picture for "wants"

I want to make something like this. It's super cool, and I think it will be a good challenge.

wants

I want to make something out of coils. I want to make something that is happy so I won't cry in front of everybody again. Shout out to Amy, please assign something I can make out of coils :)

more shocking art.

I made my project. After a giant mess, and way too many hours of working on it, I got it done. To be honest, it's not exactly my favorite. It sends a clear message, but I don't know how shocking it is...Also, I only made one lung. I ended up cutting the styrofoam wrong, so I just went with it. My mom has one big mass in one of her lungs where the cancer began. I guess it makes it more significant because it really only took one lung to change my mom's life. So that made it more personal. But, I wish i could have found a way to make the lung look really gross and like really realistic, or I wish that it would have looked really not realistic. It just looks like both.... Like I kinda tried to make it look realistic, but it just turned out like a black blob that could be mistaken as a rock. I just feel that it doesn't look intentional, and had it been one of those extremes, it would have turned out better. Also, I decided to add a picture of my mom on the lung to make the piece more personal. As I was sticking the picture on, I had the thought that I should have put the picture in the spot where the cancer originated, but it was too late. :( Anyway... that's it.

Shocking Art!

When I heard that we had to make a piece of shocking art as our first project, I had no idea what I was going to do. It's not my typical thing that I would create or even attempt to create. I was a little overwhelmed when I tried to think of something I could do.
Then I started thinking about controversial subjects that I feel strongly about, and after a good discussion sesh with Lexie, ideas just started flowing out of me. The concept itself isn't really controversial, but it will definitely cause some double-takes and turning heads. It's the concept of how smoking affects one's lungs. My mom has lung cancer because twentyfive years ago she smoked for tweleve years.
She was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer almost year ago, and the doctors told her the average person diagnosed lives about eighteen months. Since last November, when she was diagnosed, my life has a lot. Not only that, but my outlook on life is so different. I hope that through this piece, I can send a message that smoking is bad for you, and that it's bad enough to change someones entire life. And it doesn't just change life for that one person, but it also affects everyone who cares for that person.

So here's what I've sketched out... and it's not supposed to be sideways... :)

Jim Lux

So one of the artists I've decided to follow is Jim Lux. Last year, in the advanced class, we did a project called "after the masters," and I chose to emulate Jim Lux in my project. I chose to follow him because he works with coils, and he makes really awesome pots. Last year, when I chose to emulate his work in my own, was the first time I decided to work with coils, and since then I've really started to develop my own style through coils. So, I guess I chose him as one of my artists because he really set me up for what I'm becoming as an artist now. Also, I would like to experiment more with trying to sort-of combine his style with my own. I liked how it turned out the first time, so I don't see why I wouldn't try again.

Retreat!!

So, this weekend was fun. Not only did I learn lots about art, I also learned a lot about my fellow AP artists. The only part of the trip that was not very fun or I should say was difficult for me was thinking outside the box in more ways than one. It takes me a long time to make friends who I know will always be there for me. I guess it was hard for me to expand my brain past the restrictions of my social box. However, at the retreat this weekend i feel that i gave people a glimpse into my life, and everybody was really nice and accepting of me and who I am. Everybody was really nice to everybody on this trip, and i honestly had a much better time than I had expected to have.
Another way I felt that I couldn't think outside the box, or should I say outside the tube, was when we had to make something out of those stupid tubes. I would get an awesome idea in my head that was totally INDIVIDUAL, but then when I tried to execute it, it just failed quite miserably. I finally made the decision, kind of like Sarah, to stop trying so hard to be somewhat original, and I basically copied her little feet thing, but I tried to let my style naturally show through in the piece. I feel like when it's done it'll look somewhat like something I would make. Although, I most likely will stick to my coils as much as I can, and I'll probably try to avoid tubes.
It was also difficult for me to accept the fact that I was going to have to make something completely nonfunctional and nonrepresentational. After showing Amy my photo of my original nature sculpture thing, I basically just let go of the idea of making something so it could be something, and i accepted the concept of making something to just let it BE... let it speak for itself even if it's not really anything. I eneded up really liking my final product, and it looked like something my brain would think up. Overall, I learned a lot on the retreat, and I had a great time.