Christensen 1

Morgan Christensen

Mrs. Lounnas

Plus II Project

4-20-17

Senior Defense Reflective Essay

I started my journey as an artist in the sixth grade. My mom had received an email from a

drama program called Defying Gravity looking for middle schoolers to join and try-out for

their plays. As a young girl, I was introverted and kept to myself. My mom, hoping to break me

out of my shell, pushed me to join.. Twice a week, I would spend my afternoons doing acting

games and rehearsing for upcoming plays. I became close with the instructors and students who

shared a passion for drama. That year, I played Cinderella in the spring play and experienced the

amazing feeling of stage adrenaline. From then on, I knew I wanted to continue this passion.

The following year, I was still participating in Defying Gravity and heard about the

Clayton Arts Academy for the first time. Two girls who were in the program applied and shared

their excitement with me. They explained the interview process and what the current students

had to say about it. I knew that I wanted to be a part of the Arts Academy in high school. After

seventh grade I left Defying Gravity to have more time for cheerleading, but applied to the

academy with the same love for acting. Soon, I got a letter saying I had not been accepted which

was disappointing, but I was still excited for high school. Then about a month later, I received a

call from an academy teacher offering me a place if I was still interested. I accepted immediately

and later got to know that voice as Mrs. Abbott, who would be my English and Photography

teacher for the next four years.

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Entering high school would have been a much different experience without the Clayton

Arts Academy. Being a drama student, I got the chance to break out of my shell in front of other

students who became my best friends. While in Drama 2, I became interested in tech and found a

different aspect of the theatre world to enjoy and contribute to. I met a lot of artists who,

although were young, knew that life should be about the people around you instead of success.

My sophomore year, I started taking pictures, sparked an interest to switch my art focus from

drama to photography.

In the middle of my junior year in Photo 1, we were assigned a project for our final to

take a roll of film that represents who we are. We could take pictures of our daily lives, the

people we love, the things we love, and anything else that gave a glimpse of our beings. I simply

carried my camera with me throughout my day at school and wherever I went. I had to know

who my best friends were and the food and items I loved. Representing my daily life proved to

be quite difficult because there are some things I do that are subconscious and I don't take into

consideration. I had to pay attention to my actions and the paths I took every day. I learned how

beautiful the simple things in my house are and how difficult my animals can be to work with.

It was easier to capture my life when I was carrying my camera everywhere I went. I had

to save some film so I wouldn't run out of room to take pictures of important things in my life. I

took a couple pictures of food including candy and pasta. I captured the places I went like the

drive from my house to school, a view of my rooftop, and a school hallway. For people, I

captured Erin Dietrich, Matt Pruitt, and my brother. I took a couple pictures of my pets and

realized that my cats and dogs are photogenic creatures. It was hard to show who I am through

pictures, but I think I did it well in a clear way. I didn't use any abstract photos, but subject
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matters people would understand. If someone saw these pictures I think they would get a better

understanding of who I am and what I appreciate.

I think if I did this project again I would use abstract photography for my own sake. Even

if others didn't get an idea of myself as a person, it would help me understand myself as an

individual and make me happy. I could have put together an odd still life or took a macro of one

of my favorite things. Other than that, I think I showed my personality and interests well. In all

my other photo assignment we had worked on certain skills of photography, but with this one we

tied them all together. I enjoyed it because I had more freedom and used my skills in each photo.

It was difficult to add each rule of photography into a picture, but I figured it out. It was another

project that demonstrated how well something or someone can be represented through art or

words. This project was one of my favorite photography assignments because it required me to

decrypt myself and appreciate the things I love.

