As we are finishing up the semester I thought one of the best ways to conclude my inquiry project would be to do a 2 part “finale.” One post that is more serious, and another that is just a bit more fun, as a little sendoff for this inquiry project.

In todays post, I have decided to reflect on everything I’ve done over the last few months, and answer a few questions that I have for myself, and that you may also have.

Q: What did I like best about this inquiry project?

I really liked that this project stretched me as an artist and made me branch out of my comfort zone. I know what I am good at, and I chose intentionally to stay away from anything that I already knew how to do, or felt confident in. Instead, I chose to look at things I had never really done before, or things I had avoided (like drawing people and faces). It was genuinely fun learning more about things like abstract art styles, or finding various different diagrams people have made that helped me learn how to draw a human body.

Q: What the worst part of this inquiry project?

It took too long. To be honest, I really wanted to keep my weekly re-creations as something I could complete in an hour, but every time it took around 3 hours at least, because I had to not only research the art style or medium, but also do the thing. With this in mind, I perhaps should have chosen something different just because of the time consuming nature of the assignment. However, there is a silver lining in this, as because art takes time, I was able to sort of shut my brain off and watch a movie while I worked, which is not something I can do while working on other assignments.

Q: What was my favourite recreation, and why?

I think of everything I did, my favourite recreation was by far the clay models. I enjoyed how really it was much more than just the clay. I had to create a diorama of the stage, using an old cardboard box, and paint it. In addition, I also wanted to try and recreate the lighting so I had punctured the box to let light through the top, and shone flashlights and blacklights on the diorama, mimicking stage lighting. All of these things together meant that this week’s recreation was so much more than just clay. It was a whole scene, and I thought that was really cool. I ended up taking so many pictures of this from plenty of angles and with different lighting and I really enjoyed that and seeing it all come together was great.

It was also very fun because of how comedically ugly the clay figures were. It really let 12 year old Jessica shine through.

Q: What did I learn from this experience?

I learned so much through this honestly, but I think one of the biggest things was just learning to be okay with public mediocrity. I had to be vulnerable, because this is not the kind of art that I do. I intentionally picked something that I knew I would struggle with. Yet, as a result of wanting to grow and challenge myself, I had to then put all of this kind of crappy art online for my classmates to see, which was really hard for me to do. I am a perfectionist, and I don’t like people seeing things that I have done if I am not proud of it, or if I do not think it is of good quality. So, this meant that I had to be okay with people seeing the mistakes, the good, the bad, and the ugly (im looking at you clay figures).

Looking back and reflecting on it all, I think I am proud of what I accomplished. I’m glad I got to do this even though it was challenging at times, or things didn’t always turn out the way I wanted. I also think that this really did help me to improve my artistic skills, and perhaps if I re-did some of these projects, they would be better this time around now that I’ve learned something. Hopefully, I can use the skills I’ve worked on this semester in future art projects and develop these techniques further.

If you would like to go back and see how I ended up here, look Here