Artist Statement

     In the past four years that I have been here at the Boston Arts Academy I have grown so much as an artist. I came into BAA not knowing all of the amazing art pieces that I could create with different types of media. With risk taking and exploring new media that were introduced to me I was able to develop art work that I am proud of. My process over time has changed dramatically in the planning and creation of an art project. I take the time to do thumbnails in different compositions to see which one is the best, most appealing and interesting. As I work I stand back to look at my work, because I have learned that you can't really see the way an art piece looks by being so close up.
     I used to steer myself away from messing up and starting over, by not doing things I knew nothing about. As I learned and grew in my art I saw that starting over is okay because it lead me to learning new techniques and another way of approaching and art piece. There is the process of jumping into the piece and then there is the process of planning out, drawing it out. Each way has given me something new to hold onto and use in my new art piece. Here in the art department we are taught that there is no such thing as failure when? making mistakes. I didn't believe this at first but now I understand that the things that I had called mistakes are just practice pieces, making me ready for the next art project.
    In my senior year I have chosen to really step outside my comfort zone, trying new media such as making art on the computer. I developed three symbolic pieces, each telling a story about a part of my life. The one thing that I really admire about art is the way I am able to tell a story visually. I learned being successful in art is not based on whether the art piece is good or not but what lesson you take from the process. To succeed is accepting the piece as it is and knowing I tried my best, that I put in all the time and effort I possibly could.
    I hope that as I move on to college that I will continue to do art, even if I do not major in it. I want to never forget what I can create and tell such beautiful stories, to connect to other types of art as I do with visual art, to be able to know that I can be successful in anything, if I am willing to learn and accept things the way they are.

JR Portraits

 JR- semi anonymous work is not only about taking people's portraits and displaying then in various places around the world, his photographs give people an in sight to how people  all across the world live. JR takes an enormous amount of risk when he reveals his work for everyone to see. He allows people to respond to them, and this response can be negative or positive. There is no way of  knowing until the images are finally revealed. He has change the world through art by forcing people to see what is happening in the world with the gigantic faces that he mounts on walls of buildings in places like China, Kenya, India and many more places. JR's ability to be able to spread his idea, thought being ''sponsor- free'' is in it self amazing. It shows how dedicated he is to his work, and how bad he wants people to be apart of the same experience, he himself experience everyday. His massive photograph can not be ignored, the way he shows his portraits is brilliant and creative because they are like murals rather than regular photos in a portfolio. There is nothing regular about his photos.

Where have you been as an artist? Where are you going?

      My art piece was sketched out in pencil, and then colored in with black marker. I wanted to create an art piece that was centered around  illusion as my theme. The illusion would be created by using one basic shape and one basic color, rectangles, and black. I love to use shapes in my art work.

 I have developed, a love for patterns, and now am exploring illusion. My art piece represents my past, how I came into the Boston Arts Academy, as a little artist, doing abstract work, not even knowing what the word ''abstract'' meant, but using shapes, and patterns to display my love for abstract design. This art piece also represent where I am going, I want to advance my abstract gift, making shapes as illusion, and 3D sculptures, making a place in the world for my way of thinking, and creating art.

Why is my art piece  mostly black and white?

      I believe that if you use less colors, and one bold color like black, then the art piece can pop out at you, and pull the audience attention. This is not always true about art, but I think it works for my art piece. I also think that basic shapes, like rectangles, and squares can be designed to be boldly in your face, I wanted my work to be bold and daring. Although I did have a vision for what I wanted this piece of art work to look like, I did not know how it was going to turn out. The little open boxes that are actually 3D, were suppose to be what I take, and what I put into life, and in my art work. I wanted to show that I am constantly opening up new chapters in my life, with art, goals and, dreams.

My Second Art Piece

  I am almost done with my second art piece. I have done another opart inspired art piece of the inside of Children Hospital, my first art piece was the outside entrance of Children Hospital.

      I am working on using more color in my work, the colors that I have chosen to use in this art piece are bright colors that are welcoming and playful. Children Hospital is a very colorful place and here I am trying to convey that. For my senior year of high school I want to use shapes in my art work to create images, because shapes can make beautiful designs, that can portray a theme in an abstract way. I think that this art piece is successful, because I it show my theme ( artist and patient ) really well. I wanted to make a more complex design then my first art piece, and I feel like I have, I used more shapes, also more colors.

My Next Art Piece

 I have recently went to Childern Hospital to take pictures of the inside of the building, because I will be doing a design based on the inside of Children Hospital.   

I am also looking at opart designs to give me some idea on how creative I can be with basic shapes.

Art Piece One is Completed

     The process for this first art piece was stressful, I started over three time, because I was not satisfied with the out come of the others. The other three unfinished art pieces were done by hand, and were different scale sizes. Although the scale size did change the theme was the same, patient and artist.
     My final attempt to do this art piece took a different turn, I ended up drawing my image on the computer in photo shop and printing the images on glossy photo paper.  The first three attempts I was going to draw the inside  and outside of Children Hospital on the same piece of paper, but that did not work out. I struggle to find enough space for both the inside and outside of Children hospital, so I decided to only do the outside using basic shapes.
     The style of my piece is based on opart, the use of patterns and shapes, it has a kaleidoscope affect when you look at it. The color of the piece is suppose to make the shapes pop out.
     From this piece and this process I have learned that good work needs a lot of time a effort, and sometime you need to start over to achieve the look and meaning you want your art piece to have. Also that good work sometime comes with stress, but you have to keep going even if at the end the art piece is a complete failure. Another thing I've learned is that I love working on photo shop, design my piece on the computer.
     My next piece will be the inside of Children Hospital, using basic shapes. This piece will be more complex, and bigger in size compared to my first piece. It will also be based on opart.

In the Process: Where I Am Now

My Idea for my first art piece, abstract building of Children's Hospital has not changed, but the scale of which I am working in has changed. Instead of drawing big I decided to go a little bit smaller, so that I can include more details in the piece. If I would have decided to stay big I would have been unable to put as much detail that I want. Working big, and having a lot of details would take so much time, time that I wish I could give, because my theme, patient, and artist is really important to me.

I have started over two time now, the first piece the craft, and the idea was not well done. The craft was an extreme failure, because when I cut into it, the cuting was not straight lines at all, and at that point I felt like it could not be saved. I know that we are asked to make one failure piece, and this art piece might be that piece, but at the same time I want to make it the best failure piece ever. I want it to look like I put all that I had into it. I want it to be such a failure that it can actrually be called a success.                                          

 My second start over was me working bigger then I wanted to do, so I picked a smaller piece of paper to work on. My idea has to be perfectly drawn, or the viewers will not understand it. I am drawing to picture on

one piece of paper the inside, and the outside of Children's Hospital. Although they will share the same space I still want each scene to be understandable, and at the same time still have the scenes connect to each other.

WHERE I AM NOW:

It may not seem like a lot, but I am taking it a step at a time.