1) The student created three artworks and one additional piece based on the theme of "cloud" using different materials and printmaking techniques. 2) For one artwork, the student traced a cloud and person onto lino and carved the designs to create a print. They received feedback on layout from their teacher. 3) The student reflected on successes and areas for improvement, such as supporting a weak area in their 3D artwork, and said they enjoyed experimenting with different artistic approaches.

1. Art Reflection – Cloud<br />In this semester of art our topic is called ‘Cloud’. We are asked to do three multi-media artworks that are related to the topic, cloud, and one or two things to go with cloud. We are also required to use carve the cloud and that one other thing with lino for printmaking. I think this topic is very wide, which we can come up with many different varieties of ideas. Since this is a multi media project, I learned and used many different materials that I don’t normally use, and I also experiment different ways of making an artwork.<br />03192780As always we started are project with a lot of research, we researched on Guan Wei, I learned that he is a artist that uses clouds to express his thoughts and feelings. After research, I started to create my own artwork. I drew down all my ideas, and at the end I chose the ones that I like the most. I drew my cloud, person, and the building design in bigger sized on other pages. And then Ms. Mercer helped me photocopy them in to A3 size. Ms. Mercer also helped me to cut down two pieces of lino, one for the cloud and the other one for the person. I taped the carbon paper on to the lino, and then I put the A3 paper on top of it. To stop the paper from moving, I also taped the paper on to the lino. Then I used pencil to trace lines and the pattern of the cloud and the person on to the lino. After I took the A3 paper and the carbon paper off, the lines I traced are on the lino. I followed the line on the lino to carve it using the wood carving tools. There are two different sizes of the carving tools. The smaller tool’s carving blade is narrower, and the bigger tool’s blade is wider, so the lines it carved out are thicker. I started caving to cloud with the small size tool. However, I think when I do the printing the pattern won’t show up very with the small size tool, therefore I changed into the bigger size tool. After some lessons I finished carving the person, the building, and the cloud. Then I drew all my ideas of the artworks down to my art book. And then I chose the best ones and started to make it. The first one is called ‘The acid rain’, the second one gives people a creepy feeling, my third artwork is in 3D, and I decided to make my 4th artwork on lost hour of the ‘Cloud Exhibition’ open.<br />I think my overall artworks are very successful, even though one of them didn’t start off very will. My second artwork didn’t start off very will because of the choice of colours. I chose to print white city and black person on an orangey-pink paper, and it doesn’t look nice. Therefore I used that artwork and do an experiment on it. I mixed paint with water to make it watery. Then I used a brush to splatter the paint on to the artwork, and then I glued it on to a purple piece of paper as a border. I mixed black and water and drip the paint down form the top of the artwork. After all that, I have successfully rescued it, and finally looks more like an artwork. <br />On my first artwork there are five black strips on the black paper. While I was making thicker white strips to put on the black background, I have difficulty deciding how many white strips will look the best when I glue on to the background. Therefore I asked Ms. Mercer and Ji Yoon for suggestions, and they both think three strips look very nice. And then I came up with another idea. I could put the white strips on the two sides of the black background, since the black strips are in the middle of the artwork. I asked Ms. Mercer on how she feels about my new ideas, however she personally thinks it is nicer to have the white strips in the middle as well. This way it will let people to have all of their focus in the middle of the artwork.<br />I think I need some improvement on the 3D artwork. The first reason is that the wooden sticks I glued on are falling, so I needed to add another wooden stick and another plastic stick to support it and stop it from falling. I think my 3D artwork didn’t look as nice as I thought I would be with many sticks sticking out. Another reason that I think I still need some improvement because after the exhibition all the building are curved and it looks like it’s falling apart. I think one of the easiest ways that I could do to stop the building from curving is to add a thin cardboard on the back of the building, like what we did for the pictures inside the Retablo.<br />I think ‘The acid rain’ is the most effective artwork in describing an environmental issue. From my title of the artwork it is obvious that it is related to acid rain. The black and white strips are representing the acid rain. And the building underneath the strips represent the city we are living in. I chose to use the colour black and the colour white for the strips to give people a serious and depress feeling with the fact of acid rain is falling down into the place we live in.<br />My 3D project is very challenging, but also very interesting. It is very challenging because this is the first time I have made such a big artwork using cardboard boxes. Also I have glued the three cardboard boxes in a way that it has some large rectangular holes. However, two of the holes are too close together, which makes the parts in between the two holes very weak. It was a challenging to make that weak part not falling down. In the beginning I glued newspaper on to the weak part to try to stronger it, but it didn’t work. Therefore I tried with gluing normal paper on to the weak part to make it thinker and stronger. Finally I stopped falling down after I put on several layers.<br />I think I am a thinker, and knowledgeable in the learner profile, because I used my knowledge to think of a way to solve my problem. In the area of interaction I think I fit in to approaches to learning, because I know the best way I learn to by doing or making something, which I did for all units in art. I have enjoyed this topic very must, because I have done some experiment of the ways of making an artwork.<br />