I had a lot of fun with this project overall but each of the subjects had their own little things that were particularly fun. In English I enjoyed making my writing piece and the journals that I put it in to carry around all night during exhibition. It was really fun to put myself in my character’s shoes and piece together the historical facts to make a journal that embodied the woman I chose. In History, the thing I enjoyed most about the Renaissance project was the Mental Floss reading and notes. I liked how well it went with everything and how in-depth we went into the research for our characters and certain aspects of the Renaissance period like art and religion. In Math I enjoyed how we were allowed to play our probability games in class. I think it was an unique idea to have the class analyze the probability of a card or dice game instead of doing something less fun or more on the traditional side of math. In art I liked making my final Renaissance-inspired art piece. I did a recreation of one of Claude Monet’s pieces called the “Houses of Parliament” and I think it was a good way to use a new type of media. I used oil pastels instead of the usual colored pencils I use. At first, blending the pastels was extremely difficult but after a few attempts it got a lot easier and I made an art piece that I was proud of.
On a scale of 1-10, I’d say this project was a 6 or 7 as far as difficulty is concerned. The most difficult part of this entire project was the immense amount of research we had to do. It was really difficult trying to find certain things about my historical figure like what her views were on day to day life and what she liked to do in her free time. Even after checking a bunch of the most credible sources I could find, and even some of the not so credible ones, I couldn’t find a lot of the information. We were told to fill in the gaps of information as accurately and factually as we could but it still would’ve been nice to find that information. Even though we were given a lot of the resources we needed and I checked a bunch of websites, I think more websites or more resources specific to my character would’ve been helpful.
Something that made this project a lot easier was that I received feedback on my writing piece from Anil and Nia. Their advice and critique was extremely helpful because they caught a lot of my spelling errors and also caught a lot of places where I’d shift from a Renaissance type of voice in my writing to a more modern one. This helped make my writing piece a lot better. I’m super proud of my written piece because it took me a long time to write. First I had to make it sound like it was coming from my character and then I decided to write it all in cursive. I also dipped all my pages in coffee to make them look aged and put them in a book. It took me forever to find the right book to use and then decorating it was another challenge, I had to paint the spine, transfer the “M” onto the cover, and find jewels that made it look fancy enough for a queen. The part I’m the most proud of is the writing because having to hand-write all of the journals was hard enough on its own and it really made my hand hurt but I feel like it really ties it all together.
As far as exhibition is concerned, I’m really happy with how I did. From my costume to being able to hold conversations with my guild members to being able to answer every single question people asked, I felt so prepared and comfortable. I was able to interact with guests in a knowledgeable manner and one thing that really stood out to me was this one guest who listened to my entire explanation and then pieced together which Margaret in history I was. It was a revelation for the both of us, and we carried on to have a conversation about “Saint Margaret” for at least 10 minutes, sharing facts about her and what she did. Another lady complimented me and Hailey (Christopher Columbus) on our ability to hold a conversation while staying in character.
One thing I might change about this project would be the math portion because it didn’t seem to quite fit as well as the other subjects. I’m not sure what I’d change it to but it just didn’t seem as involved as the other classes.
Although you could say the lasting impact of the Renaissance was Filippo Brunelleschi's introduction to perspective that changed the art world or Copernicus's discovery of the heliocentric theory which changed the way philosophers see everything today, the more lasting impact that I think the Renaissance left was the idea that change is okay. The Renaissance encouraged new ideas and thus, allowed people to make the most influencing and perspective changing discoveries. Like its name suggests, the Renaissance was a time of rebirth.
On a scale of 1-10, I’d say this project was a 6 or 7 as far as difficulty is concerned. The most difficult part of this entire project was the immense amount of research we had to do. It was really difficult trying to find certain things about my historical figure like what her views were on day to day life and what she liked to do in her free time. Even after checking a bunch of the most credible sources I could find, and even some of the not so credible ones, I couldn’t find a lot of the information. We were told to fill in the gaps of information as accurately and factually as we could but it still would’ve been nice to find that information. Even though we were given a lot of the resources we needed and I checked a bunch of websites, I think more websites or more resources specific to my character would’ve been helpful.
Something that made this project a lot easier was that I received feedback on my writing piece from Anil and Nia. Their advice and critique was extremely helpful because they caught a lot of my spelling errors and also caught a lot of places where I’d shift from a Renaissance type of voice in my writing to a more modern one. This helped make my writing piece a lot better. I’m super proud of my written piece because it took me a long time to write. First I had to make it sound like it was coming from my character and then I decided to write it all in cursive. I also dipped all my pages in coffee to make them look aged and put them in a book. It took me forever to find the right book to use and then decorating it was another challenge, I had to paint the spine, transfer the “M” onto the cover, and find jewels that made it look fancy enough for a queen. The part I’m the most proud of is the writing because having to hand-write all of the journals was hard enough on its own and it really made my hand hurt but I feel like it really ties it all together.
As far as exhibition is concerned, I’m really happy with how I did. From my costume to being able to hold conversations with my guild members to being able to answer every single question people asked, I felt so prepared and comfortable. I was able to interact with guests in a knowledgeable manner and one thing that really stood out to me was this one guest who listened to my entire explanation and then pieced together which Margaret in history I was. It was a revelation for the both of us, and we carried on to have a conversation about “Saint Margaret” for at least 10 minutes, sharing facts about her and what she did. Another lady complimented me and Hailey (Christopher Columbus) on our ability to hold a conversation while staying in character.
One thing I might change about this project would be the math portion because it didn’t seem to quite fit as well as the other subjects. I’m not sure what I’d change it to but it just didn’t seem as involved as the other classes.
Although you could say the lasting impact of the Renaissance was Filippo Brunelleschi's introduction to perspective that changed the art world or Copernicus's discovery of the heliocentric theory which changed the way philosophers see everything today, the more lasting impact that I think the Renaissance left was the idea that change is okay. The Renaissance encouraged new ideas and thus, allowed people to make the most influencing and perspective changing discoveries. Like its name suggests, the Renaissance was a time of rebirth.