Do You See Numbers?

For the first action project of my Winter Term, in my STEAM class, System & Models, we were asked to create a visual art piece of our choice. The art piece had to be backed with a strong artist statement. There was plenty of different points we had to hit and research we had to do. That includes all the personality tests that we had to take. I chose Myers-Briggs and the DISC tests to help you understand my piece! I relay loved this project. Even though I'm not a fan of visual art, and that's not what I do, I truly do respect the visual arts a lot. The influence visual art has in the world is obviously apparent. I'm a wordsmith, which is my forte of art. As you probably can tell, I had some difficulties with the artistic vision, but I took another approach. Please view my action project below!

DNR. “Numbers” 2017. Chicago

My piece, "Numbers," is made up of ink pen on 9.75 x 7.50 sized composition notebook paper. I try to visually represent myself through numbers. The 89 and 44 represent the streets I grew up on. 9-5 crossed out represents my love for self-management. This also represents my past, present, and I hope the near future.The feelings of "doing for yourself," has always made me feel good. There’s this hidden connection to currency.

In class, we were asked to take several different personality tests. The most important tests that I took were the Myers-Briggs test and Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Compliance (DISC) test. The Myers-Briggs is a large database of results where they give you a series of questions and then give you a 4 letter combination in which they show you what type of person you are pertaining to the answers you submitted on the test. I got ESFP. Creepy enough, after reading all of the different types of people, I actually chose ESFP. ESFP is the "entertainer." Often the person who is bold and observant, but easily-bored and unfocused as well. I find myself being more connected to these characteristics then I thought. The DISC test is a unique test that tells you something about yourself by using 4 different pathways and splitting you up into them. My top two "pathways" were Influence and Dominance as I expected. Influence is my number one pathway because I feel like I really do fear losing influence. When people look at my art, they don't necessarily have to approve of it, but I do want them to receive and perceive it.

I once saw this bike experiment that I felt like challenged the norm. They took different looking people and made them do the same thing. There was a white woman, a black man, a white man, etc. They all tried to saw off the chain of a bike and let all of the people walking around react to it. The results were a bit displeasing. This really spoke to me because it showcases the sexism and racism that we all seem to witness every day. This project was also really important to me because it did challenge the norm and that was really my objective in creating my art piece.

The purpose of my piece is to inspire you to think entirely out of the box. Think out of the universe. The more original ideas, the more we progress towards a better existence. I want to say that the rubric is never said in stone. You can still “follow the rubric,” but you are set apart by the uniqueness of your creation. I also try to get across feelings of perception. The way I perceive my art is unimportant, but if anyone shares my perception then they will truly appreciate it, but the thought counts. I see this as an opportunity for people to take my art as their own.

I interviewed an artist that works at my school. Ms.Dianne. She creates human sized art through her own imagination. Her art is really amazing, to say the least. She uses rather inexpensive materials and creates rather expensive works of art. She said to me, "Viewers are given facts about me, the artist and my process and then they compare it with their views and have a more intimate understanding of my art." This statement kind of describes the type of reaction I want from people who see my art. I want people to perceive their own meaning.

The start of my drawing was kind of hard. I just started ripping through draft paper. Soon, I realized all I had to do was just stop trying to be the visual artist that I'm not. I decided to let my mind think for me. The roughness of the artistry is intentional to signify my lack of orderliness and focus. I started with simple numbers. I started to write down numbers that I felt were most important to me. My first number was "89."  The 89 represents the street I grew up on. 89th street made me who I am today. My second numbers were "9-5" which describe my aspirations for having a successful career. "9-5" is the typical "job hours." I express my loathness for this by crossing it out. The next number, "45" is another street I grew up on. It also happens to be the street of my grammar school. I also enjoy music and basketball. Those are represented by "23" and the music notes. "23" is representative of the best basketball player of all-time, Michael Jordan.

The idea came pretty easy to me. Conceptually, I really already knew what I wanted to do. Delivering my piece was something that I had to think about for days. After a lot of thinking, I decided to let my imagination take over while keeping in mind who I am as a person and what the tests told me as well.

Citations:
"DiSC Profile - DiSC Influence (i)." DiSCProfile.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.
"Entertainer Strengths & Weaknesses." 16personalities.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.

Future Plans

The second and last action project for my STEAM course, Economics, we were asked to create a financial portfolio. Throughout this unit, we learned quite a lot about the difference between a good stock and bad stock. We were specifically given a figurative amount of approximately $50 thousand to invest into stocks and bonds over a certain span of years. I ended up choosing Dollar Tree and Ulta because I used these companies' products a lot growing up, and I really remember their name more than most other companies. We also had to invest our money and set our goals pertaining to the SMART rule; Specific, Measurable, Attainable/Achievable, Relevant/Reasonable, Time-bound. This project was very heavy and it was not easy to fully understand what I had to do, but I got through it! I would say that my favorite part was studying the stocks and comparing their recent and not-so-recent activity to help me choose which stocks I wanted to invest in. I hope you enjoy looking at my project as much as I enjoyed creating it for you!

For this project, we had to really analyze the market to determine what companies we wanted to invest our financial life into. I am not scared of a little risk; no one should be. According to the Investment Risk Tolerance Quiz, I have a high-risk tolerance. The results are below:

The scenario given to us is as follows: "18 years ago, your guardian angel set up a college savings plan for you with an initial investment of $8,500. Your angel contributed $50 each month to the college savings plan ($600 yearly). After 18 years at an average annual interest rate of 7%, compounded annually, the plan is now worth a hefty lump sum. Yesterday, you cashed out your plan and deposited the money in a brokerage account to invest on your own." My SMART goals are presented below:

• 1-year goal: Go on a trip with my closest friends to California before college departure ($2,500)

• 5-year goal: Move into a place I can call my own ($80,000) 

• 25-year goal: Have accumulated money for over 24 years and I wish to be debt free and have money to open up my own recording studio ($1,000,000)

What drew me to these companies the most, is that they stay out of the news, and it doesn't seem like they put their workers through harsh conditions. I choose morality over profit when investing in companies because I wouldn't want to be a part of something whereas I can't sleep at night, but I'm making money. I love a business that is for the people and not just for the profit, although I still love the profit.

Dollar Tree:I chose Dollar Tree because it's prominently known in the neighborhood I live in. The economic moat of Dollar Tree is their ability to maintain $1 prices throughout their stores. Centered in tough parts of the city, aiming to help people with less money and are very useful for those with money as well. $1 prices are always great for everyone! Dollar Tree, with an estimated 2016 growth of 40.7%, is well known for it's exceptionally reasonable prices and will never fail to impress the stock market. Nothing but growth in the near future!

Ulta: I chose Ulta because they have a large brand, and are known around the world as the cosmetics brand. Growing up, all I saw was Ulta brand cosmetics. Makeup will never die. I only see this company expanding from now on. Ulta has a projected 2016 growth of 18%, and they have an annual revenue of over $3.5 billion dollars!

One of the most important things in this business is the profit. My Return On Investment (ROI) is presented below:

For one year:

(Total: $2,548.65)'

21 shares of DLTR for $1,579.41  ($75.21 each stock) 62%

4 shares of ULTA for $969.24  ($242.31 each stock) 38%

ROI:

.62 x .2829 +

.38 x .1877

=.246724

=24.7%

total x 1.247 = $3,178.17

For five years:

(Total: $14,430.22)

46 shares of DLTR for $3,459.66 24%

45 shares of ULTA for $10,903.95 76%

ROI:

.24 x .2829 +

.76 x .1877

=.210548

=21.1%

total(1.211)5th power = 1.62961673e21

For twenty-five years: 

(Total: $32,216.51)

41 shares of DLTR for $3,083.61 10%

120 shares of ULTA for $29,077.20 90%

ROI:

.10 x .2829 +

.90 x .1877

=.19722

=19.7%

total(1.197)25th power = 4.51144909e114

With a leftover amount of $55.70.

There's something called a stock sector. A stock sector is how we organize different companies into categories, such as Disney being an entertainment company, etc. I chose to focus on primely retail trade stock sectors. I love the retail business. I think the idea of creating stuff cheap and selling it higher, is smart because if people need it, they will buy it, regardless of the price it cost to create that good.

References:

"Dollar Tree, Inc." NASDAQ.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2016. Staff, Investopedia. 

"How To Use The P/E Ratio And PEG To Tell A Stock's Future." Investopedia. N.p., 2016. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.

"Ulta Salon Cosmetics & Fragran." Vuru. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.

"Our Story – ULTA Beauty Careers." Our Story – ULTA Beauty Careers. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.

"DollarTree.com." Dollar Tree, Inc.: Floral Supplies, Party Supplies, Cleaning Supplies. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.

"The Dollar Tree" Vuru. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.

Economic Dilemma

For the first action project of my senior year in my Economics class, we were asked to map out two different post-high-school paths. One of my paths is the typical 4-8 years of university, to get my Bachelors or Masters in Economics, ironic enough. My other path is pursuing a music career, which could very much make me rich at the cost of college experience and plenty of time. I used the google spreadsheet to map out my cost for school each year and my salary each year after college, to see my lifetime earnings. I also included how long it would take me to pay off all my debt according to my predicted salary. I had a lot of fun doing this project, but it is definitely one of the hardest projects I have ever done. Google spreadsheet is not an easy program to tackle.