Hey guys! So this year as a senior has been very busy. Very, very busy. I have been able to handle everything thrown at me, though.

To start off I have been working on a collaboration for Senior Production. I am directing a live performance piece titled "The Cycle of Breath". It is a very personal piece about the soul going through a dance of life. It has been awesome working with talented musicians and dancers. The only thing is that they are busy too.

Along with working on Senior Production stuff I have also had to work on AP Art, MOCA Teen Apprenticeship Program, and filming for a documentary, and figuring out what the future will be for me. Every emotion has bombarded me, but I have learned more about myself and my surroundings this year than I have ver before.

Here is a list of what I have learned thus far:

Senior Production

• Make " Plan B" the better option when deciding things in a group collaboration
• Don't rely on someone who is taking five AP classes and has work everyday
• Guitars can sound just as graceful as a violin
• When life gets tough, create art

AP Art

• I create my best art when I feel like the end product serves a real purpose. Art to me right now encourages others to realize how every being is interconnected
• Don't work on paper that was tucked away in the back of the class. It was tucked back there for a reason.
• DO NOT PROCRASTINATE!

MOCA Teen Apprenticeship Program

• I CAN BE AN ARTIST!

Goodbye!

ps. this is my completed piece from Senior Seminar. I recieved 1st place in 2D at the VPAA Juried Art show because of this. YAY!

A Day In The Life of Another Strander

Hey Everyone!

Recently, the visual art seniors had two days devoted to learning about the other strands of the Salem Arts Academy. The academy consists of 5 strands- visual, dance, instrumental, vocal, and theater. I have always felt like the visual arts strand is the most seperate from the other strands especially because we don't do performance art. For senior switch day, all of the strands got to experience a day in the life of other strands.

Since we are the weirdos from the visual arts strand we had an awesome time of learning how to move our bodies in unfamiliar ways, pretend to master a very complex song sung in German, tap randomly on the steel drums, and act like it was not akward to stare at each other for long periods of time. Of course we experienced and learned more than what I just said. It helped us as art stranders to gain more of an appreciation for the other strands artistic talents.

I originally thought I would be amazing at dance since I did gymnastics for many years. Once we got into learning two eight counts to a routine, I became very disoriented. I had trouble remembering which arm was which and where to put it during certain times. My classmates were just as confused as me and once we presented our dance we resembled akward chickens performing an interpretive dance of us crossing the symbolic road. It other words, we had no idea what we were doing.

We all had the best time embracing our weak areas in the arts and learning how hard the other strands work. Claps to the other hard working talented artists.