Showing posts with label Hapshiba Kwon-Student Profile. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hapshiba Kwon-Student Profile. Show all posts

Sunday, January 22, 2017

ALUMNI ADVENTURES/FIRSTS

2016 Alumni Hapshiba Kwon,
moved this summer with her entire family from Cerritos, Ca. to Old Lyme, Connecticut
while she attends prestigious Amherst in Massachusetts.
This winter she has joined the Outing Club 
and went on her first Mountaineering trip to the White Mountain Range in New Hampshire.

Hapshiba tells me that this year she is going to push herself to try new experiences,
and this one sounded a bit out of her comfort zone,
so perfect! 
In her own words 
" It was absolutely breathtaking (pictures attached), and I wanted to give up often (!!!) but had so much fun and even met a few new friends along the way. 
I'm thrilled to travel with you on these adventures thru your pictures Hapshiba,
and to be able to share them with your Whitney buds.
More please!

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

ON IT'S WAY

Oh Boy!!
something got finished,
 and it's on it's way backeast to Old Lyme, CT.
 The recipient is 2016 Alumni Hapshiba Kwon.
Last school year I sent this one to 2015 Alumni Daphne Chaing in D.C. 

Every year when I teach the Solar Dyed Yarns &
Beginning Knitting Unit to my Intermediate 3-d kids,
I'm able to demonstrate each step and pattern,
so that I actually stay one day ahead of the class,
which leaves me with a finished piece at the end.
Woo Hoo
This year we covered 10 patterns,
Knit & Purl garter, Stockinette, 2 by 2 Ribbing, Mistaken Rib, Cable, Log Cabin, Seed, 
Stripping & Intarsia.
Finished the blocking and hubby put it in the mail for me today.
I'm hoping just in time to keep Hapshiba toasty in the Conn. snow.
Looking forward to her sending a pix with her wrapped up in it.
Also hoping she'll like the colorways I came up this year.
I always go into my demos blind so I put no pressure on getting things just right.
I find that working spontaneously is a whole lot of fun.
Hapshiba,
everyone here at Whitney sends you hugs and warm wishes 
for the Holiday Season with your family. 
And give your brother Daniel a big hug and kiss from me.
Love you always sweet girl.
xoxoxoxo

Friday, October 7, 2016

WAY TOO MUCH FUN

3-D HANDMADE FELT CONSTRUCTIONS
BEGINNING 3-D ART
dyed wool rovings, warm soapy water, bits & pieces of this and that, embroidery w/ perle cottons
 & misc. embellishments

Oh my, 
this is a super fun unit.
Lots of barnyard smells going on as the kids learn the age old technique of feltmaking.
The prep before the actual felting was a glorious riot of colors.
And then there was the actual felting experience.
The kids got soaking wet as they worked the warm soapy water into the wool.
We do this outside because of the bubbly wet mess it makes everywhere.
hee hee

Here are a few of the felted pieces before I put them into my washing machine 
to shrink them down even further.

Some close-ups.
And now onto the finished products.

I'm starting with senior Karen Long who made these adorable children's shoes.
These were a class favorite.
I always have thrift-ed antique laces & dollies for the kids to incorporate into their projects.
If you look closely at their felts you will see some that are embedded within the layers of wool.

Next we have was this little cutie by 8th grader Elliana Lee,
another class favorite.
Is it a whale/mouse?
I just want to pet it. 
 So tactile and sweet..

Several of the young ones made their pieces into journals.
Here we have 8th grader Malia Pulido above 
&
below,
junior Insha Khan.
Beautiful pieces girls with a lot of effort being put into the embroidery!!

And here's another sweet one by junior Helen Park.
Have you noticed that all these students have learned about visual flow?
Every embellishment they add should flow with their colors they chose to put into the wool.
They are graded on this for every assignment.

From above to below for Ms. Deliana Park,
English teacher.
She created a pouch from her very pretty piece of felt.
(note Ms. Hall how Deliana likes the same colorways you do)

One of my favs was this stuffed star by senior Charity Lizardo.
Just really loved how the colors came together in the felt (a lot of cool swirling going on),
how she allowed her seams to show 
& of course the cute buttons at the end of each ray.
Delightful!

And 8th grader Sydney Eng made this very elegant & sophisticated clutch.

And then another of my favorites was this journal by senior Hapshiba Kwon.
I hope you took your journal with you to college Hap,
and are writing your heart out inside it.
Love to all of you,
I miss you guys.

Friday, August 12, 2016

FRAMED

MOSAIC FRAMES
BEGINNING 3-D ART
glass & clay shards, wooden frames, paper images & text, Modge Podge, wood burning tools, watercolors, acrylics & other misc. goodies like buttons & jewelry parts

My students love, love, love this assignment.
It's super fun & fairly easy,
and the results are always stunning.
The most challenging part is the grouting only because it takes time, 
patience,
and impeccable craftsmanship.
I personally love grouting because it's so tedious.
And that's right up my alley  LOL

Let's check out this first one by junior Helen Park.
Love her well balanced design & the variety of objects she found to use.
I also find her high & low relief interesting,
makes me want to run my fingers over her piece.
Below a close up of the fun buttons she used and how she had to grout around them.


