Failure Paper

 What was your biggest failure this semester

 Micro-Project 3 was easily my biggest failure this semester.

 What did you learn from this failure?

 In engineering classes, usually something is either possible or (given current math/science/technology/money/time) impossible.  Art, in contrast, seemed so freeing.  Since there isn't really a "right" answer, I can do (almost) anything.  Whether this anything was good or not is debatable, but it would at least be a thing that exists.


I learned that this assumption isn't really true.  While I received credit for the assignment, I didn't feel like-to me-it was "correct."  It was an attempt, but it didn't meet the goal.  I'm not sure, at this point in time, that I'm actually capable of doing what was asked.  I didn't know that was going to happen going into this class.

What was your biggest success this quarter?

While I think other projects were better received by both the instructor and the classmates, I felt my biggest success was Micro-Project 4.


What did you learn from this success?

Just as I had my expectations flipped when working on Micro-Project 3, Micro-Project 4 also flipped an expectation of mine.  Artworks are abstract concepts-items from Plato's forms-made manifest on the cave wall.  I had an understanding-not sure where I originally picked it up-that it is inevitable that the physical content of the artwork is never exactly like the original idea.  Something is always changed-for better or worse-when the object in the artist's mind is brought into the tangible world.  That may be generally true, or perhaps just sometimes true, but it is definitely not always true.  Micro-Project 4 turned out exactly as I had pictured.  Not a single thing was different, for better or worse.  I didn't think such things could realistically happen with something of that level of complexity.

If you could redo one project, what would you change and why?

The obvious answer is Micro-Project 3, but I am hesitant to revisit it.  With time I could improve any of the projects, but I don't think I could get Micro-Project 3 to the point where I am actually happy with it.  I think I'd rather leave this defeat alone.  If I'm going to do something again, I'd like to see an improvement.  With that in mind, I'd be interested in taking another crack at Micro-Project 4.  Despite it being my "biggest success," I feel it has the most room to be improved.  Perhaps it turned out so close to what I had imagined because it wasn't ambitious enough.  If I try it again, I may try to do even more with it.