Reflecting On The Year

This year has been completely crazy. All the problems with friends and drama and grades were quite overwhelming. Its my first year here in the high school, and im already looking foward to graduation. Yet, in the mess of it all, I found that during fifth period... I could relax. Because fifth period was art class. There I could express myself, grow, and make new friends, all while improving my creative skills. During this year, I've accomplished many different artistic projects including, a Coptic book, a unique self portrait, a handcrafted metal piece, and an identity collage of things that make me, me. In that one project, the identity collage, I really surprised myself with the result. It was kind of dark. And that was what was one of the things I learned about myself in that class; that most of my work had a sort of deeper feel to it. It helped me keep in touch with I different side of me; a side that I can't exspress during the rest of the school day. Another project that I really surprised myself with was the giant self portrait. The one thing I alllwaays had a problem drawing was, in fact, me. Faces are extremely hard to draw, and being so familiar with this one didn't make it any easier. But with the technique Mrs. Kiick showed me, I somehow managed to create something that actually looked somewhat human! And not only human, but it actually resembled me! It was quite interesting to see the paper come to life under my hand and see myself staring back at me. So overall this year, in creative arts class, has been a very memorable one. I truly hope next year will be just as wonderful. And who knows, maybe the drama and grade problems will die down too, so the year will be perfect.

Portfolio of My Art

Sam S Portfolio - create a slideshow

Creating Some Stuff.

Recently in art class, we've been working on a new project.  Its possibly one of my favorites –and the  most difficult, so far.  Ceramics.  So for the past couple weeks I have been rolling and patting and marking slabs of dark gray colored clay, and somehow creating it into (hopefully) beautiful cups, bowls, plates, and platters.  So how do we do this?  First we roll out a slab of clay with a rolling pin (like making cookies, but harder).  Then we drape it across a plaster form of either a bowl or plate, and form it to the mold.  Cut of the exess, dry the clay, and take it off the mold.  Voila!  You have a half-finished product.  Then you fire it up in an oven (it really is like making cookies!), and paint it with a colorful glaze of your choosing.  The possibilities are endless.  Our shelves are already piling up with hundreds of artistic and imaginative creations!  And for a good cause too.  Next year, all these will be served with soup at our school for anyone to have, and all the money send to a charity for the homeless.  And it makes me glad to realize that doing something that I love can actually help someone!  It's pretty cool actually.

The Efforts Of Metal Design: Accomplished

Oh god, the metals, the metals.  How long it took to create this one little metal tree I couldn't tell.  My sweat and blood went into this piece – literally.  Well not completely literally, but my blood did go into it after I cut my finger multiple times (with a hairs width saw).  Clumsy.  But we've moved on from that now... and look at the result! It's actually quite amazing to think back to the beginning of making this piece, when it was just me and a plain sheet of shiny copper.  It sure went a long way! And it's not very shiny anymore is it. That's because when I torched it to fuse the pieces together, some kind of scientificy thing went on and turned it into this!  Very cool.  Anyway, I love this design.  And it's actually quite funny, but at first I had a completely different design planned out for it!  A rose!  Now that would have been about ten times harder.  Let's keep it 2-D for now.  Maybe next year when I'm a little more advanced I'll try something trickier.  But for now, I'm happy with this being this.

my 'me' collage

another accomplishment that i have finished in art class: my identity.  no, not really my identity identity, but the closest thing i can get to it on a square of cardboard.  all the things that make me, well, me! all the feelings and moods and emotions that i cant put into words, but can be transposed into visual art. everything that makes me up, except for the physical traits, (that was the self-portrait.)  to be honest, i actually thought that this version of my identity was actually more me than my self-portrait was! of course, when you look at the collage, it doesn't automaticly scream SAM! but to me, i can see every little layer and memory of me in it.

making a sheet of metal into art

have you ever thought that you can saw through metal- and i mean real, hard metal- with a saw the width of a hair? well, its possible. during this past week, my art class' room isn't, as usual, filled with Frank Sinatra, but with the sound of near twenty little saws working in synch. and its quite loud. but the result is already starting to pay off! my design is about halfway done, and its looking pretty good if i may say so myself :) but thats only the first part of it all. after i've finished sawing the complete design, i have to sodder it together, hammer it to death to leave artful prints, and then torch it to give the metal a final touch. once thats done, hopefully, i'll have created my very own decorative metal piece! wish me luck!