CH GCE Portfolio

For this term, I decided to do a joint project between Woodshop and my Digital Fabrication workshop. In Woodshop we learned how to use a miter saw, table saw, belt sander, and other various tools. In Digital Fabrication we created 3D objects and learned how to slice them. We then learned how to create an SVG and cut it out using the silhouette cutter. I new thing I learned to do was take an SVG and use it to create a carving on wood using the Carvey. This was a useful skill to learn as I had chosen to make a jewelry box in the woodshop and was struggling to find a way to decorate it.  CH. "Rip Cut." Youtube, 2022. After learning about the Carvey I wanted to carve something on almost every side of my box. This was a bit drastic as I did spend most of Digital Fabrication designing things to put on the remaining sides of the box. Before I was to permanently etch the designs in, I tested it out on a piece of scrap wood. This did not go as planned as I had very fine details and ch...

During my three-week Civic Term course called "Music that Matters". We learned about music that has helped to teach, inspire, and ignite. During this course, we had three guests virtually talk to the class. Our guests Faiz Razi, Conan Neutron, and Fransisco Ramirez are active people in the music community and they talked to us about music and why it matters to them. For this action project, we were asked to create a proposal for My Block, My Hood, My City. Their newest project asks, "How can you make a positive impact on your neighborhood?"  I am proposing a giant interactive musical experience. I want to install a giant piano keyboard into the ground so that the community can interact with it. The piano will be playable and light up when the keys are pressed. I want to create it so that people could also pick from a list of songs and play them on the piano. When the songs are played the piano keys will light up in beat with the song. The music for this installation...

In my Humanities class, Rhetoric, we recently finished our third and final unit called Unity. In this unit, we furthered our knowledge of rhetoric and the impact it can have. We studied different situations where rhetoric has been used to inspire, unite, and bring change. We then focused on rhetorical devices. We studied different passages so that we could understand how these devices get used. For example, Common Sense by Thomas Paine was a pamphlet that continuously used rhetoric to persuade independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. For this AP, we had to create a piece of artwork that expresses an issue and brings together unity.  CH. "Collage." 2020. I am 17 years old and as a teenager, I can tell you that life is a mess right now. With all of life's ups and downs, it can often seem as if we are just moving through life with no real purpose or goal. In order to portray how I feel, I choose to create a collage. The words and pictures I used we...

I have been interested in photography for a long time. I like the way that pictures seem to capture a moment that can never be recreated that same way again. I like the way that photographs are able to play with perspective and lighting. During this independent study, I learned how to shoot in manual mode. I learned a lot about aperture, ISO, and shutter speed and how these components play a big role in taking a picture. During this IS, I also practiced shooting with perspective. My goal was to learn different photography techniques, and use those techniques to create a portfolio of pictures that depict the current climate that our world lives in. I do not think that I have met this goal. I believe that I still have a lot to learn and work on. The pictures I collected for my portfolio are things that are important to me or that I enjoy. I will definitely be continuing my photography journey throughout high school. I want to practice my photography skills around my neighborhood and when...

During my three-week Civic Term course called “Drawing Lines”, we focused on trying to define what public art is. Throughout this course, I saw public art through touring different areas of Chicago such as the Downtown Loop, Pilsen, and Wicker Park. We met with people and organizations such as Nathan Mason from Chicago’s Cultural Center, Katanya from Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning , and the Chicago Public Art Group . We studied public art by becoming tour guides in the neighborhoods of Lincoln Park, Downtown Loop, Pilsen, and Wicker Park. We mapped out routes through these different areas. We watched, broke down, and discussed the movie, Style Wars. It's a movie about how graffiti writing and tagging came into existence through hip hop and break dancing influences. The biggest takeaway from this course is the work we did with Rich Alapack of " We All Live Here ". He has a mural saying his infamous phrase all throughout Chicago's 77 neighborhoods. Recently,...

Currently, in my STEAM class, we are having a class called Food. Within the first unit of this class, we focused on agriculture, plants, and soil. We had to learn about the macro and micronutrients that all plants need in order to survive. We learned about the importance of the nitrogen cycle, along with the reasons for any farmer to follow the four principles of Fukuoka. We visited an urban farm that is located near my school called Patchworks Farms. We learned about the advantages and difficulties of creating a farm in an urban environment. We also visited a catering company called Big Delicious Planet Catering, this company grows some of its produce on site. We learned about the techniques this company used in order to create their garden. We completed this project to help show all of the information we have learned throughout our first unit. In my class we had to plan a garden, I hope you enjoy what I have put together! CH. "Area of Garden." 2019 I would mos...

10 reasons why the arts in schools is so important: Working in the arts helps learners to develop creative problem-solving skills. Teaching through the arts can present difficult concepts visually, making them more easy to understand. Art instruction helps children with the development of motor skills, language skills, social skills, decision-making, risk-taking, and inventiveness. Visual arts teach learners about color, layout, perspective, and balance all techniques that are necessary for presentations (visual, digital) of academic work. Integrating art with other disciplines reaches students who might not otherwise be engaged in classwork. Arts experiences boost critical thinking, teaching students to take the time to be more careful and thorough in how they observe the world. The arts provide challenges for learners at all levels. Art education connects students with their own culture as well as with the wider world. A report by Americans for the Arts states that yo...

In my humanities class, we had a unit called Who Am I? This unit was focusing on truth, memory, doubts, and dreams. This project specifically focuses on doubts and dreams. We visited the Art Institute of Chicago to learn about different surrealist artists from the early 18th and 19th centuries. We interpreted their reasoning behind their art piece. We also visited the American Indian Center in Albany Park to learn about the history behind dreamcatchers, the Ojibwe, and cultural appropriation. For this action project, my teacher asked us to create a dreamcatcher that symbolizes something personal to each of us. We had to connect it back to what we learned throughout this unit. I hope you enjoy it!     CH. "Sweet Dreams, Issuu." 2019 In conclusion, I learned a lot during this AP. I learned about the Ojibwe culture around dreamcatchers and the Great Spider. As well as the theories of many psychologists. This helped me explore what within my life has he...

Muchos pintores utilizaron sus obras de arte como protesta contra ciertos eventos en la historia de España. Las pinturas de la época del Renacimiento reflejan la innovación que estaba sucediendo en el mundo en ese momento, como los avances en ciencia y tecnología. La fabricación del caballete significaba que los pintores tenían su propio medio con el que trabajar y, por lo tanto, ya no estaban atados a los arquitectos por los espacios para pintar. El romanticismo se convirtió en una forma de arte completamente desarrollada a fines del siglo dieciocho. Las pinturas románticas incorporan elementos de la naturaleza, el heroísmo, la humanidad y las emociones. El romanticismo marcó un movimiento que se alejó del enfoque científico de la pintura, hacia una forma más expresiva.  Las pinturas del romanticismo permitieron al pintor ser libre con su pintura y sus colores. Los pintores del romanticismo también usaron su arte para transmitir sus sentimientos hacia sus propias...

In my high school orientation, we were asked to describe the neighborhood we came from. I consider, which neighborhoods did I come?