I started off cheating my way through in all my elementary art classes: printing out and tracing templates. I’ve never really had an interest in art. I have always attempted to find ways to finish my drawings and paintings as quick as possible. I was too naïve to think that I could get away with it. Now, I am here in Parsons, a school specifically for art and design, majoring in both Communication Design and Economics. How did it happen ? Through all that tracing made me realize that art can be expressed in so many different ways. Don’t get me wrong, cheating is unethical, however, I was not exactly the star student back in third grade. However, after having to repeat writing the words “I will never cheat again” fifty times in both English and Chinese and stand in the corner of a room staring at the wall for 30 minutes, I learned to stop cheating. This was a turning point for me. Now art is my passion. Throughout all these years, my interest in art accumulated. I am where I am now because of my parents, they gave me the opportunity to learn drawing and gave me their fullest support. They motivated me to do the best that I can, even if I fail and pushed me to learn as much as I can. With their support, I am motivated to learn new techniques, incorporating them with what I already know, as a result, making mixed media artworks: graphite, ink, painting, photography, graphic design, 3d work and so on.
Throughout the first year, I have experimented with various techniques and mediums that I didn’t have the opportunity to work with in middle school and high school: wood, plaster, ceramics, plexiglass, charcoal, illustrator, premier and even making my own light circuit. Even with different mediums, there are common trends in all of my artworks. I am detailed orientated, in other words, most of my artworks have a lot of intricate components, are very textural and vibrant. But even so, they work in harmony. I’ve always been attracted and compelled to use vibrant, warm colors in my artworks and I’ve found myself repeating on certain topics throughout my pieces: food and nature. I have also discovered common elements: flowers, plants, buildings, typography and food. The only differences is the use of medium.
“Athena Inspired” & “Mustard Seed Menu Design” (food & plants)
“Origin of Light” (flowers and plants)
“Terrace Perspective” & “Daily Drawings” (flowers and plants)
One of the highlights throughout my first year was creating hands on projects, three dimensional pieces. I have always been so scared to make three dimensional work as they can be unpredictable, hard to control the materials and in my opinion are more complex than simply illustrating on a piece of paper. I am very proud of the projects I have done especially projects that consisted of using existent packaging, so called “waste”: “Tissue City”, “Halotop City” and “Consumed”. For these projects, my plan was to divert from how we normally see things, making boring objects seem interesting. These were a challenge for me, because I often like being in control of what the materials look like and how they want to be seen. Therefore, having to use existent packaging , challenges me to revolve and pick color schemes and materials around it so that they work together. I was also inspired by my sustainable systems class. Even with the workload that we were given, I would say everything that I have learned in that class, even unwillingly, embedded into my head. Now, it is hard for me to purchase new materials for my projects.
“My Environment”
“Consumed”
“Tissue City” & “Halotop City”
It is evident that I have improved in my observational drawings. For instance the Petrie Court and the Color Model. A year ago, my artworks were often criticized having proportion issue. I never liked drawing figures, especially realistically and from observation. I tend to avoid them at all cost. When I learned that in my Drawing and Imaging class that we would have models coming in, I was horrified not only because I had to stare at someone’s naked body for a couple of hours but also drawing in proportion. I was in complete shocked when I compared my previous figure drawings with the ones I produced this year. They were more textural and looked more realistic.
“Petrie Court Drawing” & “Skelton”
“Color Model”
First year is all about discovering who I am as an artist and a designer. I came into Parsons not knowing what I wanted to major in. I like to do a variety of things: illustrating, making invitation cards, menu design, making jewelry, clothing, drawing buildings, product design and interior design. Throughout this year, I was able to experiment with different medias and projects. Although I can’t say I am completely sure what I want to do yet, at least I have discovered that most of my works seemed like advertising materials. Maybe that is what I want to do, but how is that helping the world? I have yet to find out. Above all, I want these four years to be experimental. I don’t need to know what I want to do yet, but at least I will not regret on coming to Parsons.
