• What did you think of the A-B-C format?

I thought it kept everything very well organized throughout the semester. It was fun to begin by creating art with our own hands, and then in the later portions of the class, come to appreciate other forms of art from other much more experienced professionals.

• What did you think of the 4 Messy Hands activities? (Plaster Casting, Sketching in the Garden, Graffiti Writing & Finger Painting)

I thought that they were the most fun portions of the class and I appreciated them the most. I never thought that I would experience something like plaster casting, but being exposed to such a different form of art is something that really opened my mind to the creation of art using other forms of media.

• What did you think of the 4 Life Design activities? (Design Thinking, ePortfolio, Environmental Portrait, vlog)

I felt that these made us reflect more so than I have ever done in my past educational career. It was fun to write about myself and I found myself having to condense my environmental portrait because of how lengthy I had come to make it. It made me really appreciate what I had to write and the subject of what I was writing.

• What did you think of the Student Choice & One More activities?

I did not partake in these activities.

• What did you think of visiting the SOA Galleries, having Conversations with SOA Artists, and blogging about them?

I felt that it was a great way to see art from another point of view. The art from the galleries was so professional but also very passionate. When it came to me to write essays about, I felt that I was unqualified to even write about it. Over time, I realized that art is for everyone to appreciate and everyone will have their own take on what a piece means or stands out to them. My biggest learning experience was seeing how universal art could really be.

• What did you think of using the class website, glenn.zucman.com/i2va, plus your own websites, instead of BeachBoard?

I found this something that I did not prefer. I enjoyed building my website and using it to blog, but it was the only class that separated information between so many sources. This required me to get used to the layout at first, but it took time to appreciate (the class website is very well laid out.)

• What did you think of using WordPress for your blog?

I thought that it was a fun way to showcase our weekly updates and blogging became something that I did to conclude my week and get ready for the next one. I never knew that there was a resource like WordPress that was so easy to use and could be customized so easily.

• What did you think of using Wix for your ePortfolio?

I felt that it was confusing at first because there were so many options and possibilities for the website that you can create. This freedom can be utilized in many different ways but I never used it to its full potential.

• What did you think of the guest speakers? (Internships, Study Abroad, etc)

I felt that the guest speaker helped us to understand more about art and appreciating its qualities. I thought it was amazing to see how she was able to be so well versed in so many things at the university.

• What did you think of the times in class when we took time to meet new classmates? How many Art110 peeps did you know before the class started? How many do you know now?

I recall the times that we took time to meet new classmates, but I did not actually end up to continue seeing or socializing with anyone new. My contact list of people from Art110 did not grow and actually stayed relatively the same through the semester.

• What did you think about having a class with no tests? I don’t just mean “was it cool to not have to take any,” but students use tests to guide their study and participation in a class. Students tend to learn what’s on the test, and to not learn anything that isn’t. Did not having exams make it harder to focus or find importance and relevance in the class?

I felt that since this was an art class, not having exams was actually the perfect way to highlight how free and creative it is. I enjoyed how students in the class sometimes used time to talk amongst each other or ask artists questions in the galleries. This was something that I appreciated much and learned more than studying for an exam.

• Any other thoughts?

I thought that this was the most unique class that I’ve taken in my entire first year of high school. It had such a different layout than I was used to before and I learned a lot about appreciating art and also how to take things one at a time. The lessons in class did not always adhere strictly to art, but also expanded upon other themes outside of art as well. This insight is something that I truly appreciated and I believe is one of the things that shows how flexible art is to other aspects of our lives.

Taking Art 110 has been an experienced that helped me to venture out and expand my creativity in many aspects that I had previously never seen before. It helped me to truly analyze what the original intent or message of every single piece I observed was.

Going into this class, I didn’t have any particular expectations or goals, but I did feel that it would at least help to gain insight into creating art pieces on a basic level. This class did much more than that and I found myself learning how to create my own pieces in many different mediums. Activities that come to mind are the plaster casting, which was the first time I learned to create art in a new medium, and also the finger painting activity, which helped me to realize that abstract pieces can truly have much greater meaning behind them. When I created my finger painting piece, I had actually put down my childhood dog just hours before. It helped me to let go and put feelings that I had out onto the canvas. I did this through the strokes I made with my fingers and the colors that I had chosen.

Art finds itself into our lives in many different ways. Through this semester, I have been exposed to many different types of art. Many of these experiences have shown me the practicality of art and the many ways that it can implemented and used in our lives. This became evident to me during the artists galleries that have stories behind them, which is portrayed through different mediums and pieces.I have learned that art is not just for the sake of creating pieces that please the eye, but there are aspects of art that can be practical in all walks of life. However, in the careers that do create media made to be appreciated, this can mean creating experiences for others that are unique in their own way. It can help to create insight and perspective into one’s life. An artist can create a piece that can be interpreted in an infinite amount of ways. This relationship between an artist and their audience makes it different from any other type of job.

I am currently working towards a degree in Information Systems in the college of business. In the future, I plan on holding a job that involves myself with computer hardware and business analysis. I would love to oversee the management of a project that is greater than myself and manage parts of a business that people will never directly appreciate. Though this may seem odd, I do feel like aspects of art can help me in this field. For example, there are many different types of creativity that can be used in this field. A fresh mindset or clear understanding of a challenge can help to make exactly what needs to be done happen.

This is a photo of me standing next to my first car, a 1983 Toyota Corolla. I bought it on new year’s day and didn’t know that signing my name onto the title would subsequently ruin my life for the next three months. When I took the photo, I wasn’t going for any look, I just wanted to remind myself of my first car, and for me to have the ability to look at it years later and remember the joy I felt in having my name on the title.  I was successful only in the joy part, I don’t take many photos of myself, and I know with this one it is truly special because this specific car was one that I really wanted. I wish that I took another photo with some work done to it, but sadly I never got to do any of those plans because I sold the car sometime later for something safer. Next time I hope to capture more expression in the photo and make it truly special.

This assignment was very fun and I enjoyed being able to draw again. I last remember enjoying myself sketching in middle school, and somewhat in high school as well. It felt good to appreciate drawing and the challenge of getting things right in gesture drawings.  I originally thought that I would be able to draw upon some of the knowledge that I had from taking art classes, but four years of no practice proved to me that it was too much to ask for.

If I practiced for even less than 100 hours,  I feel like I would be able to learn much more than I currently know. Though I also acknowledge the learning curve that comes with anything. With drawing, I feel like this would hit especially hard because the world of art is very abstract and there is much to draw upon. For this reason, my practice would be in many different types of subjects.

My major is Informational Systems in the college of business. I feel like I would not be able to use these skills, though I could see it helping somewhat in classes such as economics that I am currently taking.

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To complete the graffiti activity, I decided to do it with a group of friends. Going into this activity, I was very nervous because I felt that I was under prepared for spray painting since I have never done it before. At the same time, I was excited because it was something that I got to do with my other friends in the same class. I was mostly excited to see how much of their personal styles go to influence their pieces. During the activity, my thoughts proved themselves correct, as there was a lot of room for self expression done during activity. My experience with this activity was entirely positive, but I wish that I had spent more time doing preparation beforehand.