What It's Like To Study Visual Arts

I've always had a passion for the arts. Writing, drawing, painting, you name it. There has always been something so fitting when it comes to having a writing utensil, drawing pens or a paintbrush in my hand.

Now, I'm no Vincent van Gogh mind you, but applying my love for being creative has made my college experience an amazing one thus far. I'm a double major in strategic communications/digital media and visual arts (try saying that ten times fast) and love every second of it. Because I go to a small school, I'm able to receive a lot of one-on-one time with my professors in most of my classes.

When it comes to my art classes, though, I'm usually one student in a studio of five to ten other people. Each day I'm able to walk through the doors of an old rustic building (conveniently right next to my house, woo) and enter the doors of a small art studio. Generally, there's a vague aroma of acrylic paints and pencil shavings that embrace each person who walks in or by the room.

Unlike most of my classes, I have an immense amount of creative freedom when it comes to my visual arts classes in this familiar little room. I'm able to sit down, collect my mediums that I'm using, plug in my headphones and get to work. It doesn't matter if I'm merely practicing or in the middle of a huge piece that I've been working on for weeks -- everything that I make is my own work of art and that's something really enthralling to me.

I learn so much more than I thought that I could with each step of every project. With each critique in front of the class, I'm reminded not only of what I did well, but also of how I could have improved my piece even more. Not every brush stroke is perfect and there probably should have been a bit more pencil shading in an area and it's in these little reminders that I'm able to remember that I'm always learning.

Regardless of how good or bad my day has been, I'm always ten times more calm when I'm in my element in that art room. Every single class is a learning experience and I'm thankful for every opportunity that I have been given within the program. It's not always easy with the class load and the time consumption, but it's definitely worth it.