Final Artist Statement

Before entering this digital photography class, I had very little knowledge of how to use the camera and how to take a proper picture. All I knew was how to press the shutter button to take a regular snap shot picture. Although what I learned is that photography is an actual form of art and one can express a lot through an image. Using Adobe Photoshop can enhance your image to an endless amount of possibilities to show your creativity and make them more artistic. I believe that I was most successful with exploring Photoshop because you can see that I’ve shown development over the year of my techniques with the tools with the program and with my imagination.

As well as being successful with Photoshop, I did come upon many struggles like learning the tutorials in Photoshop and coming up with the ideas to start a project. One of the projects that I struggled with the most was the Surrealism Project. Because we didn’t really have any boundaries to how it should look, I really didn’t know how to display it in my head. I always seem to change my mind as I randomly insert pictures and other ideas. Although if I would of drew them out on paper first then I probably would have struggled less. So I think that I need to improve being more organized instead of my ideas scattered everywhere.

The project that I felt I connected most with was the Personal Quilt. I was able to walk through many characteristics of my life and display them on individual quilts. This assignment allowed me to express my past, future, inside and outside of myself using symbols that only I understood. I was capable of connecting more to this project because it was mainly all about me. I mean who really knows more about me then me? This assignment helped me tie everything of myself into one merged quilt in the end. I was pleased to see how it came out in the end. Photoshop helped with variety tools like paint brushes and blending layers together. I think that by viewing my life experiences affected my art because it is something that I constantly deal with and is part of me.

There are many artists that have inspired me with how they display their art, like Faith Ringgold, Rene Magritte and Salvador Dali. Although out of the artists that we have learned in class over the year, I feel like I related the most with is Barbara Kruger. In her artworks she displayed specific statements that portrayed a powerful significance to them and gave an actual purpose. I liked how she conveyed everything so simple yet it showed a lot of thought. This inspired me because with art you can exhibit something with a lot of meaning behind it. Also how a picture doesn’t necessarily have to be so complex to represent a big social issue.

Overall, I enjoyed this class very much and liked every minute of it! Digital Photography was the coolest class that I had this year and opened my mind more creatively. I liked how we were able to express ourselves and I’ve learned a lot through this process. I learned that art doesn’t have an actual definition, which I thought was bizarre at first but actually makes since. It also made me appreciate what art is and not to be so judgmental and critical about how people viewed art.