MY AMERICA, MY PASSPORT
Project Overview
The goal of this project was to create a visual piece, resembling a passport, that represents each student and, "their America". Students were responsible for choosing images to represent pieces of their lives that have shaped them into who they are. Using these images, they would create a collage and then write an abstract that describes what each of their images represent.
Final Products
Passport
Abstract
While making my passport, I had to think about which elements of my life I wanted to display. I thought that it would be more meaningful if I portrayed my feelings towards life and my interests, rather than just my background. That being said, I would like to elaborate on why I chose these ten images.
My whole life, I have always loved music, just like every other sixteen year old out there. Not only have I loved music, but I’ve been creating it. This is why I chose a piano to represent My America. It can be interpreted as a sign of my love for music, as well inform people that I play the piano. Not only do I have a passion for music, I have a passion for the outdoors. Growing up in California, I’ve had the convenience of being centrally located between both the beach and the mountains. However, I have always chose the mountains. Something about cold weather and straight trees really rattles my cage. In fact, I am planning on moving somewhere “mountainy” when it’s time for me to finally grow up.
The idea of traveling anywhere really, excites me. I’m always so tired of being in the same place, I’m constantly looking for change and adventure. This is why I chose to put a road leading into the mountains. It represents all of the adventures I plan on taking before I really settle down. To accompany the road, I’ve created a sign that says, “elsewhere”. This sign is meant to display my need to get out of California and see what else the world has to offer. I’m getting older and as I get older, different things start to interest me. I’d like to see what else there is to be interested in.
Speaking of my growth, which seems to be stunted at a wimpy 5’3, I would like to touch upon the sunflowers I have covering much of the bottom half of my passport. Why a sunflower? Not because it is my favorite flower, not because “it’s the ‘indie’ thing to do,” but because of their size and their beauty. They start out as a seed, and despite their classification as a flower, they grow up to be almost ten feet! I, starting out as a high school student, want to grow up to be almost ten feet. . . metaphorically that is. I want to take my skills, my dreams, my future to heights that seem unreachable for your average high school student.
In order to achieve that goal, it’s important to realize how much work must be done before it can be possible. That is why my studies are so important to me. It may sound cliche, but nothing makes me feel more accomplished, academically, than seeing all A’s on a report card. To represent my focus on academics, I went with an obvious symbol, books. Books help me grow in every way, whether I’m studying science from them, or I’m reading the classic Nancy Drew series. Books just make me smarter. There is no better way to explain.
There is school, and then there is work. There’s a common saying about work, I believe it’s, “back to the grind!”. When I say this, I mean it literally. I spend my Saturdays and Sundays grinding coffee, brewing coffee, making lates, measuring out the perfect amount of foam for an outrageously specific drink order, and so on. Any guesses on where I’m going with this? That’s right! I work at Starbucks. That is why there are huge coffee beans splattered around on my passport. Having a job has really helped me gain independence and learn a little more responsibility.
School all week and work all weekend makes Megan a very dull girl. Every free couple of
hours I’m presented with, I spend doing ridiculous activities like designing and building a marshmallow gun, or being a cart pirate in Walmart during rush hour. That’s why you’ll find a monster located on the left hand side of my passport. Not only did I find it to be a pretty cool looking monster, but I thought it would be a good way to display my mythical, goofy side. I stop caring about what people might think, and just do the things that make me the happiest.
Thinking about the things that make me happy, I can’t help but focus my attention on elephants. Elephants have become a recent obsession of mine. I can’t quite explain what makes them so fascinating to me, but I can’t get enough of the gigantic creatures. The way they use their trunk as hands and their unbelievably enormous ears, are all details that I love. I don’t think I’ll ever understand what makes them so interesting, but that in itself only makes me even more curious about them.
Lastly, I’d like to talk about the giant light bulb that takes up the right half of my passport. I really wanted to display my creativity and the random thoughts that run through my head on a daily basis. What better way to represent ideas, than with a light bulb!
I don’t think that I can thoroughly explain why I love all of the things that I do, or why I have grown up the way that I have. However, I do know that everything will continue to change and with them, so will My America.
