For my Capstone which is essentially your final project as a student at Science Leadership Academy @ Beeber, I created a poetry magazine that consists of various poems from seniors all around the school including myself. This was something my advisor Mrs. Turoff came up with since I’ve shown a passion towards poetry since the day I arrived at this school. It was my very first mini course and I’ve even had my poems published before, so suffice to say that I’m a pretty good poet. I started off this project at a rocky start because I kind of didn’t want to be remembered as the one who wrote poems. However, when I tried to change my capstone I hit a rock and realized that this is something you would really need to put deep thought into and create with a passion of your own. Don’t just do it because you have to it should be something you are proud of doing. The final product isn’t something I myself am too amazed at, but I learned a lot by going through this process. Even though I won’t get this opportunity again, I can still guide the students of tomorrow who will be doing their own capstones. The process is unlike any other Spanish 2 project or Bentum assignment, you must really know and be passionate about what you want to do in order to complete this capstone.

Adam Bennett - Artist Statement 3/20/17

Art 2

Ms. Hertz

This is an art piece that I replicated from Kanye West’s official Twitter profile picture, and I view Kanye as an inspiration to music. I created this because I wanted to show my appreciation of Kanye West, and what better way than to make a limited palette painting of his profile picture. Given that I don’t consider myself an artist in terms of drawing, I was hoping that I could recreate the picture using on three colors. I used blue, white, and red in the painting because the original picture has more of a blue background and his face is more like a dark red.

I think when the viewer first sees my work they might have the reaction of, “What in the world?” Besides that, to the people who actually know the picture they would actually appreciate the art piece. I think that I achieved my goal as to recreating the art piece using only the three colors I chose. Although I don’t think that I fully achieved my goal because some parts of the piece aren’t what I wanted them to look like. Regarding my previous work, I believe that I am pretty consistent as an artist compared to my previous work this work.

My work fits in because it is a recreation of George Condo’s art for Kanye West’s fourth studio album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. He has that style of cartoonish and sort of realistic paintings, drawings, and sculpting. My process to create this work was looking for a clear image of the artwork. Once I did that, I had to pick three colors that stood out in the painting for my limited palette. Then, I fused the colors in a color template to create as many variations of the three colors that I could. This would be added to my final product once I started it.

http://www.vulture.com/2010/11/kanye_george_condo/slideshow/4/

N.p., 2017. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.

This artwork reflects the world today because today we see a lot of these styles around and I feel like since Kanye is still an inspiration today this piece matters. I don’t see connections to my own life nor experiences. My art could inspire people to look more at Kanye and appreciate him as an artist besides as a man with a huge ego. I learned a new technique called ombre to fuse the colors better in the background of the painting. I want to use this technique more in future pieces that I create because this really blended the blue in my background by using a big brush, and patting the colors so they fuse better.

I created this artwork because I wanted to do something I knew I could do, but also push my limits. I didn’t want to push my limits too much, but enough for me to learn from this art piece, creating a new perspective for myself. I hoped to create a one point perspective and a value, line texture, drawing all into one piece. I was hoping to improve as an artist, and with this piece I know I did improve. I think to the viewer they see a nice art piece that is well drawn and detailed. This art piece relates to my previous artwork because it has my style of drawing. My style is sloppy esque type of drawing where it looks sloppy, but very neat and organized. Another artist I would compare myself to is Dylan Cale Jones, his art has that same sloppy esque style of art. Yet, it’s still able to pertain the very organized feel and aspect.

To create this work I looked for how I can make my value, line, and texture drawing unique. I decided to make it a one point perspective drawing from a room. Every time I made this drawing it came out crooked or one part was too hard to make. In the end, I chose to make a hallway and the sunlight coming through the windows on the wall to create my value.

http://bengalarts.blogspot.com/2010_03_01_archive.html

My work reflects on my life because you see how the hallway has two entries where light comes in and there are dark areas, that is my life basically. I have both positive and negative things going on in my life, and I think that the idea of the dark and the light really sums it up. I don’t really think that my art is good enough to impact the world, but if it did then it could start a trend of the sloppy style. The technique of lining up and making sure every line fits is very important. The rays of light have to line up with the things in the room to create the shade which also includes lines. Unfortunately I didn’t learn any new techniques while working on this piece.

I created this work because I wanted to make a spider web for the color wheel aspect of the project, but as I looked I saw others had the same idea. Instead, I made something similar, but it’s like a web/wheel instead of a full web. My vision for the work was for it to have multiple wheels that had the primary, secondary, tertiary, and tint each in their own wheel. Also, I wanted it to be very straight and proportional , like I wanted the colors match for each wheel. For anyone who sees the project, I want them to look at it and not see the mistakes right away, but admire what it is and what it could be.

