Throughout the first year studying at Parsons School of Design, all of the foundation classes I have taken impart both the academic knowledge and potential artistic skills to me in various ways. Studio and Seminar are two primary courses that cooperate on the same theme and connect with each other on each project while the former focuses mainly on developing creative ability and the latter explores more about the concept behind each project through academic writing. Drawing/Imaging and Space/Materiality allow me to improve my basic skills on creating two-dimensional and three-dimensional projects. I also have learned how an individual’s personal experiences and memory can shape his or her understanding of the passage of time by using technology in Time class. Besides, Soft Structures as an elective course I take during the spring semester provides me with an investigation of collapsibility and transformation when using fabrics and other soft materials to construct a 2d or 3d object. Overall, each of these courses lays a solid foundation for me to cultivate better creativity, imagination, exploration, and expressive ability on my future fashion career.
One of the most memorable project I did over the first year was the Bridge 3 group project assignment in both Studio 1 and Seminar 1 since these two courses were connected with each other on the same idea. We were assigned to work as a group to create a product that presents what we learn from the interviews we collected at Washington Square Park and form a short story by establishing various imaginary characters based on the background of those interviewers. During the working process, the most challenge thing for me was to collaborate with my group members whom I did not know that well when all of us had to express our own ideas about the project, especially, each of us had a variety of opinions and ideas in making the decisions on what kind of product we would like to create and what topic we should focus on while writing the story. To be honest, I usually prefer working alone and my communication skills was weak so that group work often makes me stressed out. When we were working on this project, we had some issues: like our own imaginary characters were a little bit difficult to connect with each other in order to form a story; we did not have other classes or breaks at the same time so that we could discuss and work together. However, problems were solved when we asked help from our professors and communicate more with each other. I learned a lot from my partners about cooperation and responsibility by working as a group to complete a project together. Each of us specialized and focused on one aspect of the project after we divided the process into different parts to work on. Essentially, this project from Studio and Seminar offered me a great opportunity to improve my communication skills, collaborative skills, and attitudes.
It is also worth mentioning that the shared Bridge project 4 between Studio and Seminar during the second semester is one of the most challenge works I have done in my first year at Parsons. In Studio, I was assigned to construct three-ensembles based on the fashion topic I chose for the research paper from Seminar and each of them could be transformed into different pieces. I spent plenty of time working on creating three ensembles because this was the first time I came up an idea and made clothes by myself. In fact, I encountered numerous difficulties when I was trying to construct each part of the ensemble. For instance, using a sewing machine was not that easy for me since there were always some small problems taken placed while sewing. I always sewed the wrong side of the fabric so that I had to deconstruct it with seam ripper and sew it again. This took me much more time working on this project and I also had to work on my research paper on the same topic at the same time. Although this shared Bridge project seemed to be hard for me to accomplish, I did my best in achieving the goal and developing more practical skills about fashion design. I realized that making a clear plan for working steps plays an important role in sewing and managing time on what to do first and what to do next is also a necessary skill for me to learn. Undoubtedly, I have learned a lot from the process of making this project and it helps me gain more preparation for my fashion design major next year.
In conclusion, all of these experiences I have had in my first year at Parsons provide me with an opportunity to develop my basic artistic abilities and explore various new skills for my future study. Since I have learned a lot of practical skills on communication, presentation, writing, sewing, and so on, I would like to use these skills into my future project in the next three years. After all, I am still a student that needs to learn and experience more at Parsons, and I will learn from both my success and failure in the past and try my best to make great efforts on everything in order to succeed as an artist or a fashion designer in the future.
