Introduction

 The purpose of this project is to join our assignments from all three classes into one website. In English, we learned how to write different poems, such as haikus, free-verse poems, and ekphrastic poems. We also learned how to write an expository essay. In Digital Media, we put the text of all the poems over a picture, recorded ourselves saying each poem, and put music behind the audio to set the mood for the poems. This helped us learn how to use Pro Tools and Photoshop. In Design, we were assigned to take a photo based off of one of our poems. Editing the photo helped us learn Photoshop as well. In Digital Media, we took all of these projects and put them on a website using Dreamweaver. In all three classes, we were able to learn the techniques to express our art through different applications. Overall, I enjoyed writing poems and using Photoshop the most. I value what I learned about Pro Tools and Dreamweaver in Digital Media, even though they were frustrating to learn in the beginning. This is the audio for my expository essay. We were supposed to write about something we were passionate about. I chose drumming, and I talked about my experience with drumming and how I find success through relaxing. Since an expository essay is supposed to explain the topic, the essay is primarily a description of how I figured out how to drum, and how a drumline learns how to play in time together.

 

      

Poems

 

  We wrote 3 poems this year. One free verse poem, one spoken work poem, and one ekphrastic poem.

  I wrote my free verse poem before my haiku to help brainstorm ideas for that, so it has similar themes to my haiku. I wrote the spoken word poem based on emotions girls feel when experiencing sexism and being objectified. The ekphrastic poem is the last poem we wrote and is based off of a piece of art from the MOMA trip.

  An ekphrastic poem is a vivid, specific description of a piece of art. In Digital Media, we put the poem text over a picture of the piece of art we chose. We also recorded ourselves saying the poem. When laying the text over the picture, we needed to do it in a color and font that is both clear and relates to the meaning of the poem. I made the text yellow, blue, and red, to represent the different colors of the art. The ekphrastic poem is the last of the 3 poems I wrote, so it is a reflection of my progress throughout the poetry unit. The process I went through to write that poem felt a lot easier and smoother than how it was in the beginning of the unit, but I feel it needs a lot of improvement. However, I value the process more than the end result, because the process shows that I learned a lot and had a successful unit.

 

      Producing poems in a visual way helped me understand how the artist wanted their visual art to be portrayed. By mirroring what the artist made with the text, I was allowed to have a deeper understanding of the painting. When producing the poem in an audio way, I learned how the rhythm and tone of my poem connects or contrasts with the art.

Photo of a White Tiger
Free Verse Poem
Photo of a white flower
Spoken Word Poem
Dark blue painting with one yellow stripe and one red stripe
Ekphrastic Poem
Haiku

  For the Haiku assignment, we picked random concept statements out of a hat and had to write our haiku based off what we chose. Mine was "Exploring the feeling of scorn through sibling rivalry." We put the text of the poem over a photo, and used Pro Tools to record ourselves saying it with music in the background. We put the audio and the picture together in a video through Adobe Animate.

  

 

 

 

 

Art

  In Design, we were assigned to take a photo to represent our project poem. We had to take at least 50 photos, with different angles and lighting. It is important to take many photos because you never know which angle you will prefer later. Also, it is difficult to tell the clarity of the photo on the small screen of the camera, and you don't want to end up realizing all the photos are blurry once you download them on the computer the day they are due. The goal is to take as many photos as you can so you having a higher chance of getting that perfect shot.

  Throughout this assignment I got to practice how to use a camera and how to use Photoshop. It was fun because this is the first time we were able to use what we learn in Design to our own artistic preference. I learned that it is important to take time with the process of taking the photo, because I only had 1 or 2 clear photos to choose from.

 

A mirror with 2 scissors over it like the hands of a clock. It is laying on a dark blue table.

 

 

 

My Artist Statement:

 

  In my photo, I used the last part of my poem as inspiration. “Interrupted by the slice of a scar,” has a dangerous feeling, so I incorporated knives into the photo to give it the same feeling. “Reflecting, regretting. Choices…Time’s up.” In this line, I talk about waiting, and using that time to reflect. The waiting is spent in purgatory, where this person is about to hear his or her own evaluation of life. To represent this in the photo, I used a mirror as the face of the clock. The mirror is reflecting and the clock is waiting. The knives are the hands of the clock, as if there is a constant reminder of the danger that may lie ahead.

  For this photo, I put the mirror flat on its side and put two knives, one large and one small, on top of it like the hands of a clock. The ceiling above the mirror is plain white, so there weren’t any reflections of anything. This is all on top of a dark blue table, since the piece of art my poem is inspired from is dark blue as well. To get an angle from the top, I stood on a high chair. The most difficult part of taking this photo was keeping my balance while trying to keep a steady hold on the camera.

 

Screenshot of me working on photoshop to edit the photo.
Music

 I created a small music piece through Pro Tools. I was inspired by the drum break from my marching band show. The mood is supposed to be bright and I wanted to make something that people will feel like they want to dance to when they hear it. I really enjoy playing this drum break, so I hope you enjoy listening to my version of it! I love hip hop so I incorporated a hip hop feel into it as well.

  I used Pro Tools to create this piece. The techniques I used were creating an instrument track, where I used the instrument "Boom." In this instrument, you can create different patterns and play them through the synth. I love drumming and music, so I really enjoyed this project.

Enjoy!

 

Here is a screenshot of me working on Pro Tools to create this music piece:

Screenshot of me working on Pro Tools to make my song.