- When you look back over all the work you did your first year at Parsons, do you see any themes or obsessions emerging? What questions, ideas and working methods would you like to pursue further?
Looking back over all the work I did my first year at Parsons, I see emerging themes of political activism, feminism, and personal experiences that affected me as a developing child. Last semester, when I was in Int Studio: Avatar I did a project on my Asian American identity and other projects that dealt with personal experiences, negative and positive, that developed this ideology of the “sense of self”.
My gender and racial identity play a crucial part in my topics I choose to explore and they often go into my thought development. I love to question and challenge things in society and voice out my personal opinion on it, whether they relate personally or not. Some of the questions I would like to pursue further are how can political art make an impact on the world and create visible change, how can i as an artist evoke strong emotion out of a given audience whether its controversial or sentimental, and how do I create art that creates an entire immersive or visual experience for people. I also love to research and incorporate it into my my projects. For example, last semester, I was really intrigued by certain topics I read in class or discovered as I completed projects. Some topics and questions I looked into are the idea of afterlife in the sense of spirituality vs existentialism, philosophy on dreams, nature vs technology, gender and racial deconstruction, savagery vs civilization of mankind, femininity and sexuality, and many more. These questions and topics are the ones that really stood out of me throughout the course of the year, because they allowed me to dig deeper into my identity as an artist and as a human being, and they helped me discover more clearly on what I like and dislike.
- Where did you find unexpected connections happening between courses? (this can be any courses over the course of both semesters)
I found unexpected connections between various classes throughout the year. For example, I created montages/collages for 3 classes, Kate’s studio class, my drawing/imaging class this semester, and my Time Class I had last semester. They all dealt with taking a theme or narrative and manipulating or adding your own touch of humor into it.
Kate’s Conversation with Artist Project:
Drawing/Imaging Montages:
Time Collage: 
Another overlap I found was that in my Studio class last semester, I did a project on my struggle with my Asian American identity and created photos where I printed them out and painted the stereotypes onto the photos
I found an overlap in Kate’s Rules project, where I also did a mixed media photo/painting series.
Unexpectedly, this method was similar to the method I used for last semester’s studio project based my Asian American identity.
- Select two highlights from your first year. A highlight could include major projects or papers, or could be a productive class debate, a reading, a journal entry, a materials experiment, an illuminating course trip, a new skill. The possibilities are wide open. What do these highlights represent about your process or your learning?
One highlight from my first year was definitely being in my Time class first semester. From video animations, Adobe Premiere editing, analyzing movies, to 2D and sound based projects, I loved every project and gained an immense amount of knowledge on the film world. My instructor, Rich Nova Milne, allowed me to be abstract and creative with my projects and opened my eyes to the world of amazing influential directors and movies. Trainspotting and 2001: the Space Odyssey were a couple movies that I enjoyed watching during class and I also really enjoyed learning about directors like Andre Tartovsky, Wes Anderson, and Stanley Kubrick. This class unlocked a greater passion for videography and film editing that I did not realize I had inside. This reflects my openness to various types of mediums of art even if I am not that familiar with the subject. Thus, as long as I am learning to be creative in different ways that are not the conventional comfortable 2D medium I often use, I will still mold it into a way that relates to my style and vision. Another highlight was learning how to use the darkroom, provided in my Analog Photography elective class. I’ve always loved using film photography and taking photos with my point and shoot camera. Thus, this class further expanded my knowledge on analog methods of photography. We learned how to use a traditional analog camera, how to develop film on our own using the chemicals, and how to print our photos in the darkroom. Printing was so much fun and definitely the best part of the process. Learning how to use the darkroom was something that I’ve always wanted to do, yet never had to resource available me in high school. This also represents my love for learning more unfamiliar methods of art, so that I could get a taste of everything. Then, later on I can condense my skills in a way that will allow me to excel at what I choose to do.
- You’re not just students, you’re people. Have you been able to make learning work for you by bringing your personal interests into the classroom? This could include outside activities, pastimes, passions, hobbies, relationships, issues etc.
I have brought my personal interests into the classroom such as sketching as a hobby and my personal experiences for projects. I always like to bring in personal topics that have affected me growing up and still have an impact on me because I believe reflection of past experiences and development of thinking is really important to character and artist development. I’ve always been the student who got in trouble for sketching during class in high school. However, coming here to Parsons, I’ve learned that it is encouraged and I do it often to help me focus surprisingly.
- Add your own reflection question
Is it better to explore all types of mediums of art now and topics in a very broad sense that will help me discover myself as an artist or is it better to start condensing my skills and molding them into a way that will allow me to have a clearer sense of what I want to do in the future?
