Everyone's first year of college is always filled with a whirlwind of new experiences which can be enjoyable, thrilling, and tough all at the same time. However, all of these new experiences always contribute to the larger picture, which usually involves worthwhile lessons. In my first year of art school I have been faced with more challenges than I could've ever thought possible, all the which have taught me just how flexible of a person I can be. In the past year, I have realized that art school has made me into a person of many talents, most of which have nothing to do with art at all as you can see from the list below which goes over the five things art school has made me into.
1. A scientist.
Now, I may not be as smart as Albert Einstein, but I have learned many of the same practices scientists incorporate into their work through making art. In the past year, I have conducted more research and experimentation than I ever had to do for my physics class or my eight to ten page research papers! I am always trying out new weird social experiments, testing my ideas, and finding new explanations for things, all of which sounds very similar to the way we go about testing out scientific experiments and hypotheses.
2. A philosopher.
As Kathan Brown, founder and director of Crown Point Press, states, "Art is a powerful and useful branch of philosophy that can, if given enough time, change the world, because art changes the way that people see the world.” I have realized in the past year that art is such a powerful tool because it has the ability to change the people's perspectives on the world, which makes me feel just as important as Aristotle.
3. More honest.
4. A skillful critic.
In the past year, I have taken part of more art critiques than I can remember. If you've done something so many times that you cant keep track, I think that is means for qualifying you as an expert. While the saying "everyone's a critic" reigns true a lot of the time, I've learned that it takes a lot more experience than you would ever think to know how to critic something properly! I now look at form, composition, craftsmanship, layout, tone, empty space, and several other things on a black and white drawing alone (Don't get me started on all of the words that go along with a colored piece!). There are many more things to look at in art besides just whether or not you think the piece is pretty!
5. More open.
I might have saved the best for last, because this point comes with a fun story. Last semester I had the experience of taking a figure drawing class which, for those of you who don't know what that means, I was drawing naked people for about 16 weeks. Lets get the obvious questions out of the way first: Yes it was awkward, yes they were fully nude, but yes I did get used to it. As weird as it may seem, taking this class made me so much more aware of the human body in a beautiful way! It also made me much more open to trying new things, no matter how weird they may be.
College truly does change people, no matter how stupid that phrase sounds. I have changed for the better so much in the past year and I can't wait to keep experiencing new situation, people, and art thanks to the help of my college and choice of major.