Almost a year later to start off the second semester as a Senior, the Arts Academy did an

academy-wide project called the Artistic Telephone. Being in photo, I was supposed to take 20

pictures of my choice in about a week and a half. These would later be seen by art students who

choose 1 to 4 pictures from a photographer to use as inspiration for their own art piece. From

there, the drama students would get two to three art pieces to use as inspiration for a scene they

create and act out. Throughout the whole process, the video students would document the steps

to cut together at the end of the project. The point of it was to see how different people perceive

art and create their own out of their perceptions. I had my own goal to have a range of 20

pictures instead of making them all the same theme or in the same setting. I needed to know what

would translate well to artists so they could easily be inspired to turn it into art. I also had to plan

different outings to take pictures which worked because I got a variety of pictures.
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The first pictures I took for the project were on a class trip right outside the campus. We

went up into a neighborhood to take landscape pictures. Then we headed over to Boatwright park

where there was a lot of nature pictures to take. I took macro, landscape, and candid pictures

there. Since all the other photo kids were there, I felt like we would all have the same pictures so

a friend and I went to Heather Farms after school for another photo shoot. There I got more

nature shots. Later that week, I went to a concert in Berkeley and shot some music photography.

The next day I went to another concert, but it was outside so the setting was different. Through

these shoots, I saw how other photographers took pictures and improved my concert photography

from one day to the next. The picture that my artist chose was a candid of a girl.

I would have shoot more colorful pictures overall. My pictures were more green or dark

colored. I could have even taken pictures at my house to add diversity and set my art apart from

the other students. I have improved my concert photography a lot since that project and wish I

had known the tricks I know now. I could have used flash, long exposure, and macro at the

concerts. I think my range of photography types was still good though because I did not just do

landscape or macro. I think adding the concert photography in made my 20 pictures more unique

and reflected on my own style. The artist that chose my picture painted abstract lips. I thought

that was cool because he turned a picture of a girl into a focus on the lips. Then the drama

students used that and other paintings to make a scene about lips, eyes, and hands. I liked how

much the art changed over the process. This project was academy wide so it was a way of

working together without communication. We had to interpret each other's art so I think it helped

everyone understand the process of other art forms.

In the middle of my Junior year, we had a project due in English that tied together the

themes of three books we had read. Those three books were "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest",
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"Lord of the Flies", and "Brave New World". We had to write an essay about the theme we used

and make an abstract art project to represent it. I used the fact that society pulls us in all different

directions. I had to find evidence from each book that tied each of their themes to my theme. I

also needed to have examples of the real world we live in to help people relate to and understand

what I was trying to represent. For this I explained how parents put pressure on us to be hard

workers at home and at school. I also used how our school environment makes us feel the need

to be smart, but not too smart because we can be judged by our peers. This project opened my

eyes to how many pressures there are in our world and how many different standards there are.

This includes intelligence/dimness, strength/acceptance, and normality/weirdness.

For the essay I found a quote from each book that represented how the stresses of society

affected the characters and main theme. In "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," all the patients

in the ward are in there because they have been driven crazy by standards and they continue to

be. One of the characters, Chief, was driven to silence by how controversial his tribes and

everyone else's views were. Inside the ward he was told to rebel against the workers while the

big nurse wanted him to stay quiet. In "Lord of the Flies," there are two systems so all the boys

are either being pulled towards civilization or wildness. In "Brave New World," the world they

have created is "civilized" and "better", but when John enters it, he feels pressure to take soma,

have sex, and forget God, which drives him to death. For my art project I used a board with

different qualities on all the sides and corners. I tied strings to each quality connecting to a ball in

the middle to represent a person who cannot reach each quality when there are so many out there.

When I put it in art it was easier to see how impossible society's view of perfection is. I learned

how well art can represent an idea.

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I think I procrastinated on this project, but it still turned out well with the knowledge I

had. My essay sounded very professional and I think I made my point. I was proud of my

artwork because I stayed up late to complete it and the standards of society were clear. On the

other hand, if I had more time I could have added more art to my project. I could have decorated

the background to match the theme I was trying to get across, each standard could have had a

matching art piece, and the strings and ball could have been painted to show the pain that

pressure gives people. I demonstrated improvement on how powerful art can be. I never made an

art piece that was so well tied together. I didn't even have to try that hard, but with a good idea, I

made something great. I enjoyed this project because each of these books had a good theme of

society so it was easy to create my project.

