Isabella's Portfolio

In the last unit of art in the first semester, we create a mixed media self portrait using hand crafted materials and procreate, a digital drawing tool to make art. At first, we chose a canvas to work on and spray painted it. In the process of our portrait, we traced a picture of ourselves, finding the different shades and values to draw. These shades creates harmony between each other so that when put together, they can show the image of the original selfie. We then printed the image and collaged it into the canvas with other parts to create our final piece.

In my planning, I decided to add elements to create identity into my piece. I added music notes to express my appreciation for music, as It has been with me every since I was a child, and I think that it was something very important that has affected me in many ways. I also added stationery, to also show things that are important to me, which is art. Art is something that means peace and calmness to me, and is something I really enjoy. My cat, a family member who reminds me of care and love, is something I added too. Then there are other parts like the bows, heart, cross, and blood. These are more about my aesthetic choices and how I perceive beauty and visually pleasing. This is more about me and how I like things. My artwork is showing a lot about me personally and a lot of elements I liked.

The colors I used were mainly red, black, white, pink, and purple. This is a pretty dark portrait, as I think that It can express my dark feelings and emotions that I usually feel. I am not that optimistic. Details were also added. Most of the elements like the lotus flowers, the dripping black design, and the purple strip were from my favorite anime character, Douma, from Demon Slayer, and I really like him. I used the knife to show the dark vibes and I had a small bear on the top of my head. That bear was drawn by my best friend Jane, and I wanted to put our friendship in this portrait, I think she is very important to me and I feel very happy with her. Things that were difficult was to find the write way to organize and align the small parts. I had a lot of elements, and I didn’t know how to put them together. At the end, I decided to do it this way in my image above, and have most of the small things organized that way. My artwork expresses a lot about me, even with small details. It shows me, and everything that is meaningful to me.

In this unit for PE, we swam and did water polo. Water polo is when you do sports with balls above water. We had to keep our head out and move with our arms and legs to move and change the direction of the ball. Swimming was usual but we were tested on how fast or how we swam. I think at the start, I was a bit uncomfortable with water polo, but after this unit, I think that I have learned it, at least even a bit, and I feel more comfortable doing this.

I think that Kool Koor’s background influenced his aesthetic a lot. He talked about his childhood, and how he has seen a lot of graffiti in Bronx. He also talked about encountered a girl named Gloria who wrote her name on a wall, which influenced him to do the same. This was the start to how he did street art.

He was also very impacted by the change from street art to studio work. He has used more clean and calmer strokes, instead of the strong and violent strokes when he was still used to do street art. When he was painting or writing street art, the way he created was wild and free, very different in comparison to his art now. The environment could be more organized, which changed how he creates his art.

Some aspects of my culture could be my identity as a student, as a Chinese person, or because of social media. Many things I see as a kid and I see now will change what I think about things. This made me realize that actually most things I incorporate into my art really is affected of what I see, and I could do even more to show what kind of a person I am by discovering more art.

In the first semester of science, we learned about the universe and life. We made a self assessment to show what progress we are on in science.

My goal is to work better in group or partner projects and maintain a good grade. I will do that by trying my best and reflect on my mistakes and study according to the things I did wrong before. I will also be more flexible in activities that involve in people working together in comparison to my behavior in the grades before. This will help me solve problems and arguments critically better and know more about new people in the class. I improved on this for example I always look at where I did bad on a test or an assignment and reflect on my mistakes or rethink about it so I won’t do the same next time. I am more flexible and I do not create any negative behavior in the classroom.

Im most proud of my persistence in my 3 for 3 small quizzes. I memorize and remember what I learnt in class and practice that to get well grades for my tests. I am also proud of the models I make, with good explanation and models, especially hand drawn ones.

A big challenge is to work faster during CERs and long paragraph independent work. It is a bit difficult when people are all working fast and I am the only one left, so I tend to get worried and rush a bit.

I always do my models with good effectiveness and collaborate well with my partners. Something I want to improve on is to raise my hand and answer questions more in class to have a better impact on my peers and my own self to stay more positive.

In Integrated Math this year, we learned a lot of things. In our first unit, we learned about transformations of shapes and the congruency of them. We learned how to transform different shapes and the mapping rules for them. In the second unit, we are right now learning about the relationships between lines and functions, and how to calculate them. There were a lot of vocabulary words in both of the units.

