Project

The exploration project in Design is an exciting and creative assignment where each student was encouraged to delve into a new form of art or craft that they had never tried before. The purpose of this project is to push students out of their comfort zones, allowing them to experiment with different mediums and techniques.

For my exploration project, I decided to venture into jewelry making. This choice was inspired by videos and photos I saw online as well as what I saw a few of my friend’s phone straps. Jewelry making was completely new to me, offering a perfect opportunity to learn a fresh skill and explore a different aspect of design.

Throughout this project, I engaged in various stages of jewelry creation, from designing pieces and selecting materials to mastering techniques such as beading, wire wrapping, and using tools like pliers and clasps.

First, I had to get all my materials which included wire, wire cutters, pliers, beads, jump rings, and clasps. Then, it was time to bead. At first, it was hard to get the hang of it because the wire was so stiff and I wasn’t sure how to move it the way I wished. I even had a few glass beads shatter on me because the wire was too thick as I tried to push the wire through. Though it felt hard at first, the more and more beads that I created the easier and easier it became. I went from wiring one bead in ten minutes to wiring one in around 5 minutes.

Overall, this process was very therapeutic, as I was doing the same repetitive process to all the beads. My fingers definitely were sore and smelled like metal after, but I am so happy with how this turned out. It was exactly what I was hoping for, and I’m so glad I decided to choose this as my explorations project as I want to continue doing this in the future.

Lyrical Essay

In my English class, we were assigned to write a lyrical essay, a unique and expressive form of writing that blends elements of poetry, personal narrative, and academic essay. Unlike traditional essays, the lyrical essay is more fluid and experimental, allowing us to experiment with greater creativity and emotional depth.

A key component of our lyrical essay was the use of an annotated bibliography. This involved researching various sources related to our topic and providing a summary and evaluation of each source. The annotated bibliography helped us to engage deeply with our subject matter and to reinforce our ideas.

Another distinctive feature of the lyrical essay is the incorporation of footnotes. We used footnotes not only to cite sources but also to add additional commentary, reflections, or thoughts. These footnotes served to enhance the narrative, providing a more in-depth reading experience.

Music Production

For our digital media project, we were tasked with organizing a music recording session in our studio. The primary objective was to immerse ourselves in the recording process, gaining firsthand experience of how music is produced, regardless of the final quality of the recorded music. To fulfill this project, we needed to assemble a group that included at least two Freestyle students.

I’m going to be honest if you’ve read this far or even bothered to read any other of my pages you know that I hated music production. It’s just miserable in my opinion and it’s not for me. So when we were told that we would have to make another, I was not the happiest person in the room. But, in the end, I thoroughly enjoyed this music project with my friend Kajsa. Special shout-out to them because they really made the project fun with their goofy lyrics and the simplicity of the music.

Overall, using the studio was very exciting as I felt like a professional (I’m not I had no idea what I was doing) but it was very cool to be able to learn how to use our advanced studio!

(Since the music has still yet to be uploaded to SoundCloud, this will be updated in the future)

Artist Statement:

Since it’s the beginning of summer, we decided to rap about our one and only, Santa Claus or Saint Nick depending on where you’re from. We were inspired by rap music and we wished to recreate the aura of rap music with our piece. We used Pro Tools as well as the recording booth at Freestyle Academy. Through this, not only did we learn how to improve at using Pro Tools, we were allowed to engage in using the new Recording Studio which was very exciting. It was confusing at first due to the numerous amount of buttons and wires, but with guidance we were able to successfully record our project. Overall, we had a fun time and in the future, we are excited to continue using the studio.