines, NOT! Looking back at it now, when I was told about pottery I would stereotypically think about creating pottery only on a clay spinning wheel (as well as clay flying everywhere). Although I am very interested in learning how to mold clay by a spinning wheel, rolling out a slab of clay is just as enjoyable! Personally, I am bound to make mistakes, fortunately, the clay can act like a big eraser, and smaller errors can be fixed without huge adjustments. It's hard to believe that with a shapeless slab of clay, so many shapes lurk within it bounding to be molded! :) I am very excited for the final results for the Dinner Party! It's so exciting to look around the room with all shapes and sizes of pottery and their designs. Our school has so many talented people! The theme of my table set is Alice in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll instantly sparked my mind while looking through his old English version of the novel, as well as the beautiful pictures! When I was seven my Uncle Jimmy bought Alice in Wonderland, Charlotte's Web and Stewart Little novels from small antique store in England. At the time, I simply adored the movie and watched it religiously (unfortunately I have not been able to see it in years!). Even till today, I reread the novel over and over again, the thought of an author using his imagination to escape from everything-into this tiny portal leading to whimsical fantasies and dreams, seems so interesting to me. This was Lewis Carroll’s version of dreams, and sharing them with people is just as special. This novel has a huge place in my heart and even till today where I wish Wonderland existed! :)

Working With Metals

Since this year has been my first year in HTHS arts, everything we have done so far has been a whole new experience to me! The metal project was one of my most enjoyable projects this year. I have never worked with metals in my whole life, I've seen my dad work with copper and welding tools while fixing the plumbing systems and I never knew it could be so simple. To begin, we started creating blueprints; each color represented a specific metal (gold, copper and silver). We would then trace our design onto the metal; next we used handsaw to cut out the shapes. Before we begun using the handsaws, we were reminded that the saw blades will break and will need to be changed often during the class period. Many of us broke saw blades right after we were given directions and this taught us to be patient and relax while cutting the metals. Patience, I believe patience has a huge role in the arts, without patience in the long run the end results may not be the way you wanted them to be! I really liked using the handsaw, especially the "Wood Shop" atmosphere :) This project made me realize that the most beautiful pieces of work are very simple.

Artist Research Blog Post: Andy Warhol

Andy Warhola, Also know as Andy Warhol was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a kid Warhol had taken a big interest in drawing and painting-and a talent for it too. After he graduated from high school he studied Commercial Art at Carnegie Institute of Technology in the city he grew up in. Warhol graduated in 1949 and later became an illustrator in New York for magazines such as Vogue, Harpers Bazaar as well commercial advertising. Shortly after that was a employee in an art studio called The Factory. He began to expand his gallery of art work. Warhol was famous for his print making and silk screen pieces. A famous piece of his was a silk screen of Marilyn Monroe, and still remains a well known piece of artwork. Warhol had many different techniques of art and eventually he wanted to show the world his personally hand crafted pieces. Many pieces of his work consisted of silk screening and printing of famous of people. With this in play he wanted mass production on his own works of art. The Factory was also a movie studio, which gave Andy the opportunity to produce movies, before his death he made 300+ underground films; they were reported bizarre and eerie. During his life a co-worker Valerie Solanos, attempted to kill Warhol by shooting him. Although she failed to do so Andy was required to wear bandages around his waist for the rest of his life. Warhol died of a gall bladder infection and lived to be 58.

The reason why I chose Andy Warhol for this is because not because he has multiple techniques of art, but that he wasn’t afraid to try different things, even with pieces that most people would not understand. I believe he did this for personal satisfaction and knowing that his pieces of art that he actually drew/ painted wanted to make a statement that he was talented in art itself, as well as silk screening and printing.

                                                           "Marilyn"

"Triple Elvis"

                                                                                       

Identity Collage

We have recently been working on a "Identity Collage". The main goal of this assignment was to express yourself with pictures, words, art techniques and things that have an importance in your life, wheather it was a physical or mental importance to you. So far this has been one of my favorite assignments so far and I am looking forward to seeing the final product.

Self Portrait Painting

In creative arts the most difficult assignment for me was the self portraits. At first I dreaded self portraits- like I always had had in the past, and the fact that copying a drawing seemed impossile. Over time I realized that with a positive attiditude many things are able to be accomplished. With this assignment I let my over thinking and perfectionism take over me and I was not able to have the fullest potential on this piece. How ever, with this I am able to learn from this and move forward with a different perspective.