My whole life, I have always loved music, just like every other sixteen year old out there. Not only have I loved music, but I’ve been creating it. This is why I chose a piano to represent My America. It can be interpreted as a sign of my love for music, as well inform people that I play the piano. Not only do I have a passion for music, I have a passion for the outdoors. Growing up in California, I’ve had the convenience of being centrally located between both the beach and the mountains. However, I have always chose the mountains. Something about cold weather and straight trees really rattles my cage. In fact, I am planning on moving somewhere “mountainy” when it’s time for me to finally grow up.
The idea of traveling anywhere really, excites me. I’m always so tired of being in the same place, I’m constantly looking for change and adventure. This is why I chose to put a road leading into the mountains. It represents all of the adventures I plan on taking before I really settle down. To accompany the road, I’ve created a sign that says, “elsewhere”. This sign is meant to display my need to get out of California and see what else the world has to offer. I’m getting older and as I get older, different things start to interest me. I’d like to see what else there is to be interested in.
Speaking of my growth, which seems to be stunted at a wimpy 5’3, I would like to touch upon the sunflowers I have covering much of the bottom half of my passport. Why a sunflower? Not because it is my favorite flower, not because “it’s the ‘indie’ thing to do,” but because of their size and their beauty. They start out as a seed, and despite their classification as a flower, they grow up to be almost ten feet! I, starting out as a high school student, want to grow up to be almost ten feet. . . metaphorically that is. I want to take my skills, my dreams, my future to heights that seem unreachable for your average high school student.
In order to achieve that goal, it’s important to realize how much work must be done before it can be possible. That is why my studies are so important to me. It may sound cliche, but nothing makes me feel more accomplished, academically, than seeing all A’s on a report card. To represent my focus on academics, I went with an obvious symbol, books. Books help me grow in every way, whether I’m studying science from them, or I’m reading the classic Nancy Drew series. Books just make me smarter. There is no better way to explain.
There is school, and then there is work. There’s a common saying about work, I believe it’s, “back to the grind!”. When I say this, I mean it literally. I spend my Saturdays and Sundays grinding coffee, brewing coffee, making lates, measuring out the perfect amount of foam for an outrageously specific drink order, and so on. Any guesses on where I’m going with this? That’s right! I work at Starbucks. That is why there are huge coffee beans splattered around on my passport. Having a job has really helped me gain independence and learn a little more responsibility.
School all week and work all weekend makes Megan a very dull girl. Every free couple of
hours I’m presented with, I spend doing ridiculous activities like designing and building a marshmallow gun, or being a cart pirate in Walmart during rush hour. That’s why you’ll find a monster located on the left hand side of my passport. Not only did I find it to be a pretty cool looking monster, but I thought it would be a good way to display my mythical, goofy side. I stop caring about what people might think, and just do the things that make me the happiest.
Thinking about the things that make me happy, I can’t help but focus my attention on elephants. Elephants have become a recent obsession of mine. I can’t quite explain what makes them so fascinating to me, but I can’t get enough of the gigantic creatures. The way they use their trunk as hands and their unbelievably enormous ears, are all details that I love. I don’t think I’ll ever understand what makes them so interesting, but that in itself only makes me even more curious about them.
Lastly, I’d like to talk about the giant light bulb that takes up the right half of my passport. I really wanted to display my creativity and the random thoughts that run through my head on a daily basis. What better way to represent ideas, than with a light bulb!
I don’t think that I can thoroughly explain why I love all of the things that I do, or why I have grown up the way that I have. However, I do know that everything will continue to change and with them, so will My America.
Reflection
I found this project to be very stress free and creative. I liked the fact that the project didn't require any research or lessons, we simply had to take our thoughts and hopes and turn them into a visual art piece, resembling a passport. I have always had a hard time describing my emotions, so I had to reflect on myself quite a bit. It was difficult for me to pick which images I wanted to incorporate because I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted to portray myself to my peers and community members. Once I finally decided which aspects of my life I wanted to talk about, it was time for me to create my abstract which would explain what each of my images represented. This was even more difficult then choosing the images. It is one thing to pick things from your life that "shape" you, but it is another to describe why and how they have "shaped" you. That is why I found this project so beneficial. . . It gave me a chance to recognize the things in my life that have helped me become who I am, and to identify my hopes and goals.