For this week’s blog post, I want to talk about the projects I’m working on. I’m currently enrolled in 3 art classes: Sculpture I, Ceramics III, and Digital Design. I’ve never taken this many art classes at a time, and it can get overwhelming sometimes. Especially these past couple of weeks, between a creative block and losing progress on one of my projects, I’ve been unmotivated and falling behind. But I’ve still been progressing and can share what I’ve been up to.
Sculpture I
In Sculpture, I’ve been working on the same project the entire semester, but it’s going well. The concept was to create a wooden sculpture in a more modern style. Still, our professor, Stephen Colley, is great and allows us to take creative liberties with that idea. So, Colley wanted us to make smaller-scale “sketches” before enlarging them and provided some small pieces of wood to construct them. I didn’t go with a specific idea, so it was mostly trial and error. I made a small sculpture and wanted to add even more to it. I made two arches, one from a sheet of wood and one from smaller pieces of wood glued together. I experimented a lot with the orientation of the smaller Sculpture within the arches, and when I found the orientation I liked, I made a base for the Sculpture to sit on. Then it was finished, and Colley let me display it in the pop-up art show currently on view in the Kresge Gallery for the rest of February 2025.
Colley and I both really liked the construction of the arc that was made of the smaller wooden pieces, and he had an idea completely different from the “sketch” I constructed. He quickly sketched a letter M and explained how I could use a similar style to the arc to fill in the shape. I liked his idea and wanted to give it a go, so I started to play around. We cut out the pieces I would need to build the outside shape, and then I had an idea to make the inside pieces have a windowed center so that there was a bit more unity. I started messing around with the assemblage of the inside, this time with a larger variety of pieces. Instead of having clean-cut rectangles to work with, this time, I went into the wood shop and collected the scrap wood that was sitting around. I had endless ways to assemble the pieces, so it took me quite a while to figure out how I liked them the most. For my next class period, I want to see how colored glass might look in the mix. My project isn’t entirely done yet, but I’ve been working towards a piece that I really love.
Ceramics III
In Ceramics, we’re given a lot of freedom with what we want to do. For the first couple of weeks, Mark Chuck wanted us to just get back into the flow of ceramics and mess around. Then, after those few weeks, we started learning how to make specific vessels like bowls, pitchers, and mugs. We were also assigned a self-portrait project, for which I have a lot of ideas. I’m supposed to have a lot more done than I do, but I’ve been letting my perfectionism shine through too much. So I don’t have anything other than some ideas. For the self-portrait project, I want to throw a nice-sized pot and then add some embellishments on the outside. I’m not the greatest at sculpting things out of clay, but I thought it would be a good challenge. I want to include a ladybug, a cardinal, a sand dollar, a soda can, a star, a paw print, letters and numbers, and some other things that represent who I am. I tried to carve into one of the pots I already made, but it was too dry, so I’m excited to make another one so I can start messing around with it.
Digital Design
Digital Design is one of the more structured art classes I’ve had at Marywood. We have a specific schedule to follow, and Sue Jenkins does a lot of demonstrations in class. I’ve appreciated this attention to detail because digital art is out of my comfort zone. This past week, our second project of the semester, self-portraits, was due for our critique. As the procrastinator I unfortunately am, I was working on it into the waking hours of the morning. Unbeknownst to me, there was a reboot of the AppsAnywhere system we use to access Adobe Illustrator. I lost everything I had been working on all morning. So, I need to refinish my portrait and develop some sketches for our new project where we’re making gift tags. I’m very behind, but I’m trying to catch myself back up.
So, hopefully, in the next few days, I’ll be able to catch myself back up across the board. I have a lot of work to do, but I’m excited to execute some of the concepts I’ve been thinking about for a while. That’s all I’ve got for now, but I hope to have some updates for you soon. Have a good week, everyone 🙂
-Jenna