I haven’t really made any art in my life because I don’t consider myself an artist, but I can relate this to my artwork back in 9th grade. In 9th grade, I drew a shoe which was based off of the shoe I was wearing at the moment. Although the art piece lacked color, it reflects how I draw and in this color wheel project there have been improvements in my art and creativity. In today’s art, there are similar aspects where the tertiary, primary, and secondary colors are used and it is similar to how it is used in my project. The color wheel also gives the basic for color art in general. Art is created with different and various colors throughout the years, so the color wheel brings out that history of the basics in color art. This aspect reminds me of the value scale I did in 9th grade, with the different shades of black and it gets lighter the farther you to the point of white. That project was the first thing that came to mind when I thought of the color wheel. This link was my influence for the project, but I don’t have a specific artist that influences me today.

http://www.jalapenopaintwerx.com/blog/bid/209865/Paint-Color-Ideas-for-the-Home-Jalapeno-Paint-Werx The technique I used to make sure the wheel had 24 places was I added the tint before the primary color of that tertiary. So, if I had a red-orange space on the wheel then the next space above would be half tint and half primary color which was red used to make the tertiary.

In all, the project was one of my best pieces of art that I created. Although I wasn’t able to make my vision into a reality, I believe my project draws from my own idea of a color wheel that looks unique and different from any other. I don’t consider myself an artist in terms of drawing, but there isn’t a such thing as great art given that there are so many interpretations of a good art piece. I made my color wheel knowing this aspect of there is no good art, I was able to freely paint.

Interviewer: Adam Bennett

Interviewee: Pop-Pop (Orlando)

May 11, 2015 7:00pm

AB: So, at what age did you first experience discrimination?

PP: I say about 14 or 15

AB: Do you know what happened?

PP: Oh yeah I was in the South, some white guys rolled by in a truck and hollered out the window “hey n*****” and I was in the yard doing something and they was on a back of a truck and I guess it was ten or twelve of em it was girls and guys and it was many years ago.

AB: So, what was your reaction?

PP: I holler back I holler back “hey you cracker” because that what we would say down south somebody would say something to you that’s what you would do.

AB: So, growing up did you hate white people at the time?

PP: No no no no, I didn’t.

AB: Well, how did you feel about them did you feel like they were ignorant?

PP: Well, I was raised on a farm we had our own farm so I wasn’t working under them I was working under my father. I wasn’t like the other black people in the south they didn’t like white people because they treated them wrong. No, I got along with them my next door neighbor was a white guy and we got along good, I used to go up to his house we didn’t go in the house that much, but we would be out at the barn doing things. But no I never disliked white people.

AB: So did you care what was going on at the time or did you sort of pushed it off?

PP: I didn’t care I mean I it was what I was raised into I didn't look at it as much then as i do now and it didn’t look as much different to me I didn't see much of it.

AB: Ok so, how was your teenage life from 14 till you were an actual adult.

PP: Well my teenage life was great because when I was 15 I got my driver's license my mother started me in school when I was 5 so when I was 15 my records in school said I was 16 so I got my records from school and went and got my driver’s license and my brother got a car and I started driving the car we worked in the farm and I had a really good teenage life you know I had good parents that raised us good and my teenage life was great all until I turned 18 and moved to Pennsylvania.

AB: When you came to Pennsylvania was it different from the South?

PP: I didn’t see too much difference because in the South we went where we knew we could go you know all the Piccolo Joints and we only went to black Piccolo joints and just like how you were in a town or anywhere else I was raised that way I wasn’t taught that way but when you go in a place you see water fountain white’s only water fountain blacks only I mean you were use to that and it was no other way and when I come to Pennsylvania it just wasn’t no signs so I didn’t see too much discrimination either way.

AB: Were you active in the Civil Rights Movement?

PP: No I was in Pennsylvania no I wasn’t active in it at the time when they started marchin’ and everything I was in Pennsylvania no marching was here.

AB: Have you ever had besides relationship with your neighbor any relationship with white people like a girlfriend?

PP: After I got into Pennsylvania yes yes I dated white girls yes.

AB: Would you like to explain on that?

PP: Well yea I can say that I never had like a steady girl it was like going to the club and meeting a girl and you would drink and you might go to other places. I didn’t have like steady girl that I would date you know I had a good friend that was a white girl and I had no problem with that.

AB: Did you receive “good” education growing up in the South?

