Final Reflection

Senior Studio was definitely a time I used to experiment. I had a lot of fun playing around with wax, and molds. I thought that I could get a lot more done then I ended up doing and definitely didn't realize how long it took to make three dimensional art and molds. I think even though i didn't get as much done as i thought I was going to, I think I learned a lot about the art process in general, and expanded my style a little bit. I feel like I've learned as much as I can about observational drawing at this level, I thought that this time would be nice to expand my interpretive style and play around with more abstract ideas and styles. Altogether I worked hard and tried to play around with materials that I wasn't used to. I really enjoyed this term even though I didn't turn out as much work as I would have liked I feel like I did a lot of generalized learning which I really found helpful.

Critique Reflection

Being able to see the wood

Simplicity

How will I present them?

Color

Wire? be carefully with what colors I use

How could I try and tie them together a little more?

Wood>Paper

Straight edges vs. More jaggity edges. (not smooth)

Keep playing/ Experiment

Mesh wire over deer with no wire (colored wire) around it?

the process (messy) vs. finish product (cleaner) documentation in presentation?

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Starn Twins work (from slide 8) stood out to me the most. I really liked how she put together separate pieces to make a whole composition. I've been experimenting a lot with that over the last year and i think it makes the final product much more interesting. I think she did a great job using color in her top piece in a way that was very color, but also subtle and almost calming. She seems to have a wonderful knowledge of texture which she uses not just in the medium, but also in the presentation. The bottom image of the moth is very striking because of her use with light and texture/focus points. her style goes very well with the box effect that she makes. I like the idea of not using one background for an image because it adds texture and breaks up the image. I might try making multiple images and putting them together. Or use multiple images in one piece.

Art & Fear

"namely that imperfection is not only a common ingredient in art, but very likely an essential ingredient"

I spend a lot of my time trying to make everything perfect and its hard for me to work past mistakes. I've been trying to let go more and play with my art in order to formulate more ideas. I've realized that in the end you may learn more by experimenting than by focusing all your energy on a single piece of work.

"It seems that while the 'quantity' group was busily churning out piles of work-and learning from their mistakes- the 'quality' group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay."

Also this goes a lot with my reason for picking the first quote. I want to spend more time playing around and learning what works than by going off of a single idea and spending tons of time trying to make it work. In order for me to "join to quantity group" I need to learn how to let go of trying to be perfect and work more on experimentation.

"Talent may get someone off the starting blocks faster, but without a sense of direction or a goal to strive for, it won't count for much."

I've learned that this is true in almost every aspect of life. When your in middle school, and even sometimes in high school, if your really good at something everyone notices. Yet, as you move on into more advanced levels of a field the people who are the most impressive and the best at what they do are the ones who have spent hundreds of hours working on whatever it is they love to do. In the end you need to find not necessarily what your best at, but what you love the most and will work every day to improve at.

Critiques

I think learning how to participate in a critique is extremely important. It doesn't just help us understand more about our art and the process but also how to look more carefully at art and understand its many aspects both aesthetic and interpretive. It also teaches students how to give a take feedback, to communicate better with others, and to not take things personally. In any aspect of life it is important to always be asking yourself what you can do to improve, and improving involves learning and changing. Many young artists don't like to hear what they could be doing better and usually take it personally and continue to do the same things they have been doing which doesn't allow them to improve. Critiques are especially important in our class because this is the last chance to really work on our process and style before going off to the next level of art.

To get the most out of a critique everyone needs to be completely honest. No one is going to learn from comments like "that looks so good" or "I like it". The point of a critique is to improve your piece so while it is important to say what is working its also as important to say what isn't working.

Having input from many different kinds of artists and levels of experience are also important to a productive critique. In the end, critiques are simply suggestions to the artist and in the end the artist is the one to make the final discussions about what else to do. Having as many different ideas and perspectives allows the artist to have more to work with.

The Creative Habit, artistic issues

small ideas vs. BIG ideas

One of the main points she talks about is how important it is to start with small ideas and put them together instead of starting with a big idea which can be overwhelming. Many kids have a big idea of what they want to do and then get bogged down because there are so many restrictions. But its also hard to have some idea of what you want to do (small ideas) but then not know what to do with those ideas because there are too many options.

Being aware for new ideas

When people feel really strongly about what they want to do they aren't always open to new ideas that come to them that can be just as good if not better. You need to be able to always be open to new ideas even if it seems like it has nothing to do with your original idea. Sometimes the best, and most original, things come from two (or more) things that seem like they could never go together.

Perfection

I know that I have always had an issue with feeling like my work always has to be perfect. I have trouble brainstorming and trying things out because I want all my work to be good enough to be a final project. During the term i am going to try really hard to stay open to ideas and brainstorming.

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Most of the studios are messy, and they all seem to have their art lying around there studio. Most of the artists said that they need music or a TV in their studio, which i thought was interesting. The artists have books lying around of artists whose work inspires them and still life objects to use. From my experience artists tend to be messy and unorganized, but I'm not sure why. It seems like the part of the brain that is used for making art and creativity also needs music to work and tend to be unorganized. Many of the artists went on runs, and all said they needed some way of clearing their minds. They also said that they needed to immerse themselves in their art 24/7. Whether or not they are in the studio they still look for inspiration and many carry a notebook with them all the time. It seems that because many artists get stuck in "artist block" (like writers block) any inspiration is important. Also, most likely because their studios are usually messy, there is a general consensus that their art comes before their studio.