In the second semester of my senior english class, we had to write a story based on a

world we created. The assignment included a creation myth, a map, illustrations, enhancements,

and the writing itself. Earth could not be the setting of our story and we needed to use original

and creative concepts and descriptions. I wrote about the world of Zodia, which is based on

astrology and was created by goddesses. The main character becomes a ruler, learns the corrupt

secrets being kept, and exposes them. I enjoyed my stories topic and made it as creative as I

could. I had to know my creation myth first so I could incorporate it into my writing as well as

have an image of Zodia's map to consider while building my setting in the story. I could not

make it sound too Earth-like or make the characters seem like complete humans. I took ideas

from the world I live in, but changed them to be an abstract version. For example, I used a green

and purple sky covered in stars instead of the bright day we have. I knew writing the story would

be difficult because it was 11 pages long, but I still procrastinated with it.
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I first made a map of Zodia with 12 sectors in a circle and a smaller circle within it. I

labeled every important area and drew out buildings and the palace. Then I did my creation myth

that explained the story of 12 goddesses who created Zodia from constellations. From there I

could create my world in a work of writing. The rough draft had a good beginning with lots of

description, but the end was very rushed and factual. In my final draft I made sure to focus on the

end where the climax was and added literary devices. Then I painted a cover for my story and

two illustrations of the sky in Zodia and what the main character's crown looked like. I also

found enhancements along the way including lyrics to "Age of Aquarius" and a poem about

astrology and the stars. Every step of my story connected to the next like my map allowing me to

visualize what Zodia looked like. Usually in English we have a topic to write about, but this

assignment required being more creative. I felt like I could set more of my own guidelines.

Overall I was proud of the outcome of my build-a-world story. I think it was original and

the theme of rebellion was clear. I did my own illustrations instead of found works which gave a

better idea of what was in my mind. The story was easy to follow and interesting. I do wish I

spent more time on it. The map and creation myth were thorough, but I felt like my story could

be more thought out. It ended at the climax, which is suspenseful, but if I had spent more time

brainstorming and writing I could have explained the aftermath of the main character's actions. I

also could have described the characters and settings in more detail. If it was a longer assignment

and I had more time I think my writing could have been more professional. I learned that my

ideas are more original than I thought and I should trust my creativity. This was one of the

longest pieces of writing I've had to complete so I learned the hard way that it should be paced

out. I could have worked in a group of four, but worked by myself which was a mistake because

it added a lot of extra work so I should learn to trust other students. This assignment was part of
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the Arts Academy so I was able to express myself and my ideas more than in normal classes. It

helped me work without boundaries.

The Arts Academy Plus Two Project is about social activism through art. We had to find a

way to better our community or a broader community while incorporating a form of art. Early

on, I chose the topic of child poverty awareness because I volunteer at an organization that

provides food, clothes, and shelter to those in need in the Bay Area. At first I wanted to do

performance art on thelack of warm clothes in Winter time, but then I saw the statistic that every

ten seconds a child dies of a hunger related disease and thought that could be a powerful piece. I

wanted to do 10 paintings representing child poverty for the performers to hold so it would not

be too bland. I would do the performance in three places of ranging poverty levels to see the

difference in spectator's reaction. Research would be a big part of my project so I could pass the

information along to others. I knew I would want my mentor to be Brigitte, a woman I volunteer

with, because she could have a lot of advice to give me. I emailed different people at UNICEF

for interviews and one young woman answered me in depth. I thought painting would be the

hardest part of my project because I am not good at art and I assumed doing the actual

performance pieces would be easy because they are quick, but it was the opposite.

I started with researching global child poverty stats. There I found a lot of interesting

information on top of the statistic I was basing my performances on like, more than a third of

childhood deaths are caused by malnutrition which affects 100 million children under the age of

5 (Child). I learned about the programs that can aide poverty around the world but only one-

third of the poorest are covered by social protection (Franco Garcia) and being meek and weak

in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death (Shah). One of the biggest

takeaways from my research was the cycle of poverty and diseases like one of the major
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difficulties that often goes along with poverty is hunger (Fanning). Children in poverty are often

hungry and that greatly impacts their ability to learn (World). There were too many harsh

facts out there on child poverty to retain everything.

