“How can you find, explore, and/or expand your passion?”
For the Explorations Project, we were tasked to find a new skill, a new method of doing something, or something that we’ve had little experience with, and explore that idea. These skills also addressed 21st century skills, including skills like self-direction, risk-taking, creativity, etc. For my project, I ended up choosing to paint a plate. When the design teacher, Ms. P, introduced the project to us, she included examples of things we could do using the materials she has in her classroom. One of those examples which stood out to me was Pebeo paint, which is a paint that can be used on ceramics or glass, and is fired in a regular oven to where it is able to be used after. I chose this project because it is something I have never done before, I have dabbled in a lot of other skills but I have never gone about painting a plate, and it seemed interesting to me. The 21st century skills that I improved on was self direction, in making deadlines for myself and sticking to them, and creativity, in coming up with the design.
The Process
First, we had our pitches in Design. I knew I wanted to do a Spanish influenced tile design on the plate, so I took parts of different tiles I liked, and added what I thought would look good. My original sketch was not what I ended up doing, instead of the circle plate I decided to go for a square plate, and the design ended up slightly changing as well.
After the original sketch, I found the measurements of the base of the plate, cut that size piece of paper, then drew a grid with nine squares total with a ruler, dividing the side lengths by three. Once I had all the lines to help me draw, I started drawing the pattern.
After finishing the design, I used carbon paper to transfer the design to the plate. The carbon paper went first on the plate, then the design, and then I traced over the design. When I traced, it would transfer the design onto the plate, where I could use the pebeo liners with a reference. The first time i traced the design, I had used paper that was took thick, and it didn’t end up transferring. To fix the problem, I printed a copy of the design I made onto thinner, printer paper, retraced the design, and it worked.
From there, I started lining. Once that was finished and dried, I started to paint.
After finishing painting, I touched up some spots with the liner. Once 24 hours had gone by, letting the liner and paint dry, I put it in my oven at 300 degrees for 35 minutes. After washing, it is ready to be used in the future.
Reflection
Overall, this project helped me create and stick to deadlines, improving my self-direction. It was also very fulfilling for me to have a tangible object as my final product because since I mainly work with digital art, I am not used to having a physical final product. It is especially satisfying because I can use this plate in the future, it doesn’t just act as a decoration. I also had to work with the hiccups I encountered, which helped me grow in my creativity and problem-solving, as I had to find ways to work with the mishaps and not get too upset.
Music Recording Project
For the music recording project, our only task was to record some music in the studio, and learn how to be on both ends, behind the booth, manning the controls, and playing the music. I ended up doing this project with Rachel Berry and Ella Clifford, and we all don’t have the best ability regarding playing music. Because of that, we decided to do something simple, which was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. In recording, Rachel played the piano, Ella played the tambourine and the chimes at the end, and I played the ukulele. Overall, it was really cool to see everything come together when we were recording and editing the audio.
You can listen to our rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star here:
The Lyrical Essay
“The lyric essay partakes of the poem in its density and shapeliness, its distillation of ideas and musicality of language. It partakes of the essay its weight, in its overt desire to engage with facts, melding its allegiance to the actual with its passion for imaginative form. ” – Deborah Tall and John D’Agata
For the English portion of the project, we wrote a lyrical essay. There were few limits installed, we could write it about pretty much anything we wanted to, but we had to have an annotated bibliography and Chicago NB style footnotes. In some ways, this proved to be difficult because of how vast the options were regarding what we could write about. To inspire us a bit more surrounding the flow of ideas and format of the essay, we looked at certain authors, for example Ross Gay, Maggie Nelson, David Foster Wallace, etc. We did various writing exercises inspired by their works, which then eventually helped inspire us for our final work.
The Plunge
Anticipation:
When the penguin tried to make her first plunge into the icy water, there were two other penguins there, behind her. She was nervous. You could tell because of the way she peered down to the water, then back to her friends, then the water again.
She started waddling in place, a gesture seemingly to give her the energy to make the plunge, while in reality, she was procrastinating it. She felt the chill wind try to rustle up her feathers, unsuccessfully, to her relief. That’s a good sign. Only about a few days ago did she notice the once downy textured plumage had fully become water-tight, ready for swimming. A bitter-sweet development—there now was no reason for her not to make the plunge.
She looked back to her companions a few feet back, pleading for them to lead her back to the colony. They looked at her, then nodded their heads towards the water. She wasn’t getting out of this.
She stared at the water for a little while, though she couldn’t tell how long. Calm, constant, the small dark blue waves concealed everything crammed into the ocean beneath them. She couldn’t see a hint of another creature under the covers the surface of the water provided. This perplexed her. She knew she would eventually hunt for fish under those waves, that she would soon be comfortable under them. So how could it seem so daunting now?
She was grateful for the two penguins behind her, grateful for their silence. They made no move to push her in against her will, but they weren’t leaving until she jumped. She probably couldn’t do it if they weren’t there. The couple months in which her feathers shifted also signified her leaving her mother’s side to meet friends, gain her own independence. The other penguins in the colony thought her weird, frail, and embarrassingly behind in growing her feathers. Except for those two right behind her. They shielded her from the penguins unwilling to associate with her, making them run away scared with their agnostic calls.
It was because of them, she knew she could do it. Knowing that they had done it and were able to stand here waiting with her provided all the comfort she needed before jumping.
The Plunge:
Flying through the air, she braced herself for the water.
The water which she had presumed could freeze her to death was nothing like that, instead cool, refreshing. Her jump’s momentum carried her through the water for a bit, water racing past her feathers, up to where she started to swim. She did not realize she was swimming at first, her body took control while her mind delayed in wonder of the vast blue expanse surrounding her. What she had previously thought to be daunting became extraordinary.
Distantly, she heard a splash, and directly after that, another. She turned her head to see her companions rushing to catch up to her, and knew that whatever happened, they were right there behind her.