LOREN MANSFIELD
Student. Artist. Adventurist.
Associate in Fine Arts Learning Outcomes
intro paragraph
Students completing the Associate in Fine Arts degree will leave with four unique outcomes that enhance their abilities as future professional artists. These are known as the Program Learning Outcomes! The four outcomes are Technical Competence, Aesthetic Judgement, Commitment to Artistic Quality, and Knowledge of Art History. As students in the art field it is key for us to develop skills such as these that allow us to create and understand art. Everyone is born an artist but the most successful artists understand the foundation of art and what makes it so special.
Upon completing the AFA degree with this set of skills students are ready for continuing their education and going on to their Bachelor's in Fine Arts. These foundational skills allow for students to know and understand things like composition, the principles of art, their own artistic style, and the history of the artists before them. I plan on using these skills to continue on an artistic path that will hopefully some day allow me to work solely as an artist. Through enhancing the skills involved in these outcomes I have found where I stand as an artist and discovered what the future consists of for me. Prior to completing my degree I always knew I had a love for art and wished to express that love with others. I now know how to express my emotions through my paintings and I have a goal to work towards with my future works.
The AFA Learning Outcomes will be carried with me as I continue on my journey as a student and an artist. Knowing these skills will allow me to enhance myself and my career as I work towards it. The four learning outcomes are all present below and you can explore more specifically what each one means to me. Each outcome will also contain an artifact that exhibits my understanding and development of each of these outcomes and the skills within it.
The technical competence skill involves me developing my use of mediums, color, and subject choices to create a successful work of art. My first goal within this skill was to learn how to create three-dimensionality within 2D works with the use of shading. My second goal was to develop my knowledge of color theory more and learn how to use color as a tool. The classes I’ve taken that aided me most in developing these skills were Drawing I, Painting I and II, and 2D Design.
The artifact I chose for the technical competence skill is a color pencil drawing I completed in 2D Design. I chose this artifact because I feel it is one of the most successful pieces I have created. The assignment was to take a song and interpret the song in a non-objective drawing. I chose the song “Jar of Hearts” by Christina Perri because it had always been a personal favorite. The most challenging aspect of this assignment was to remain non-objective and still show the meaning of the song. The final drawing depicts an entity of light struggling to rise above the darkness and toils that bring it down.
This assignment really emphasized and challenged my strengths and weaknesses of the technical competence skill. My strengths are creating realistic drawings and three-dimensionality, however my weakness is conveying emotion. This assignment challenged me but the outcome was worth it. The drawing shows how I completed both of my goals with my ability to create dimension and also use colors to set an emotion. My use of colored pencil was also unique because I found it is a medium I work very well with and hope to use more in the future.
Technical Competence
Students will demonstrate technical competence in art foundations.
1. Technical proficiency in creating Illusion of Space in 2D work by use of principles of perspective and chiaroscuro.
2. Technical proficiency in the use of color: knowing color theory, understanding colors' value and temperature; creating color harmony.
3. Successful composition, creative artistic solutions, originality, and intention.
4. Professionalism in handling materials.
Rising Above
Fall 2016
2D Design
Aesthetic Judgement is the ability to critique and analyze great works of art or even your own art. Every artist has a purpose behind why they create art and this purpose is displayed in their work. In my Portfolio and Resume class we were able to write an artist’s statement and also criticize our works and find the most successful one. One of the two goals I chose related to this program outcome was to find the purpose and my motivation for why I create art. The second goal was to find a style that could convey the feelings I wish to give to people who view my work. This was achieved in both Portfolio and Resume class and Painting I.
The artifact provided is my artist statement and a self-reflection on my most successful painting. The significant thing about my artist statement is that it forced me to think critically about why I choose to make art. Giving my art a purpose allowed me to think deeper about what I could do with art and how I could bring it to life. The emotions I wish to convey and my painting style were two things I had to think about when writing my artist statement. I worked closely with teachers to edit my statement and to emphasize the purpose of my art within the statement.
The self-reflection was done on my personal favorite painting. I also chose this painting because it is the first painting I created with my artist statement in mind. The painting embodies the style and purpose I am trying to achieve within my art. The self-reflection focuses on the details that were meant to capture the essence of my artist statement. This assignment also took the work of the Written Communication skill to really focus on knowing how to emphasize the point of my text. Overall, the artist statement is the most significant aspect of this artifact because it is the true meaning behind my most successful work.
Aesthetic Judgement
Student will develop the ability to think critically and creatively about visual art and their own artistic identity.
Aesthetic Artifact
Spring 2017
ART-214
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Commitment to Artistic Quality
Students will be able to demonstrate their commitment to artistic growth and professionalism.
Commitment to artistic quality relates to my professionalism as an artist. My time at South Piedmont aided me in enhancing this skill in classes like my Portfolio and Resume class. One of my goals relating to this outcome was to create an online portfolio of my works. The second goal I had for this skill was to learn how to photograph my works and learn how to edit them using Photoshop. It was important for me not only to have a portfolio but also have one that looked good and looked professional.
The artifact I chose for this skill was in fact my ePortfolio and specifically my portfolio page. I chose my ePortfolio as an artifact because it not only related to my commitment to artistic quality but required the use of all of my Core Skills as well. My ePortfolio was completed over several semesters and was definitely challenging in its entirety and was a very time consuming project. There were many specifications and requirements for each page and each one serves a unique purpose. My prior knowledge of technical skills and website building aided me in this process but not knowing how to use Photoshop was my biggest weakness going into this project. In my Portfolio and Resume class we had a day where we were taught how to crop and edit our photos and make them picture perfect for our ePortfolios. This aided me in completing my second goal.
The ePortfolio is an interesting artifact because of all the different skills it demonstrates. My Portfolio page shows painting demonstrations, interactive galleries and art of multiple mediums. My ePortfolio also displays various professional artistic skills such as my artist statement. In the future I fully intend on continuing to build my ePortfolio and adding on additional experiences as I continue my education. I am happy with the outcome of my ePortfolio and it is a significant element of my education because it is a perfect display of my development as an artist and a student.
My knowledge of Art History has grown tremendously over the course of completing my degree. The goals I set for myself revolving around Art History were first to learn more in depth about the many artistic periods and movements related to them. The second was to learn about the many painting masters and what their influences were at the time. The classes that aided in broadening my Art History knowledge were of course Art History I and II, Painting I and II and Drawing. In painting and drawing we were able to study the masters and use them as influences for our own works.
The artifact I chose is a paper from Art History I. The assignment was to write 2-3 pages on a specific piece of art and analyze it. The analyzation could be based on interpretation, political importance, artistic elements, and so on. I chose to analyze a mosaic called The Transfiguration of Christ with Sant’ Apollinare. This piece stood out to me because of the color schemes within it and the many symbols that hid within it. My paper outlined these many symbols and the importance that each one carried. I researched many of the symbols and their importance and relevance in Art History. I found it interesting as the class went on and also in Art History II that many of the symbols within my mosaic were carried on throughout Art History.
I find my goals were met through my experiences in both Art History classes. I learned unique historical elements and learned how to identify influences within works of art. The ways of Egyptian and Greek sculptures carried on throughout Art History and I have learned to identify them. My weaknesses going into this course were lack of knowledge in any prehistoric art but I am more comfortable with cave paintings and things like the Venus of Willendorf. My strength was my prior knowledge from painting classes but my knowledge was built on as the courses went on. I find my artifact shows that I learned about both artistic periods and elements within art that were carried on by masters throughout Art History.
Knowledge of Art History
Students will be able to exhibit their knowledge of art history.
The Transfiguration of Christ with Sant' Apollinare
Fall 2016
ART-114