I started this blog to deposit all my art, writings and ideas in one place, but been such a delinquent for the past four months. It’s easy to say that school got in the way, but I hope I can build up the habit of documenting on-the-go (and do it soon! the new semester starts in 3 days).
Have tons of backposts to do, but to get the ball rolling, here’s an excerpt from a Portfolio I submitted for Introduction to Sculpture class in October 2013. Although it was just for one subject, insights apply for the semester as a whole:
It was always a joy to come to class on presentation day, with my work in tow, ready to share the output of weeks worth of dedicated energy and labor. More importantly, I found joy in sharing my creative process out loud – there is merit in verbalizing one’s struggles and their attendant solutions: the choices we made, whether big or small, in order to proceed with the work. The greatest joy, however, came from being wowed by my classmates’ works and listening to their own processes. There was always so much to be learned during these debriefing moments and I found them essential to the gift of the class: the discovery of one’s creative logic.
Creativity is indeed problem-solving, and to be bombarded with this task everyday – to keep finding solutions and exploring possibilities – is both a blessing and responsibility that every artist learns to nurture and carry with a smile.
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Working with three-dimensional forms has opened me up to the world of in-the-round – appreciating art from different viewpoints. This is a vital mindset to cultivate as an artist, even if one decides to pursue the path of flat or decorative art, because it reminds us to always think of the viewer or receiver of our art: they are varied and their interpretation of our art is always based on their context.
Documentation and presentation are also vital lessons learned this first semester, and I hope to develop them as healthy habits in the creative process.
Plan to blog the rest of that portfolio in bite-size posts, but if you want a peep into what a semester in UP Fine Arts is like and are up for a read (it’s 60 pages long!), sharing the rest of it below: