Final Reflections

As this year is coming to a close I have been looking back on how I have grown throughout the year. One really important decision was taking art class. Although I am really tight with time at the end of the year, taking it was a really good idea. Everyday I could come to art class and forget about all the other stressful classes I have and just enjoy myself. I could really open up my mind and see the slightly creative side that I never thought I had. I amazed myself with the works I created this year and it was a big feeling of accomplishment. My favorite thing all year had to of been either the lantern or my short story based painting. Cutting paper was a really sick technique that I'm happy I learned. Investigating and learning about Keith Haring's life was really cool and I got to learn what life of a professional artist was like. Wrapping it all together in the end by sewing the works together into a book was a great idea because I know I will always have my book. The relationships I developed with Mak, Matty, Trish, Mrs. Kiick, and the rest of my classmates are amazing and I'm happy I got to become closer with all of these people. This class was a great experience and I am going to always remember it. Everyone should find their creative side on them and this class helped me do just that.

Slideshow

An overview of this sick year of art class. Its been real fun.

art - slideshow

A Day in Wrightsville Beach

I woke up in the morning to the sound of seagulls out my window. It was spring break and a chilly April morning, around 50 degrees. The rest of the town is silent; mainly because it is pretty much empty. Our 4 mile island is really a summer destination and not many people live here in the winter. Nevertheless, I love where I live. Between the peaceful island, my close friends, and the waves all to ourselves, I would say we have it pretty lucky. Wrightsville is a great place to live.

I throw on jeans and a hoodie and walk down to Oceanic Pier to check the waves. The ocean is less than a block from my house. The waves are chest high and clean. A couple guys are out already but I don't recognize them. They probably go to UNCW and ditched their AM class to catch some waves. I put on my 4/3 and paddle out. After about 10 minutes my friend Chandler paddled out too. We enjoyed some clean barrels for about 2 hours and then I checked my watch. It was 11:30 and I had work at Vito's Pizza at 12! I hurried home and showered really quick. I hopped in my skateboard and headed to work.

The curbs in Wrightsville are slanted up like ramps so you can practice your turns on them and can get better at surfing just from skating. The roads are also paved which makes them real easy to ride on. There is no need to worry about traffic because there are very little cars on the island. The people who do live here are at work and there are not many tourists at this time of year. I get to work 5 mins late but my boss is cool with it. Business is slow during the offseason and my boss knew the waves were good because he surfs too. Work is boring but there is a surf movie on the tv so I watch that. It is called Dark Fall. It's a movie about surfers from New Jersey and their surfing through the cold snowy winters and flat summers. I couldn't imagine living there. I can barely stand the 40 degree days in January. My boss lets me off early and it gives me a couple of hours to surf before dark. I grab a slice of pizza and a Pibb Xtra and then hurry home on my skateboard.

I was a little disappointed when I saw that the waves were choppy. The winds went onshore and there were a lot of college kids now surfing in the water. I paddled back out anyway but didn't stay out for much more than an hour. I was pretty upset with how I surfed and wanted to clear my head. I called my friend Taylor and we went to the bay to watch the sunset. It was beautiful like always and I realized how lucky I was to live here in Wrightsville. Living in the peaceful paradise that I get to call home.

Hollow Bowls

Every other year HTHS holds magnificent fundraiser for the hungry people of South Jersey, the Empty Bowls Dinner. This year I was lucky enough to contribute and create bowls for the dinner. After 3 weeks of molding, firing, and glazing the bowls, we created over 600 bowls, plates, platters, etc. I made a couple of decent bowls and got to see tons of amazing bowls too. All profits from this dinner will go towards the food bank of South Jersey and will feed hundreds of hungry citizens all across Camden, Gloucester, Burlington, Salem, Atlantic, and Cape May Counties. This was a really good experience and I am really glad I got to be a part of a fundraiser for such an important cause.

Selfie

Currently I am working on my blind contour self portrait. It is a work in progress at the moment but it is really coming along well. The questions I had to answer about myself were surprisingly challenging and took some thought, however, I eventually answered them. I'm planning to build them into my blind contour with drawings, words, and symbols. I'm excited to see what the finished portrait looks like.

Cutting Paper

Our first task of the second marking period was to make cut paper lanterns. I was a little uneasy on the cut paper art at first, but it ended up being my favorite thing we have done so far this year. We got to do it on a season and I choose the beach, so my season was summer. The biggest challenge was drawing and cutting out the wave. It was really a challenge but eventually I got it down and made a pretty good wave. The project brought me back memories of the beach and has me looking forward to summer and Ocean City. What started off as a mind boggling challenge, ended with pure enjoyment and accomplishment.

Midterm Artist - Keith Haring

As I resarched artists form the list I was given, one artist really stuck out to me. This artist is Keith Haring. I really enjoy the colors that he uses in his artwork and the simplicity of it. At the same time each piece of art is very unique and different from the others. Most of his artwork also has meaning behind it. He is very famous for displaying the awareness of AIDS in his later pieces from the time he was diagnosed with AIDS up until his death. His artwork is shown all around and there is a very good chance that anyone reading this post would have seen some sort of his artwork in your life. Haring's artwork, which may seem simple, is filled with messages and meaning. The Keith Haring Foundation was created to keep up the awareness of AIDS, and to help prevent the disease. Haring created and published his artwork from 1978 until his death in 1990. He made tons of awesome things over these 13 years including drawings, editions, paintings, and scluptures. My favorite piece would have to be the skateboards that he drew on in 1986. The artwork is really sick and its on a skateboard deck which is something I like to do. Skateboarding was also starting to become very popular around this time. Haring is a inspiration to many including myself; thanks to the help of many, his artwork lives on and is still very popular today, 23 years after his death.   http://www.haring.com/!/introduction