Category: Free Inquiry

At the beginning of this project, I expected it to be an opportunity for me to interview my friends about the art they do but it didn’t turn out like that at all. Instead, I took a new form of art every week and explored it on my own.

Throughout the assignment, I have learned a few lessons.

Lesson 1: You don’t need to be good at something to enjoy it.

There are lots of things I like doing that I am not necessarily super good at. Throughout this assignment, I appreciated having the chance to try new activities or show off a craft I enjoy doing. For example, I don’t think I am necessarily very good at sculpture, but it is so fun to do! I enjoyed getting my hand dirty and crafting in a new way. It also encouraged me to try new things in the future, without caring if I’m “good enough” at them.

Lesson 2: Digital collage is actually pretty fun.

Throughout this course, I have made three digital collages, two with PowerPoint and one with Canva. I really enjoy it, and although I don’t think I will make a full transition to digital collage, I will certainly revisit this medium in the future. It has a lot of different aspects (like changing the tone/colour) that I can’t do with paper collage. But, I do miss the texture of multimedia. Here are my creations.

Lesson 3: I need a new chair.

I’ve been using a dining room chair as my desk chair. I do my homework and all my crafting in this pretty uncomfortable chair. I think I might try and get some kind of cushy chair topper that helps me keep my back straight. It gets really painful after a while, and I needed to stop working a few times just to switch up my position. Good thing the holidays are coming up!

In conclusion.

I had a lot of fun during this assignment, it gave me the chance to do some activities that I love for school. It also acted as a nice break from regular reflections and assignments. I would like to end this post with a quote from my mom. She has said this to me many times and it’s something I keep in my mind often.

Mistakes are only opportunities for embellishment.

My mom, trista

Thank you.

The following video is a screen recording I made about the incredible website WorldAnvil.

I love dressing up. There is nothing like a well-constructed dress to make me feel great for the rest of the day. But I didn’t fall in love with clothing until I started dating my current partner, and he took me into the world of thrifting. I had bought some clothes second-hand before nothing like him. He taught me all sorts of tips and tricks and now, almost six years later, nearly my entire wardrobe is second-hand.

Perks of being a thrifter.

Buying second-hand has many perks. First off, it’s way cheaper. I am able to buy much nicer, higher quality clothes in a thrift shop than I ever could in a store new. One problem I hear many people complain about when they go thrifting is that they can never find anything, which I understand. It’s hit or miss sometimes. But I have grown to love the hunt, I am completely addicted to the feeling of finding something beautiful at a fraction of the cost.

Buying second-hand is also a much more sustainable way to shop. If you are a consumer who wants to buy clothes new but also wants to shop sustainably, you have to be willing to dig deep into your pockets. And there is nothing wrong with that. One of my favourite pieces that I bought new is a coat from BC brand Anian, a “circular fashion company” that repurposes old materials into new clothes. And although companies like Anian may be sustainable for the environment, they are not sustainable for my bank account. Which is why I love thrifting.

The tough parts.

Thrifting can be more work though. It takes time to riffle through racks of clothes filled with blouses only your grandmother would wear, and with thrifting becoming so popular it gets harder to find things. Thrifting can also be a challenge for sizes. I am fortunate that I can almost always find things in my size, except for shoes. Shoes are one of the things I usually buy new, simply because my size isn’t very common.

Also, when I buy pieces second-hand, I sometimes need to do some minor adjustments. Whether a pair of pants need to be taken in or a button replaced, this also takes time. But these adjustments allow me to get to know the piece better. I get to explore it, mend it, and really make it mine.

An example.

So let’s get into it. Last Tuesday I went to a clothing swap with some of my friends, (we all bring clothes we are no longer wearing and trade) and I picked up two coats when I was there. On one the lining was completely ripped and was missing a button, and the other had shoulder pads. I also have one of my partner’s shirts that has a larger rip up the back that I will mend.

On coat number one I removed the liner, I am not sure if I plan to replace it or not, but for now, I am going to leave it. I also replaced all the buttons with these gold ones I found at the Button & Needlework Boutique in Trounce Alley downtown Victora. The owner of the store told me they were from Czechia and I just happened to pick ones that were 50% off (score!).

My partners’ shirt was easy to sew up by hand, but it took a lot of time. I used an embroidery hoop to keep everything in place while I sewed. I think it turned out pretty well! There’s a small hole I still need to fix, but I will do that once I find a nice patch.

In conclusion.

I think it is important to take care of the things we have, and take the opportunity to use art to upcycle old things and make them our own. New clothing takes a massive hit on our Earth, so why not try shopping second-hand!

I’ve made another attempt at a craft video tutorial! Although I still need to work on my framing (apologies in advance), I think it turned out fairly well. Check it out below.

This week I made a time-lapse style video that shows how I made these DIY earring holders. I learned a lot about video creation during this assignment, and it was harder than I thought! I don’t love how it turned out, but I am grateful for all that I learned, and I am looking forward to trying this again next week with something different.

In my methods class, I was introduced to a fantastic website by a man named Zachary Jones called Conjugarte. Zachary combines art and language learning through his worksheets that encourage students to practice their verb conjugation while learning about Spanish art.

How it works: Students match the verb with the pronoun and conjugate it on the table. Then they find the correct conjugation at the top, and draw the box into the table. Here is a video that demonstrates the worksheet.

And here is the one I completed in class.

I really appreciate this combination, art and grammar. Verb conjugations are one of the most boring aspects of teaching grammar. I don’t love teaching it, and I hated learning it. So anything I can find that makes it a bit more fun, I’m all for! I will certainly be using this resource in my classroom in the future.

This week, I had planned on interviewing a friend of mine, but they were unavailable. Without someone to interview, I decided to move to an artificial friend. Well, maybe not a friend, but at least AI can’t get sick!

I’ve known about AI art for a while, but I hadn’t ever played around with it until this past Friday. While sitting around with my learning pod, they showed me how it works. We had a lot of fun messing around with a few different websites and experimenting with different ways to phrase what we were looking for.

So this weekend, I found one website that I particularly liked called dream.ai. I chose to enter the same prompt but change the style each time to see what would happen. This is what I got with the prompt “never-ending ocean”.

I also tried the same prompt in Night Cafe.

Here are the links to the websites I used if you’re interested in trying it out yourself! https://creator.nightcafe.studio/create and https://www.wombo.art/create

Although it was fun exploring what AI art can do, it wasn’t nearly as fun as sitting down and working with a human artist. People can teach us the techniques and reasons behind their art, which is something I missed this week. With all that said, I did have a lot of fun, and I think I will be using one of these as my new phone background. 🙂