Final Reflection (2025-2026)

This year, I've learned to adapt. I think I always knew that art was a process, but I struggled to have faith in that process. When I "messed up," I gave up. However, working with unfamiliar mediums and in different movements of art have consistently challenged my rigidity, and in 9 months, I feel that my self-proclaimed boundaries have been reformed significantly. I've learned to embrace mistakes and to remake accidents into intentional marks. While I was working on the Head portion of the Fantastic Four Home Project in preparation for the exams, there was a point where the cake looked very quite abysmal. I could've scrapped the piece (as I might have done last year), but I did not give up just yet. I tried to notice what I did like, and then I faithfully edited the cake until I felt confident in my final draft. I owe this faithfulness to our Abstract Expressionism unit, in which we were encouraged to allow change. Permitting emotion to guide one's hand meant that I when I stepped back to observe the painting, I was also forced to reconcile with any accidents that had occurred, from a lack of color intensity to repetitive and uninteresting brushwork. Having to constantly work and revise, I learned to adapt. Additionally, working in unfamiliar mediums— conte and acrylic paints, primarily— meant that I had to accept imperfection.

The area I feel needs most improvement is my understanding of composition. I think I still struggle to apply spatial concepts to my work, partly because I like to get on with the actual piece and partly because I can't always tell what the composition needs. I'd like to get to the point where the elements just come naturally to me, because I know how important composition is. Additionally, I think I need more practice with lighting and balancing light with dark. The artist copy assignment at the beginning of the year helped me develop a stronger sense of anatomy and mark-making, so I figured I could do a few more artist copies to better understand lighting or any other areas that require improvement.

As I move forward with my independent work, I think I'll keep my options open, but I don't think I'll be trying sculpting again. Unfortunately, though I learned a lot in our sculpture unit, I also realized that 3D does not seem to be my forte. However, I thoroughly enjoyed working with colored pencils in my own time and acrylic paint in class, so I think I'll continue doing so into next year. Overall, I feel that I have grown a lot as an artist. I'm beginning to refine my artistic vision and think about an overarching theme for my work. Working with so many materials and in so many different styles have taught me that there are infinite ways to express myself artistically, and I don't necessarily have to abide by conventional standards. This summer, I'm hoping to continue to explore different themes and mediums, so I can enter next year with a clear idea of what I want to do (yes, I know people usually spend Art 4 doing the thinking, but I want to submit an AP portfolio as soon as I can).