PP: Well I had the opportunity to receive a good education and I had an opportunity to go to college and go all the way and my father was able to do it and the ones in my family that wanted to go to college which was only two they went and you know. It might be my fault that I got just about what I want and not just me we were living good we own our own land and everything at the part I didn’t see in having a good education. I wanted to be successful which was having fun and having a nice car and that was it.

AB: Would you say that your family created your own culture?

PP: I could say that my family created my mother and father and yea they created their own culture not too much I didn't have too much into it.

AB: Were you playing any sports, music were you doing anything?

PP: I used to box and wrestle and I was a good wrestler I never been thrown the whole while I been wrestling and it was free wrestling so there wasn’t training I trained myself.

AB: Have you ever been physically motivated to act upon a white person?

PP: Nah nah nah there was some kids that used to come around and we used to beat em up not beat em up but you know just smack em and do stuff just to get them scared and at that time their was more of us and white people would catch black guys if it were more of them. It was never nothing personal that lasted long it was over and we were through with it.

AB: Did you...you were ever like against what was going on in the Civil Rights movement?

PP: Yes I was against that, I knew that not all whites, but the whites didn’t like the blacks, but I didn’t participate in any of them because like I said earlier there were no marches in Philadelphia like it was in the South and I had left the South.

AB: Were you ever able not to do something you really wanted to do because you were black?

PP: Not really well, there are things that I couldn’t do and that I didn’t do because I was black I didn’t put myself in that position. Not really not really, I never approached anything and not done it because I was black because I had better sense not to approach it I understanded segregation in the South and in the North and that’s why I never got caught up in that.

AB: We’re going to wrap up here, but what is your whole thought on Segregation?

PP: Well my whole though on segregation is that a lot of people will look at it as black and white, but segregation is all over the world just like racism. Even in the mid-east all over the world there are segregation it’s races that hate each other races that love each other. Just now, I was looking on the news in China they still got slaver they got thousands of people on fishing ships in slavery we wasn’t the first one in slavery back in Pharaoh days in the middle east and slavery has just been around for awhile.

AB: Thank you Pop-Pop

PP: Well thank you.

Adam: What is your earliest memory of life?

Yolanda: Probably like six, umm probably a little earlier than that Ima say between four and six because I used tosuck a bottle you know I had a bottle. I kept that bottle until I was four and I remembered clearly laying on the bottom step on the staircase. I would lay there at the bottom step and suck on my bottle and nap and I remember that clearly. You know I just love milk and eventually my mother took it away.

Adam: Who has been the biggest influence in your life?

Yolanda: Well I’d have to say my faith because through my faith I have continued to better myself and allow the lord to show me things through myself and my idiosyncrasy. He has gently corrected my life to make me the woman I am today which isn’t perfect you know but always seeking to do better and trying to do better.

Adam: How would you like to be remembered?

Yolanda: I’d like to be remembered as one of the pioneers. I wanna be remembered as everything I did for myself and my children I did with a giving spirit and a forgiving heart. Not every time that you put yourself out there whether be for your kids or your friends people receive it the right way, so you do sometimes have to forgive people in a way that they respond to your behavior whether good, bad, or different. So I wanna be remembered as a, loving and persistent individual who never took no for an answer and always put her best foot forward for her children and for her life period. I hope that my children remember me by my strength and perseverance, my good times and my bad times. I want them to learn from my mistakes and know how to behave in situations that aren’t always what you would expect or what you “deserve” to always be careful and thankful in everything you do and I hope that they remember that.

Tips for Teenagers

Sydni Booker, Santana Outlaw, RaVaana Griggs, Adam Bennett

Based on the I-Search papers that we completed on teenage development, here are some tips for teenagers to help them be happier and to help them develop in positive ways.

1. Figure out what’s right & what’s wrong online. Also, don’t become easily influenced by things such as substance abuse & drinking.

2. Find positive ways to build self-esteem, such as sports or hobbies.

3. My tip is if you have a problem talk to a friend about it first before it gets to the point where you have to talk to a parent about it.

4. Avoid judgments about you or others and don’t fit yourself in society’s shoes.

Sweaters have been represented to many people as a show of respect and professionalism. Also some would say that sweaters show your warm nature as a person and sweaters are like a good vibe to them. This is what we wanted to represent the warm nature we have and especially the lights that show a good and happy vibe to them. We chose the sweater because since it gives off a professional look as students of SLA. Also we wanted to show our warm hearts and the lights show the good vibe swagger. In light of the current weather and season sweaters fit the cold weather and since we both wear sweaters we wanted to make one with lights.  

In conclusion, we wanted to make a sculpture that represented or mood and us as people for the holidays.