Quality Producer and Complex Thinker:   

   

At the beginning of my junior year, I had been excited to create my own AP art portfolio for the first time, but that excitement turned into anxiety and frustration a few weeks in. I was really stuck, not completing pieces on time, switching topics of inquiry, and overall not seeing any quality work come out from my efforts. I almost gave up after my first portfolio idea failed, seeing as I had never come up on such a large block in my artistic process before. A few months had already gone by, and I decided to do a self portrait study to get my mind off of my then failing art portfolio. It was just pure luck that I decided to do the self portrait in realism, and after I completed the piece I realized that there was a spark there that had not been there previously in my art that year. That piece helped me make the decision to pivot my portfolio into a new direction- new medium, new references, new ideas. And as soon as I had the framework put in place, I realized how helpful the class was for pushing me forward as an artist. Sure, I disliked having to go through the revision process, but in the end I became a much more skilled and thoughtful artist out of it. During my first portfolio idea, I hated the idea of thumbnail sketching and practice pieces, they always seemed like a waste of skill and time to me. I realized after that those stepping stones of the revision process are what actually creates great art- the revision process identifies what problems there are within the piece so the artist can target what needs to be improved on or fixed. Without that process, I never actually grew as an artist. After learning those problem solving skills, I realized that my inability to accept revision as one of the most important parts of the creative process had stopped me from improving my art for many years. I used to quit the second I ran into a roadblock with an art piece, and that was why my original portfolio idea was not working. The way the AP art portfolio requirements are set up, my only option was to incorporate revision into my process, and I am forever thankful for that. After that, I was able to adapt and revise my art more and more as the year continued, and my finished portfolio was the representation of my newly formed mindset and resilience in my creative process. Doing an art portfolio for two years now has helped me embrace revision and the lifelong- learning perspective that truly helped promote my growth and expansion as an artist and person.

 

 

Effective Communicators and Collaborative Workers:

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Collaboration is one of the most important things for creative and innovative people to have, which is something I was lacking up until my junior year AP art class. AP art is so much more different than a regular studio art class, it's a choice. It's a class full of artists, serious ones, who are skilled and want to pursue art in one way or the other. Going into that class, I struggled a lot with my own self worth as an artist, because I was surrounded with so many people who seemed to have better skills, better ideas, and better art. I avoided interacting with a lot of people in that class because of that, I felt defeated and unworthy of achieving my goals for my portfolio that year. About a couple months into the course, we had our first critique of the year, where we had to share one of our finished pieces to the class and have a discussion around it. I greatly disliked the idea, and was dreading my turn because I didn't feel like my art was good enough to be there. When my turn eventually came around, I was a nervous wreck, and I rushed through my explanation of my piece and waited for what I thought would be harsh critiques on my art to come spilling out from the audience. I was surprised to hear enthusiastic compliments of my work and supportive comments surrounding my ideas, some from some of the best artists in the class. There were also suggestions on what to work on, but they were kindly worded and supportive, not harsh like I thought they would be. After that day, I felt so much more sure of myself and my art, and through the community support I felt like I could really improve and achieve my goals for the class. It gave me the confidence I needed to communicate with others to ask for artistic advice, and to give supportive, instructive feedback to others who asked too. We all collaborated together to foster a community focused on artistic growth and constructive communication, and it affected me greatly as a person and an artist. Through the practice of art critiques I really felt like I was supported and belonged somewhere for the first time. The support really helped me realize what qualities I wanted to keep with me going into an art career, and how important effective communication and collaboration was to creating strong, growth oriented environments.

 

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Well- Rounded Individuals and Community Contributors:

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In my two years of AP art, I had done many art shows as a part of the class, but Volunteering for the setup of the 2024 STEAM Expo really made me realize the importance of being a Community contributor. I was intending to help set up the STEAM Expo with other AP art students last year, but I wasn’t able to attend, so this year's Expo was my first time setting up at a non-school led event. The pressure was on to get in and out in one day before the Expo started, and we only had ten or so people helping with our entire school's art exhibit. Although the day was stressful, it helped me learn the importance of community participation and communication. During the setup, we had to work together as a team to carefully handle other people's artwork, and to display it in a way that portrayed the importance of each piece. Although there was stress, we all took the initiative to brainstorm and work together to figure out the layout, considering everyone's opinions and ideas. If we hadn’t taken the time to listen to each other's perspectives, it would have been extremely disorganized. Before I went to this event, I always felt like slowing down in a stressful situation was worse to do, but since having this experience I saw how beneficial it was. Everything ran so smoothly, and if there were any problems that came up, we came together as a community, throwing ideas off of each other to see what would work. One of the things I was tasked with was helping a friend set up her own personal exhibit, which included a large 3D tree we had to assemble together at the site. Although it was a daunting task, the three of us took responsibility for it right away, and we ended up finishing it in time. We all worked together and brainstormed the best way to display her art pieces while also incorporating her 3D tree. There were some times where we had different opinions on what would look best, but we approached the differences in a respectful manner and worked it out together. The STEAM Expo was an experience that widened my appreciation for the wonderful art community I was in, and it taught me the importance of respectful and appreciative communication in the art space. Using those skills will further my efficiency in Expo’s I do in the future, as well as creating a respectful, active listening environment in my future art ventures.