Who Am I As a Visual Artist?
My strengths as an artist
I feel that as an artist, I like to give a lot of meaning for the work that I create. I tend to appreciate things more after I hear about the artifacts’ meaning and backstory. For example, when I hear classical music, and learn about how the music came about, I tend to feel like I understand the music more and have more of an appreciation for it.
For the visual arts, I feel that I have an open imagination that lets my mind explore and create many unique works of art.
History of Art in my Life
When I was younger, my mom had got me involved in many different dance classes. I was exposed to hula during the summers, and I also took Okinawan dance classes for 5 years. My mom really forced me into going to dance classes so much that I felt forced into it and did not enjoy it. After quitting dance classes, I was interested in taking music classes in its place. I attempted doing taiko, but I had horrible hand eye coordination and rhythm. Then I wanted to learn how to play koto. Koto is a long rectangle hollow instrument with 13 strings. I was so impressed with how people played it, and the sound that it made. I was so intrigued that I took up lessons and have been playing since I was 10. After high school, I stopped going to practice, but have recently returned back to playing. My sensei had explained the meaning and culture behind the songs that we play, and I feel that with knowing the meaning behind the song, I put a lot more appreciation for the piece. This Okinawan music and culture is a big part of my art life.
Goals for Myself and How I will achieve it!
One goal that I have is that I want to learn how to incorporate art into all of the subjects! I feel that art is a very hands-on subject, and very engaging for the students. Plus, most of the projects that I remember doing in elementary school kind of stick to me because we had to apply what we learned into an art form.
How I will achieve this goal is that I will try to think outside of the box, and think of what will be best for my students. The school that I’m at right now uses a lot of worksheets daily. My goal is to try to replace some of those worksheets with a more engaging activity that will help the students gain a more meaningful understanding.
My second goal as a visual artist is that I want to learn how to teach art with a variety of resources around me! I would like to try to incorporate art using different technologies in the classroom. We are in an era where technology is growing so fast, and the students are really engaged when using different means of technology to learn!
I want to explore the different technology resources that the school offers and familiarize myself with it more so that I could possibly use it in a lesson that will be hands on and different from the traditional lessons.
My third goal as a visual artist is that I want to explore different art materials. I’m so used to the basic crayons and markers. I haven’t really used watercolors, craypods, paint, etc. I want to break out of my traditional mode and explore, with the students, different types of art materials. I think I have to explore with different materials before I go into the classroom and introduce them, so I guess I will have to make a trip to Fisher’s to explore their art section!
I feel that as an artist, I like to give a lot of meaning for the work that I create. I tend to appreciate things more after I hear about the artifacts’ meaning and backstory. For example, when I hear classical music, and learn about how the music came about, I tend to feel like I understand the music more and have more of an appreciation for it.
For the visual arts, I feel that I have an open imagination that lets my mind explore and create many unique works of art.
History of Art in my Life
When I was younger, my mom had got me involved in many different dance classes. I was exposed to hula during the summers, and I also took Okinawan dance classes for 5 years. My mom really forced me into going to dance classes so much that I felt forced into it and did not enjoy it. After quitting dance classes, I was interested in taking music classes in its place. I attempted doing taiko, but I had horrible hand eye coordination and rhythm. Then I wanted to learn how to play koto. Koto is a long rectangle hollow instrument with 13 strings. I was so impressed with how people played it, and the sound that it made. I was so intrigued that I took up lessons and have been playing since I was 10. After high school, I stopped going to practice, but have recently returned back to playing. My sensei had explained the meaning and culture behind the songs that we play, and I feel that with knowing the meaning behind the song, I put a lot more appreciation for the piece. This Okinawan music and culture is a big part of my art life.
Goals for Myself and How I will achieve it!
One goal that I have is that I want to learn how to incorporate art into all of the subjects! I feel that art is a very hands-on subject, and very engaging for the students. Plus, most of the projects that I remember doing in elementary school kind of stick to me because we had to apply what we learned into an art form.
How I will achieve this goal is that I will try to think outside of the box, and think of what will be best for my students. The school that I’m at right now uses a lot of worksheets daily. My goal is to try to replace some of those worksheets with a more engaging activity that will help the students gain a more meaningful understanding.
My second goal as a visual artist is that I want to learn how to teach art with a variety of resources around me! I would like to try to incorporate art using different technologies in the classroom. We are in an era where technology is growing so fast, and the students are really engaged when using different means of technology to learn!
I want to explore the different technology resources that the school offers and familiarize myself with it more so that I could possibly use it in a lesson that will be hands on and different from the traditional lessons.
My third goal as a visual artist is that I want to explore different art materials. I’m so used to the basic crayons and markers. I haven’t really used watercolors, craypods, paint, etc. I want to break out of my traditional mode and explore, with the students, different types of art materials. I think I have to explore with different materials before I go into the classroom and introduce them, so I guess I will have to make a trip to Fisher’s to explore their art section!
Handmade with Love
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The first artifacts I chose are cards that I made using my cricut machine. The machine cuts out the different templates, but you kind of have to put the pieces together, and go through different cartridges to find different designs to put one card together. Also, you have to find a nice color theme that would match the design that you’re trying to put together. When I first got my machine, I was very much into creating different cards, and wanted to make a card for every occasion possible! Although, I soon realized that it was very time consuming and got more into making gift tags. (Last picture, dinosaurs) They were a lot faster, and came out just as cute! What I do like about creating cards from the cricut is that the cards end up being unique, and something that you can’t buy from the store. Also, I feel that people who receive them, appreciate it a little more because they know that it was a customized card that had a lot of love go into making it! When I have time, I like to bring out my cricut machine and just create different things!
My Art Role Model
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This is my sister, Tasha, and between the two of us, she is the more artsy sister. She has her BA in arts, and took many photography classes. Tasha is the one that got me to realize that “A picture is worth a thousand words.” With having to do many photography projects, she usually dragged me in to helping her. We never saw any of her end results until after she graduated, and many of her photo projects were really great! She would spend long nights in the photo lab, and sometimes wouldn't even come home, unless it was to take a shower before class. I now realize that art and photography are my sister’s outlet, and that is what she used to express herself. That is what she found in life to help her cope with the many things that were going on around her. My sister is the one that helped me realize how much time and effort and artist puts into their work, and why we should take the time to admire and appreciate a person’s work when they choose to put it on display. That is why my sister is a part of my artifact collection.
Koto - Okinawan Instrument
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This is a picture of my koto and music book. I started playing when I was 10 years old. When I was younger, I used to want to play because it looked really interesting, and one of my cousins played it too. Koto is an instrument that has 13 strings, and you play it with three picks. (the red things on top of the book) Through playing koto, I learned patience and appreciation for the Okinawan culture. I also learned a lot of different songs, and their meaning behind it, and the reason to why we play certain songs at specific performances. During the performances, we also have to dress up in kimonos, and depending of the time of the year, we wear different things. I feel that performances are a part of the visual arts because we have to almost play a certain role while performing for the audience. This is what links me to my culture and helps me appreciate it more. I also found that playing the koto turned out to be my outlets, and I ended up looking forward to going to practices every Sunday mornings. I notice that when I come out of practice, I feel really relaxed and just… happy! I really enjoy music, and I wish that I were more musically inclined to play a variety of instruments.