The question 8) (identifying the imposter triangle) shows most of my best thinking. This is because this question shows my critical thinking and how I can label all of the triangles sides and angles with precise mathematical language. I used clear work that shows what I want to interpret and prove.

The question 2) (determining center of dilation and coordinates) shows my best learning. This question shows the accuracy of the work and how I can explain how to get to a center of dilation. I wrote all of the coordinates of A’B’C’D’ correctly.

Throughout this unit, I improved the most at my explanations of congruency and proving things, and the unit overall and how to do all of the problems. I feel like I still need to work on shortening the time on how I take on one problem and move at a faster pace. My strength is vocabulary in transformations, and proving congruency in triangles. I am also good at labeling coordinates and drawing on a graph. Three things I want to improve on the next unit is to remember to not forget small information, finish optional questions, and to extend my understanding.

An academic goal I want to make is to take more notes in class and practice outside of class everyday for 30 minutes. Something that might get in my way is my schedule, but I would change it to give myself some more time.

In orchestra for our winter concert unit, we practiced a 4 songs in total for the upcoming concert in November 25. We practiced the songs Overture to Lucio Silla, Ice sculptures, Carol of the bells, and Winter With You, which we are going to preform with Vocal Modern Music. Before we practiced in class, we did warmups that had the same key signature with the pieces to get ready for playing. This helped us with how we played the notes so we can get sharps and flats correctly, and also to help us on our bow strokes. We learned a lot on spiccato and how we brush the bow on the violin with a relaxed arm. We also focused a lot on how we play as a group and the bowings so we are all together. Dynamics were also really important in how we play so we can improve our overall sound and tone to create a better effect that can drive the audience into listening these pieces. I think I have improved a bit on this and also the 3rd position. I can quickly find the spots and memorize the notes in the 3rd position.

Essential question : In what ways can an exhibition influence the ideas, beliefs, and experiences of an audience?

I think that an exhibition can influence the beliefs, ideas, and experiences of an audience in many ways. It can change the perspective of people from how the artworks are made, curated, and expressed. This can give diversity in thoughts and how the work is perceived. In some paintings, It would look like a smooth shape from a long distance, but will reveal to be small dots of colors together when observing closely. This shows the techniques of the art and how it could look like how it does. The exhibition also influences other parts not regarding the art itself. For example, It was a little bit crowded, causing us to walk faster and not take too long to look at the artwords due to the people there. Another thing was that some of my friends were pretty loud, so some people looked at use weirdly. The exhibition was still good overall and I got to see many impressive and good artworks.

In this unit, we learned about table tennis or ping pong. We learned different ways to play this sport, and techniques to win. For example, we learned how to hold the paddle, there is the pencil grip and the shakehand grip. We also learned how to serve and play the game in general. There are 2 kinds of ways to play, which is the forehand and backhand.

In the start and middle of the unit, I wasn’t really good at the sport, and the way my hand held the paddle was wrong. I kept moving it in the wrong direction, causing it to not bounce on the other side of the table and just falling to the floor, or just hitting the net. After hearing my teacher’s feedback and help, I think that I have improved in this sport. I practiced and tried to get the way I held my paddle correct and I believe that this has changed the way I played a lot. This unit went well especially at the end.

In the first assignment in art, we made a cover for a sketchbook that we use to draw and take notes inside. In the collage cover I made, I mostly included a lot of interests and hobbies I have. Every detail in the cover is something I care about. For example, I added musical elements like the violin, piano, and soundbar in a device, pictures and logos of characters and an idol I like, and small aesthetic stickers because I enjoy decorating things with them. In the center of my cover, which is the focus point, I have a picture of my cat, which is someone who is really important to me. Next to my cat is words in chinese which reads “就像一束光照亮夜晚” This means “just like a shine of brightness that lights up the night”. I wanted to put this in to show how i feel about my cat. In my cover design, I focused a lot on how I arranged things together. I used black as the background, some pink elements and other slightly duller colors, since these are my favorite colors. The overall composition is meant to be a little messy and complicated in details, which also reflects to my personality and how I usually am.