Final Art Reflection

Over the course of the year, I have really found my desire to build and create minimalist structures that are still eye-popping. My most successful example of this type of work is my red box, which keeps the minimalist perfect box but the bright red and textures catch the eye.

The red box stands out to me because of its simple geometric form, colors, textures, and interesting stand. The box really honed in my crafting skills as I was required to make a perfect box and then make an interesting stand to accompany the art. It also made me understand the significance of the simple geometric shapes, which can be so clean and beautiful if implemented correctly. 

Another successful example of my artwork over the year would be my "winning" wax man sculpture.

The wax man sculpture stands out to me because of the uniform black color and simplicity in the pose. As I was creating the sculpture, I was really able to learn about the importance of patience in art because it really is a process that can't be rushed. I was able to study the human form to create the most realistic pose possible while retaining the simplicity that I had come to enjoy from my artwork. I honed in my skills in creating a piece of artwork that has a much more significant meaning than just the artwork itself. 

My least successful work would have to be my transformation project because I never really found something that I wanted to build. Eventually I built a tree out of wood, but I didn't have enough time to really make the tree my own. 

Although I still think the tree is a successful piece of art, I don't believe the project overall was successful because of the failed experiments and ideas. If I could redo the project, I would hone in my intentions and choose a piece of art to build as fast as possible, instead of experimenting with several different ideas. 

I would consider my crafting skills to be my greatest strength, simply because I was able to build several challenging sculptures with the skills I learned in the class. I also think my time management skills were one of my strengths but I had a small lapse with the transformation project. Overall, I thought I used my time wisely and generally spent the entire class time allotted to working on the project. 

As I said before, I think my time management skills were a great strength in the class because it allowed me to put a lot of effort into every project. I have it my all on many of the more ambitious building projects, but on some of the smaller projects I seemed to have experimented with too many ideas and therefore my effort wasn't always directed to creating art. Even when the final project didn't turn out perfect, the effort I put into each sculpture can be seen through the difficulty of the project. I think a great example of my effort can be seen with my artist in residence project. 

I put a lot of effort into putting together the box because of the many pieces that were involved in getting the box on par with my intentions. While the box may not have been my most successful project, it showed me that effort does have great rewards. 

I am most excited about being able to use the skills I used in the class to build things that I truly want to build. I learned that creating art can be very calming and I will remember that in the future. Even if the materials and tools for building sculptures aren't available in the future, I will always be excited about just putting ideas down and drawing them on paper. 

My skills I've developed in this class have really taught me the importance of effort and time management, which are both useful skills in all the stages of life. I have also learned that not everything has to turn out perfect to be successful and that things can change, but that just means that you have to change with them. I have learned patience skills as well, because sometimes the results of effort are not immediate, but that doesn't mean that I should give up. 

Overall, the class has taught me a lot of lessons that I will apply to my work throughout my life. I have also learned valuable crafting skills and how to use power tools correctly, which is always useful. 

Culminating Work Project

One of my inspirations was created by a group of architects who created a "cardboard cloud" that was essentially a floating city made out of cardboard. While my city doesn't float, I liked the idea of using everyday materials such as cardboard to make interesting art. 

For my culminating work sculpture, I decided to use my prior building skills from building minimalist and very geometric sculptures to make a city. Originally, I wanted the city to be chaotic but be surrounded by a very calming perfect box. As the sculpture grew, the city became more minimalist and clean, making the surrounding box essentially useless. I experimented with many materials, and decided to use cardboard, foam boards, and metal in the final project to make the city more realistic with the diversity of materials. I also made the buildings of the city different heights, shapes, and widths to increase the realism. 

I painted the bottom board all black to really contrast with the buildings. I also painted some of the buildings black as well to show that buildings rise up from the ground and become part of the terrain. 

I wanted the different sizes of the building to make it look more like a cityscape, which I think can be displayed fairly well with the picture above. 

 

This art piece, called "cardboard cloud" was one of my inspirations because it showed me that I could use everyday materials to make art. The creators of the piece wanted to make a floating city, and while my city doesn't float, I used the box idea to create a city of my own.