User:JoannaKirkwood

Bio
My name is Joanna and I recently moved to Seattle due to my enrollment at the Art Institute of Seattle. I plan to earn my Bachelor Degree of Science in Fashion Marketing.

Always Wanted To Schedule

 * Topic: Knitting a scarf!


 * Research Component: I will be researching the history of knitting, which I am sure is hard to guess.. along with the different types of stitching


 * week 1: I will buy a book, or find somebody who is willing to teach me the basics of knitting. Also, I will research the history of knitting (exciting, right?)


 * week 2: Begin practicing different stitches, and if all goes well, possibly start my final scarf


 * week 3: Knitting while still researching


 * week 4: Knitting, and possibly still doing some research


 * week 5: Knitting.. still..


 * week 6: Knitting some more and preparing my slideshow


 * week 7: Finishing up my hopefully lovely and serviceable scarf


 * week 8: Completely finished!

I personally did not understand the sculpture, Curve XXIV, 1981 by Ellsworth Kelly to begin with. It did not appear to be art to me because it was such a simple piece, and it demonstrated no skill in my opinion. According to the Olympic Sculpture Park brochure, “Ellsworth Kelly arrives at his work through prolongs experience of observing nature and distilling his observations and sensations into simple lines.” I was unable to find myself able to comprehend how this was how he came to create a triangle. The work of Ellsworth Kelly is sold for thousands of dollars, and for some pieces, hundreds of thousands. After researching him and viewing other pieces of his work, I found myself a little more open minded. After seeing so many simple yet colorful pieces, I found a slight appreciation for this artist. It made me realize that art does not have to be complex and difficult to be easy on the eyes. While searching for more of his work to compare with others, I came across and despised Spectrum of Color Arranged by Chance. When I first viewed it, it looked like a piece of technology had detonated. And although I still don’t particularly enjoy it, I do appreciate it more as art, instead of colorful vomit, mostly because I gave it a second chance. I had an arduous time finding a painting or sculpture that I really loved. They all pretty look the same to me, although now I can enjoy seeing them rather than being disgusted that he made so much money off of two shapes on a canvas. I did grow to like the Curve XXIV, 1981 sculpture because of its simplicity, which ironically was why I disliked it to begin with.

Self-Assessment
In this class I relearned how to think out of the box and question things. I used to constantly think critically but it slowed down recently and I am glad that this class opened that up for me again. I feel I did well at identifying fallacies as well as contributing my opinions during they day we analyzed conspiracy theories. I could have done a better job researching my artists from the sculpture park and wholeheartedly looking into his past artwork while comparing and contrasting. I feel more prepared to continue my studies at this point because I have been reminded how to think critically and question what I hear. I don’t feel that I am more prepared for my major as much as for life in general. I contribute to the experiences of other students in class by sharing my opinion and thoughts about a topic or discussion. I can help activate the minds of others with friendly debates, or simply contributing to class myself by listening and sharing. I am very thankful the “I’ve always wanted to assignment” was assigned because I learned a lot about myself and how I handle situations. It was nice to reflect on the past ten weeks and see as well as feel an improvement in myself as a person, whether it is school related or personal.