art experiences

this year has been something completely new to me. at the end of last year I signed up for art honestly because I thought it was a requirement for the school, and during this year I came to find out that it isnt.. but I'm glad I signed up for Mrs. Kiick's art class.. she has taught me many things throughout this year, both art and life. she has said somethings that have really stuck to me and have inspired me to enjoy art and life. I know for myself that I am not an artsy person at all, but I learn new things in class and try them. I have always been saying that I wanted to take a pottery class because it looks so fun, well I signed up for Mrs. Kiick's class and I got to do something like it, and I loved making my tables setting. also another one of my favorite projects was doing my self portrait. I was honestly very nervous to do this project, I thought it was going to be a very embarrassing outcome compared to everyone else's in my class. my ending result.. I was very please with it, it looks like a person and like the picture I drew it from. this year was my first art class that I took and I would no doubt take another class if they offered it.. I could take the same class again since it is our only class but I would like more of a variety to the class.

my creations !

brings back memories of play-doh

clay... i am loving this marking periods project. ive always wanted to make a bowl myself, it always interested me. then i sign up for art and i get that chance ive been wanting. in this project we are told that we have to make a lunch table setting, based on the 39 table setting for women over the years that have made an impact in the world. at first we have to start with a chunk of soft clay, then get a plaster boar, mold, sticks, rolling pin and clay knife. rolling out the clay takes strength, i broke a sweat rolling out the clay, even think i got muscles. 

for this project we have to make the setting inspired by someone we would want to sit and have a lunch with. my inspiration in my mom, dad, and two sisters. we have to make a bowl, plate and cup (all functional). my cup is based on my mom, bowl is my dad, and my plate represents my two sister. i couldnt think of anyone else i would want spend my lunch with than my family. we use patterns, sponging, funky shaping, and attachments to make them one of a kind. once we are done making the ceramics, Ms. Kiick fires them to make them completely dry an ready to be glazed. i enjoy the glazing, when you put the colors on, it doesnt look that great, once they are fired all the color comes out and it all looks truly amazing. i cant wait to see my finished produces. 

Copper & Nickel & Brass

time consuming, frustrating but still ends up being fun and a great experience ! i loved working with the metals, the only part i didnt like was that the blade is so thin that it was constantly breaking. once i finished one piece i was so excited though. i couldnt wait to put it all together in the end. our materials were nickel, bass, copper, blades, frames, wax and much much more. while doing this project i felt like a little kid in a candy shop, i couldnt wait to get to art to get to work. 


 when the end of the tunnel was in sight, we had to use sand paper to sand all the edges of the metals so they were smooth, even, and safe to the touch. we also used different types of files. when the time came, SOLDERING  !


my favorite part of this project was putting it all together in the end. when we went to go put it all together, we had to grab a brick, use flux and small solder chips. we had to put the flux on the clean metal where we were going to apply the solder chip. when fluxing you could also apply the flux to other parts to get a unique affect to the metal.  when i soldered the pieces together, i was an awh, i was so amused how they all just became one thing. i wish that we did more than just this one metals project, i would do it all over again !

Looking In The Mirror.

When I first started this project I will admit it, I was scared. Ive never taking an art class without it being a requirement, so when I signed up for this class I knew it was going to be a new experience. When I was assigned the self-portrait project I was excited and nervous at the same time. We had to choose a photo of ourselves, then we got very large poster like papers and had to blow our photos up. When I saw the size of the paper I felt like running. It was a struggle to get the features of my face in the right area of the poster. Once we were done blowing up our photo onto the poster we had to trace our pencil with permanent marker, I was afraid I was going to mess up everything with every line I traced. Before we could start painting we had to do practice sheets on 8.5 x 11 paper. Once we felt comfortable with the paint and detailed we had to highlight we were able to start our real poster. This is when the fun began. We got to create our own custom paint using all different combinations of colors. When we were done painting we inked our portraits with black ink, can you say scary? After inking we’d wash off the ink and some of the paint. Then once the paper was dry we used colored pencils to bring the portraits to life. In the end I was actually pretty happy and proud of myself that I accomplished a project that I was terrified to do from the beginning.    

Me In A Box

This was a chance for me to express myself without even saying one word. It all started out as a brown piece of cardboard, then turned into something called art. At first I had no idea what I wanted to put into this project, then it hit me. I have a box of almost all my favorite memories; I went home that day and went through it. The things I wanted to put on, most of them I copied them so I didn’t lose my initial memory. I used all different techniques throughout this project. My friend Karen was doing her collage and I looked over and liked the idea she came up with. She took a piece of tissue and separated the different layers, got matte medium and color paints she liked. She then used more matte medium than the color and mixed them; she laid the tissue layer on the board and began painting it. I decided to use it and from then on everything just came to me naturally. Everything in my collage has a story behind it, but like Kassidy would say, “I don’t have to explain any part of it.”

METAL !

Strong, Beautiful, Piece of Art. I was very excited to begin this project. When Mrs. Kiick told my class when were going to begin working on our metals project I was so excited to start. I actually wanted to stop making my collage and just wanted to start on my metals work. I will tell you one thing, IT IS SO STRESSFUL! The saws we are working with are very, very fragile and they break even if you’re not putting pressure of forcing it to go somewhere it doesn’t want to go. This week I have broken at least 5 blades, I hate it because I was only sawing a straight line. Anyways, we were told to make at least 3 prototypes of designs we created. Mrs. Kiick wanted us to create more   than one so that we had a variety to choose from. This was a challenge for me. I made two different designs, I chose one that consisted of 2 squares, 1 circle and 2 french curves; Mrs. Kiick told me that she wanted me to create something different because she wanted me to have more fun and experience  with working with metals. I returned to my table and started over COMPLETELY! In the end I ended up with a completely different design, nowhere even close to my two other designs. I am happy with my project so far and I will be back to update you on how it is going.