This next one,
Esperanza,
was created by senior Clarissa Gutierrez.
What a cool design she was able to get thru her use of curves.


Senior Jenna Llamas built this beauty above.
(sorry Jenna that it's a bit blurry)
I like how she limited her color scheme and also included dinnerware shards.


And of course senior Elias Rodriguez gave us a very different look with this asymmetrical work.
I like how he moves the colors from dark blues thru greens to yellows.
As you can see below,
he also did that with the back of his frame only in acrylics for a bit of extra credit.
He has even include a title,
Breeze Blocks.
Very cool Elias!


In this next one ,
English teacher Deliana Park,
goes with the yellows and aquas that she loves to work in.
Look closely and you will see text & music notes under some of her transparent glass shards.
And check out her backside.
I believe she used watercolors to build this lovely design.
I also like that she stylized her flowers and butterflies with blocks of color.
Really inspirational Deliana.
I admire all the thought and time you put into everything you make.


And oh, oh ,oh,
what wonderful pieces and colors senior Eileen Wang has put together.
Really eye-catching Eileen!
And then there is the back side of her frame.
She has used paint to stain the wood,
lovely!

I rarely showcase this many works by my students in one post,
but there were just so many outstanding pieces to chose from like this one above by senior Iris Xu.
Very clever color work here 
with the monochromatic greens then bringing in a touch of complementary red to give it a "pop".


One of my strongest 8th grade designers this year was Sydney Eng.
She created this brilliant design.
Using analogous colors with those striking linear black lines running thru,
and then that unusual shade of grout color that pulls it all together,
stunningly beautiful my girl!


And junior Thulashi Raveendran has outdone herself both on the front and backsides.
Wow!!


Several of the kids this year took advantage of first collaging text or patterned papers 
to the raw wood before gluing down their glass shards.
That's what 8th grader Elliana Lee did here.
Love the rose paper she found to put down using the Modge Podge sauce.
It's so lovely she really doesn't even need the glass shards on top.
But let's she what she did next.
Adorable Elliana!
She drew these cute little figures on white paper and glued them to clear glass,
then glued those pieces down on the roses.
Adding more clear glass to show off the roses underneath 
along with a few buttons and opaque shards,
and then mixing the right shade of pinky mauve to pull it all together.
A lot of these kids mixed their own grout colors
which can be really scary if you run out before you are done grouting,
cuz you will never mix the exact color again.
But they were fearless in their quest for just the right color.

I adore this next one by junior Insha Khan.
Both the front and the backside.
On the front,
her color choices, 
the glass arrangement of the challenging symmetry,
the small sizes moving into linear shapes moving into rounds.
So well planned out!
Insha also thought to use the woodburning tool to draw designs on the backside.
Along with the paint stain,
it compliments the front perfectly.


And one of my sweetest young ones,
8th grader Malia Pulido,
was also brave enough to use the wood burning tool on her backside.
And look closely at her front,
she spent a lot of time gluing down text in just the right places.
I also love that she's incorporating the dinnerware pieces that add great textural interest.


And we end with one of my favorite students this year,
one of the best people I've ever met in my whole life,
senior Hapshiba Kwon.
This young woman has so many gifts that she has brought to our school,
to our teachers, 
and to her peers.
She is a phenomenal writer as well as an exceptional designer.
But so much more importantly,
a genuinely good person.
I have showcased many of her pieces over the last two years.
I hope you will put her name in the search engine and find what other pieces she has created.
Her work moves use all because she most always finds a way 
to incorporate her words in her art pieces.
If you look closely under the clear shards you will find either her words
 or inspirational words from one she admires.
Perhaps she will send in a comment to let use know which she used in this piece.
Now I want you to scroll back up to see what she has done with color.
How she has patiently and purposefully moved the colors from blackest black thru blues to pink.
Seamless, 
and extremely difficult to do.
It took her so long I was scared she wasn't going to finish on time.
But she never lets us down,
always doing her very best because that's who she is.
And look how perfectly she has stained her backside to flow with the front.

Thank you,
 all of you,
for creating so much beauty for me to share with the world.
I feel so blessed and incredibly lucky to be your teacher.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

THE MOST PRECIOUS OF GIFTS...

comes with thoughtfulness and kindness,
 and a piece of herself.

Senior Hapshiba Kwon and
Fiber Artist Hazel Cindy Montes of Handstories blog fame 
have found each other via my blog,
and I feel have made a lifelong connection thru their love of stitching, 
fiber & the written word.

Hapshiba started following Hazel's blog 
after I bought two stitched art pieces from Hazel to share with my students.
I happened to mention to Hazel how much Hapshiba admired her delicate stitches 
on those sister ships.

Hazel was so moved by Hapshiba's reaction 
that she took it upon herself to make a special work for Hapshiba for a graduation gift.
Here we see Hapshiba as she opens her gift,
and the joy on her sweet face as she holds Hazel's stitched piece up for a picture.

Thank you Hazel for bringing so much joy into one of my all time favorite student's hearts.
It means the world to me.