Final Thoughts
When I began my career in the DRHSART program I had a goal in mind of where I wanted to end up as an artist and designer. As a went into sophomore year I worked with more installation to branch out from traditional work such as drawing and painting. By doing this I began to think more about how my work fit into space which better prepared me for my senior show. Even though I loved working with installation I didn't feel a connection to my work and was looking for something that would inspire me more than the structured forms I was developing. As I went into junior year, which was my first experience with the Art 45 class, I was extremely confused and unmotivated. With so much free time in between critiques it became easy for me to slack off during class and blame my laziness on a lack creativity and inspiration. During the end of junior year however I began to make the work that I was most proud of, or the only work I had been proud of my entire high school art career. Large wooden squares layered with balsa wood and covered in spray paint were my first experience with work that I was willing to put in my senior show. Into the summer before senior year I had the opportunity to take the VCUArts intensive for graphic design which expanded my knowledge and taught me the importance of the process. This process continued into my senior year as I have been making work that is entirely focused on the fundamentals of graphic design including color, typography, and position. Working with all scales and several different types of mediums has been my goal since the beginning of high school as well as becoming more involved with graphic design and I was glad to have achieved both in my senior show.
It is hard to think back to a time during my art career in which I struggled and it is not because I didn't struggle during my career as an art student at DRHS. It is because I did have a very difficult time reaching my creative goals in the earlier stages of my artistic life especially when I was given complete freedom to create whatever work I chose. I never felt like an artist. I have always felt like a designer and with a design oriented mind I didn't know how to function in an art class where critique was every four weeks and you were expected to figure out your own creative process with enough time to create something to present to the class. This was very difficult for me during my first year of Art 45 and it took me that whole year and the summer after to find my creative process and make work I was proud of.
My most memorable experience from the DRHSART program was more of a series of moments from each year in my Digital Media classes. Each year my class was shown the documentary of Helvetia. During my sophomore year I slept through most of it, my junior year I began to understand the fundamentals of the typeface, and during my senior year I had a complete revelation about how monumental this typeface was during a moment in time and how it changed the face of graphic design for generations after its creation. As I look back at this process I realize that I have become more of a designer than I thought during this program. My only advice for the future artists of DRHSART would be to keep the motivation and the creative drive even when stress and other assignments get in the way. Make as much work as you can during your time here because the more you make the more you learn.
In creating any exhibition there are little details that go into making it a success. Organization is crucial when creating a gallery space and knowledge in design and placement is extremely beneficial in a clean show. If I had the
opportunity to do the show again I would take more time to plan beforehand and collaborate with my partner to work out any kinks
with enough time to create a more organized
and stress-free show.
I did a lot of planning concerning the placement of the work around the hallway and what
would be included but didn’t put much thought into the name of the show or how I would advertise it until a few weeks before. If I had unlimited time and resources I would
make the show as clean as possible by fully covering the walls and sanding them before the week of the show. I would also clean the
floors and surrounding gallery space so that the focus would truly be on the work. If I had
taken more time to brainstorm about how to advertise the show to the rest of the school there would have been a better turnout.
I learned a lot about creating a gallery space and designing the work in the best possible way so it could be viewed to its fullest potential. Making sure that future students who are
planning to have a show are thinking thoughtfully and are ready for the challenge of collaborating with one of their peers to make clean
and organized show is the best way to prepare. By making cards and videos that played
on the morning announcement the show had a decent turnout considering the other events that were happening at the same time. The
concern that there would be snow during the week of the show was extremely stressful because of the late start we had setting up the wall and deciding the placement of the work. Starting the wall earlier would have eased some of the stress and allowed us to take more time working on advertisements for the show.
Design has always focused on placement and the designer's ability to convey a message but there is a great deal of intuition that plays a role in design. During the critic many of my peers looked at design as a math equation with the simple explanation that good design can be planned and executed without much thought. In my opinion this is not the case. Each designer works with their own intuition and study of the art form to inspire their design. Yes, design is planned and deliberate but there is a great deal of the designer's intuition that is placed into each work they make.
Studying the great designers is an amazing way to learn more about design but learning the techniques that they used would be more beneficial. Instead of simply copying one work from a designer, we could study their design techniques to inspire our own work using the layout, type, color, position and technique that they used.
After this project I see even more of a need for young artists to know the ways of design and understand why they are beneficial. I think the only way to become a well-rounded artist is to have an appreciation for all art forms and a clear understanding of how art and design can benefit each other.
I would have thought more about the content of my design if I were to recreate this project. Changing parts of the original design and using my own inspiration would have made my work more of a reflection of myself as a designer.