Reflections

Introduction 

The reflections unit required me to think more deeply about my opinions and demonstrate this in my work. Many of the projects in this unit were connected between my three classes which was helpful for me to strengthen my ideas.

In English we mainly focused on reading Citizen by Claudia Rankine, which is a lyrical essay style book about being black in America. I learned more about poetic writing as we analyzed the meaning of her work. Eventually we interviewed our own subjects about a topic important to them and translated this into a lyrical essay. I chose to interview a friend of mine who struggles with depression, and try to tell her story in way that others could understand.

In terms of my Digital Media projects, I was working a lot with mandalas. I found that this made me think very creatively because I had to come up with different strokes. I ended up going with a nature theme on my mandala, which is something that I feel reflects my style well.

I also created a video in Film class that was supposed to reflect a message I care about. I chose to make a video about judgement and why it’s important to see deeper than looks. My friend Michelle helped me out by dressing up in crazy costumes to show different stereotypes that people often have about different styles. I enjoyed this project because I got to take a bit of a risk by making something more light-hearted and different.

 

Personal Museum Curation

Shirley Goldfarb + Gregory Masurovsky

By David Hockney

This represents a part of my life because it shows the complication and separation of my family. Although it seems like a negative quality, I think I have actually learned a lot from them my whole life. I’ve learned to solve conflicts and be a more self-sufficient, understanding person.

 

 

 

Qusuquzah, une tres belle negresse 1

By Mickalene Thomas 

This vibrant, eye-catching painting reminds of the other side of myself. The woman in the painting seems to portray a lot of confidence and style, which is something that I value in my own personality.

 

 

 

Finding My Way Home 1

By Tavares Strachan

In this picture, we can see that the people flying are living in a very futuristic world. I feel that this reminds me of my own experience a lot because of the fast-paced and demanding lifestyle that the are we live in requires of all of us. I’ve had to learn to be more efficient and hard-working which are skills I know I will continue to use throughout the rest of my life.

 

 

 

Spiegel, Blood Red 

By Gerhard Richard

 

However, I do not identify particularly with this piece because of how plain it is. I typically see myself as a thoughtful, deep person with many layers, so I don’t think that this one portrays me very well.

 

 

Untitled

By Cy Twombly

In this piece, it’s very hard to see what’s going on and gives across a very confusing message. I don’t think I identify with this either because I value being open and honest with people about my intentions.

 

 

After viewing and thinking about all these pieces of art, I have definitely started to see how my own artwork contributed to the ones I chose. I typically end up making my own colorful and simple artwork, which seem to be most of the ones I selected over the most abstract pieces. This experience has inspired me to possibly try some new things with my art and go outside of my comfort zone more in the future. 

 

 

 

Mandalas

The mandala project was a long but enjoyable process. It allowed me to express a lot of creativity while also enjoying my time working on it. We made a black and white and colored mandala, and then created videos after that documented the process. The reveal video shows the layers I drew while the reflection video explains more of the thought behind it. After making all of these,  was able to get my mandala drawing printed onto a piece of wood and see the final product.

 

Black and White Mandala

 

Laser Engraved Mandala

 

Reveal Video

 

Reflection Video

 

Perspective

Another project I made in Digital Media was the Perspective video. The idea behind the video was to share a personal story or opinion on the world. We combined our recording of this essay with our new skills in After Effects to make them.

Behind the scenes: