Throughout my experience in ART 110, I have been able to create so many memories and do things that I had never thought I would do on my own. I have learned about not only myself, but how to express myself and my creative ability. I feel as though I finally found what I love to do and that is something I never want to let go of. This class has really let me escape from the reality of a class that gives multiple assignments and tests, and truly has let me relax while working towards the goals I really want to achieve. I have been able to test the waters with my photography skills and I have attached some photos that I have recently taken. I have seen myself progress tremendously and I am so glad that I have been able to challenge myself with this class.
First, it started with a couple of weeks of, well, basically not art. We sat in a lecture hall for about the first month of school starting. At the beginning, I thought this class was a waste of time because none of those days seemed relevant to me. I thought the whole semester was going to be like that and I did not think it was going to be enjoyable. After the second week, Glenn started to map out how the semester was going to play out and I slowly began to become more fond of the idea. We had a few guest speakers, and I think that is what made me more engaged. I was able to connect myself with the speakers that came in and learned a lot about how I can enhance my education during my stay at CSULB. I started to like the idea of not having any tests or assignments and hoped it stayed like that through the semester.
During the second portion of the semester, we started to buckle down and get to work. We started to do artist conversations and actual art projects. At first, I was a bit hesitant on the artist conversations because I like to keep to myself and I am not very outgoing when I first meet someone. My first few conversations were kind of rough and I was not very confident. After my third or fourth conversation, I can proudly say that I accomplished it. I became a lot more confident in talking to the artists and actually enjoyed talking to them without thinking of it as an assignment. As for the art projects, I really enjoyed going out with people I had met in class and doing projects together. For example, plaster casting; this was my favorite activity because I was able to go to the beach with some students of the class and we all worked together in figuring out what we were doing. To be honest, I never knew what plaster casting was so I was completely lost. All of the projects have challenged my creative ability, but the one thing I have learned is that everyone has their own idea of art and what you think is bad, might be someone’s idea of amazing. We should never feel put down just because what we create does not look like the art of someone you look up to. Everyone is unique in their own way and we need to create things that resemble ourselves so that we can put all of our ability into it.
We are now in the last few weeks of the semester and I can honestly say that this class provided me with the most fun I have had in school. Not only has this class taught me about art, but it has taught me how to communicate with others and it has allowed me to make some great friends. I have truly found my place in art and that is blogging. I have started to actively post on my blog and photograph things that I enjoy doing, which is cooking. I have learned that there are so many forms of art and it really does play in a role in everyday life. I have become inspired by studying abroad and it is something that I really want to do. I think it is important to experience things, not only while we are young, but for the rest of our lives.
alexandra.horn 