I faced many challenges with this project, as it was my final senior project. This project was also my longest ever. I had problems with my first concept designs, emotions to use, colors, materials, tools, dimension of the wood sculpture, screen for the animation, loop effect, and installing the sculpture for the exhibition. My first concept designs were disapproved by my instructor because the figures did not seem to serve a purpose. I originally did want the figures in each scene to help express the emotion for each scene. I also originally wanted to use ten different emotions for this project because ten seemed like a reasonable number especially considering how many interesting emotions there are out there to choose from. The problem was deciding which emotion to use, like some that were not similar to each other. Colors played a significant role in this project as well because I had to carefully choose which color would help emphasize and describe each emotion. When it came down to materials and tools, I had the majority of the equipment but the materials were pricey. Trying to determine the dimensions of the wood sculpture was a frustrating process, it felt like I was back in a math course with all the numbers and measurements that I had to do. I didn't have a screen or monitor for the animation at first, I had to buy one, so I bought one two weeks after my project was approved by my instructor. The problem was that this monitor had no USB video support. I wanted to buy a monitor that was cheap and flat because I only needed this monitor specifically for this project, and I needed it to be flat for the wood sculpture to be able to fit when placed over the monitor. Since the monitor had no USB video support, it also didn't have the loop effect option for my animation, this was a serious problem because my animation needed to be on a continuous loop for the exhibition. The installation of my exhibition was time consuming, frustrating, and a tedious process. The wood sculpture weighed about thirty-five pounds, which wasn't really heavy to lift but it became tiring to hold on to it while trying to place it on its hanger. The dimension plan to install the exhibition was not one-hundred percent true, so there were a lot of drilling holes to be done.

The purpose of this project was to highlight all my efforts and skills that I learned from the school of art at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. The BFA senior exhibition is a testament to my creative accomplishments and progression that I have achieved during my four semesters here. This exhibition allowed my voice to be heard, it allowed me to showcase my fullest potential. I put a lot of effort and concentration into this project, almost like if I were competing for an award. I did my own thing, I followed my goals and never did I ever compare myself to others and their work. I am forever thankful for this project, it was officially my last project before graduating college, and it was a bigger accomplishment to graduate since I am the first in my family to do so.

Like many other previous and any future projects, the real reason I do projects is to continue evolving as a creative artist, never settling for less. I strive to make myself proud everyday and I wouldn't be able to do so if it wasn't for the creative projects that I do.

Although I faced many obstacles and challenges for this project, I found solutions. I asked for a lot of feedback from my instructor and she gave me a few tips. I also requested feedback from professors of different concentration areas because I wanted to expand my feedback from different perspectives and sources. As I mentioned before, my instructor encouraged me to not use figures in my scenes, even though I originally denied that request, I ended up removing them completely. The figures were meant to help express the different emotions from each scene by their body language. After I removed the figures, I relied on the colors and scenes to express each emotion. I decided to use eight emotions instead of ten because of how time consuming each scene took to be completed, I had a deadline and by working with eight emotions, it was less stressful and I could perfect each scene with much more ease. The emotions that I used were; happy, sad, fear, anger, surprise, stressed, grateful, and confident. The reason I decided to work with these, was because these are a lot of the emotions that I could experience on a daily basis compared to others. As for the colors, all the colors that I used for this project were meant to express each emotion, for example, when I think of being happy, I usually imagine vibrant colors, no dark colors whatsoever. I had a lot of the tools I needed for this project because my dad is a carpenter and I also have experience in this field as I would always go to work with him when I could as his apprentice. The only issue here was the wood, my dad didn't have any 3/4 plywood so I had to buy a sheet of it from home depot, which was a bit pricey. I originally wanted to use a lighter and thinner material so that it would be able to bend as I was going to create an eye, but my father recommended that I use plywood. Although wood is harder, it is also sturdier and less likely to break easily. To find the dimensions of the wooden sculpture, I had to draw the potential dimensions of the wood sculpture first, then create a cardboard mockup two times because the first one had incorrect measurements. Then I had to create the final wood sculpture based on the measurements of the third cardboard mockup, but the measurements changed when I had to get a new monitor that had USB video support. The first monitor that I bought for this project was incompatible with the USB drive so I had to buy a more expensive smart monitor. I wasn't able to return the first monitor either because I had bought it close to the start of the project and I started using the monitor one month before the deadline. The second monitor was a twenty inch Roku tv and it had USB video support and loop effect. The only problem was that since I relied heavily on the last monitor to create the dimensions of the sculpture, the new monitor had a thicker inner frame, this caused the frame of the monitor to become more exposed in the opening of the sculpture. To fix this, I placed insulation for a tube around the opening rim. I installed this project for my senior exhibition and I had an issue with the hanging process. Based on the dimensions of the sculpture, I had to drill holes and place a wooden hanger on the wall, then I had to do the same inside the sculpture so that I could hang on the wall. It took me an hour to get it in the middle and align it with the monitor. Since my new monitor was a Roku monitor, I could control it from a distance and set it up easily, the problem was that the project next to me was also using a Roku monitor and Roku has a feature that allows it's TV's to be compatible with any Roku controller, so my project was interrupted many times because of this feature. Luckily, I noticed it the next day I installed my work so I was able to notify faculty members about it, but now I know for future references to separate my Roku devices from others.