I interviewed a young woman named Chandni Jain who works as a global citizenship

fellow at UNICEF. She has been working on various projects and said, I have tried to do my

best to bring together my Bay Area community and inspire them to understand and take action

against the many childrens rights abuses happening globally (Jain). UNICEF insist that the

survival, protection, and development of children and universal development imperatives that are

integral to human progress (Jain). Through Chandni, I learned a lot about UNICEF's work

across the world and how because of their work, over 90 million childrens lives have been

saved since 1990 (Jain). From the information I got from my interview, I could do more

research and was inspired to start my art.

In mid-March I did my observation as I was volunteering at a mobile boutique in

Richmond for the White Pony Express. It was an event I had experience with, but each one is

different and exciting in its own way. Clothing donations were prepped and put into outfits for

hundreds of families around the Bay Area to choose from. When the doors opened for the free

shopping, most entered the elementary school feeling unworthy of the donations, but the point

of the mobile boutique was to empower those families and it worked (Christensen). Racks came

in full of clothes, but left empty. More than 10,000 items of clothing and toys were given out

and 3,000 pounds of fresh food was delivered (Christensen). I had the opportunity to witness

how much families even in our community were in need and how satisfying it was to help.

These findings were helpful for my paintings and to inform others. I later bought foam

boards to paint on and did 5 paintings with all different themes. There is an empty plate for
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hunger, a blank sunrise, a neighborhood made of scraps inspired inspired by shelters in India, an

apple with one bite showing how wasteful more fortunate people are, and facial features with

food and medicine dangling. The painting portion was actually easier because it was relaxing and

could be done from home. I only did five because I could only get five people to help at my first

performance. I had a date set for two weeks, but people started dropping out so I had to

reschedule it for later in the week when a handful of friends were available. We went to

downtown Walnut Creek after school one day and I had them hold the paintings and drop down

every ten seconds then I announced my project after. In the middle of the performance piece a

woman walked up and asked what we were doing and I said I would explain later. Besides that, it

was fine and she was the only one asking questions afterwards. I wish people could have been

more interested in it. After the difficulty getting people to help out and being in a public setting, I

started rethinking my project. I talked to my mentor about how I started a poem on the every ten

seconds topic and she suggested I could perform it at an open mic and make my project

multimedia, which I want to pursue.

Finishing up my Plus Two Project, I can see just how much work it was and what I could

have altered. I wish I had started the research earlier because I needed to get that done before I

began anything else and there was so much information on child poverty. I think I was thorough

in my research and learned about the causes, effects, and how to fight it. I also gained extra

knowledge from my interview because Chandni Jain was experienced with the topic and

involved in UNICEF's work in the Bay Area and around the world. Painting was one of the

easiest parts because it felt like a hobby and not an assignment and I wish I could have done

more with that. Planning my performance pieces and carrying them out was the most difficult
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part of my project. I learned that relying on people for parts of my own project was not smart and

I should have had a back-up plan.

I wish I was more concrete when carrying out the performance because I needed friends

to complete it, but a lot of them were unavailable. Because of this I had to change the path for

my project and plan to write and perform a poem called "Every Ten Seconds" at an open mic. It

is the same goal I originally had, but my art form has changed. This way my project will be

multimedia. My mentor was very helpful and I am grateful for her support with advice for my

paintings and changing my project. Overall, I wish I had began the process of everything earlier,

but I still think my project was meaningful and had a good impact on me. I learned that simple

art pieces can influence others and create powerful messages. In the Arts Academy I am able to

use my artistic skills to send a message. My journey as a high school student is coming to an end,

but I will always be a part of the Clayton Arts Academy and I will continue to be an artist.
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Child Poverty. CARE. 2016. 3 March 2017.

Christensen, Morgan. Mobile Boutique. 27 March 2017.

Fanning, Julie. 99 Great Organizations Confronting Poverty and Hunger. MSW Online

Programs. 5 March 2017

Franco Garcia, Antonio. 7 Facts About Child Poverty You Should Know. Unicef. 15 October

2015. 5 March 2017.

Jain, Chandni. Email Interview. 14 March 2017.

Shah, Anup. Poverty Facts and Stats. Global Issues. 7 January 2013. 5 March 2017.

World Child Hunger Facts. World Hunger. July 2015. 5 March 2017.