Author: CDVL (Page 2 of 2)

4 Drawings Midterm

March 18, 2021 / CDVL

For my four midterm drawings, I chose to draw three various still lives of the same set-up and one still life composed entirely out of three-dimensional figures. The still life set-up that would be used for three of my midterm drawings consisted of a large tea kettle, a coffee mug, a box of tea, and small coffee pods. I elected to use the 6B and 8B graphite pencils, the mars lumograph pencil, the graphite stick, the vine charcoal, and the compressed charcoal. The charcoal was blended into the paper with the help of q-tips.

I chose to use graphite for general shapes and forms such as the tea kettle and the mug. On the other hand, I chose charcoal to show form and to work on areas that needed to be blended, such as dark areas and shadows in the foreground and the background. The shape of the tea kettle in the works that it appeared in was constantly being moved around, erased, and resized because it failed to look like a tea kettle (from the extreme vantage point drawing) or because it was too close to other objects.

I encountered issues with perspective, value, and shape. Objects were either too close or too spaced out. I had trouble finding the light source and so objects appeared flat, and other times they did not look anything like the direct reference. In order to solve the lighting problem for value, I took photos of my set-up and wrote down which direction the light was coming from lightly on my paper, so I would remember which areas were supposed to be darker and which were supposed to be lighter.

The majority of the marks made on the drawings are intentional and great care was taken for the mediums and materials, as well as for the marks that were not intentional — for example, any stray fingerprints made by the charcoal were erased with the gum eraser before the assignment was turned in. The stray light marks on the tea kettle (see close up photograph) were initially made accidentally, but because it helped to show where the lightest parts of the kettle were I elected to keep the marks and even add them to the other tea kettles in the other two drawings.

A lot of time was spent planning the locations of the objects and shapes out on the paper but even more time was spent finalizing the final shapes and applying areas of light and shadow. The planning process took one and a half hours but the working process must have taken twice or thrice as long, because I had to keep going back to fix my mistakes. Since this was taking too long, I had to sit myself down — as to avoid getting up and losing my focus whenever I needed to reposition myself or take a break so my hand wouldn’t cramp up — and go back to the planning process in order to reposition the location and sizes of the shapes. In the end, I think doing this made all the difference as I was able to complete all four drawings and make them look as realistic as possible.

Final Reflection

December 6, 2020 / CDVL

Prompt: How has the work you have done in this course promoted reflection on individual strengths, identity, and power, and how this has contributed to your understanding of leadership or your capacity to lead?

The Leadership Prologue course “Sit-ins, Kiss-ins, and Die-ins: Feminist and LGBTQ+ Activism in the Contemporary U.S.” has taught me so much about feminist and queer activism. As I worked on quizzes and participated in discussions, the materials that I found myself lost in caused me to think about my individual strengths and weaknesses, as well as my identity and power.

Earlier in the semester, I took the StrengthFinders assessment in order to gain a better understanding of my strengths and weaknesses. According to the results, my top five strengths were that I was an Achiever, I was Deliberative, I had Discipline, I possessed Intellection, and I could provide Input. I noticed these strengths in me as I participated in discussion posts and class discussions. For example, I demonstrated Intellection during the unit on Tarana Burke and the MeToo Movement — this unit caused me to think more about how the media attempts to portray MeToo and other feminist movements as “gender wars” when in actuality, they want to provide safe spaces for victims of sexual violence. Working with a group to complete the final project and all of its components — the annotated bibliography, the action plan, and the final oral presentation — allowed me to demonstrate that I was an Achiever that possessed the ability to work smarter and harder as I set goals for myself and worked long hours to complete tasks before the deadline. While I did not take on the role of the leader, I was able to provide my own input as I put forth the idea of bringing in transgender activists, organizations, and individuals as no one in our group was transgender themselves and we wanted to uplift trans voices without speaking over them.

I identify as a bisexual nonbinary woman. Additionally, as a black person, I make sure to recognize my blackness every day, so it came as a surprise to me that a lot of the individuals and organizations discussed in the course were black queer individuals and queer individuals of color. The unit on black feminism and the Combahee River Collective allowed me to think about how black women have to fight several battles. Additionally, I took in a lot of information after completing Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements by Charlene Carruthers. I did a lot of self-reflection as she described how she could not support feminism that supported homophobia and anti-Black racism (Carruthers 9) and how Black people in the LGBTQ+ community played a part in the civil rights movement (Carruthers 71) — I had craved to see all of these things in my life and I had finally found a book that had said exactly what I was thinking.

Prior to taking this Leadership class and learning all the material, my understanding of America was this: the country was built by and for white, cisgender, heterosexual men. After engaging in several lessons in which leaders of movements were black women and individuals in the LGBTQ+ community, I see that people like me are capable of building and leading in the country. My identity made me feel like I was powerless and that I couldn’t make change. After creating an action plan that would turn grief into action, prevent violence against transgender individuals by educating cisgender people, and provide transgender individuals in college with safe spaces and resources all at the same time, I have come to the realization that I can make a difference.

StrengthFinders Reflection

September 25, 2020 / CDVL

The StrengthFinders assessment’s purpose is to help a person understand the areas in which they excel by providing them with their “Top 5 Strengths” out of a total of 34 strengths, and my assessment has told me that I am Deliberative and an Achiever, I have Discipline and Intellection, and I can provide Input.

Out of my five Strengths, the one that I want others to see in me the most is Achiever. If others could see this strength in me, it would help them understand how hardworking and serious I am. I set goals and challenges and then do everything in my power to complete them. At times it can get intense — I sometimes forego sleep or breaks because I am most likely doing some form of work during those times. While this may sound stress-inducing at first, Understanding this will let people know not only how I operate, but also why I am so driven. I take more pleasure in a job well done than in resting when I know something could get done — it feels amazing to check an achievement off of a list. Having the Achiever strength grants me the ability to work with extreme diligence, endurance, and intelligence, so I am guaranteed to work harder, longer, and smarter. I am confident that this strength will allow me to make contributions in a group with others because my strong need to complete tasks will ensure that the energy we place into an assignment will never go to waste.