Art and I have always had a complicated relationship. When I was growing up, my older brother, sister, and father all had a natural ability to draw, and make things. This perplexed me to want to paint amazing sketches, or creations., as somehow that was the only way to have a relationship with art. Yet one after another each of my attempts just “sucked”. As I got older and tried alternative activities like photography, journalism, movies, plays, theatre, and many more, I discovered the dynamic aspects of art. I never considered all of the various types of art and the boundaries it pushes in terms of “what is art?”. Yet, there is no simple answer as it can be found in all aspects of life. Well that is something I realized as a younger girl, but forgot along the way. Life can force you to zone in on the tasks ahead, but it important to cherish the experience around you because we can not time travel, so it will never happen again. Or at least not in the same time pattern, at the proper trajectory, with the exact same people aligned in there paths that day, the tide cycles, your age, and etc. The art activities were amazing to work on with friends and family, as well as to show me where I can improve; the SOA Galleries and Artists were inspiring; and the amazing (yet few) lectures Dr. Zucman gives, without a strict power point, out of a text book, sometimes making errors because of the solution manual, but real talk.
Currently I am a junior headed into my senior year, in the Economics Program here at CSULB. My major is filled with quantitative and qualitative analytic reasoning, so I am surrounded by black, white, and grey data, but it still can get a little bland. Not to mention it has been many years since I have connected with my artistic side, and I often would blame my “adulting-life”, as I recently came back too school after working fulltime for a few years. So rewind to years ago, I loved to work on art projects and draw, but my last couple of years have been so ingrained into the capitalist aspect of life, I have lost touch. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy the study of economics and all the things that come with it, as I want to become an Economic Consultant and ultimately work on Economic Policy development later in my career. But there needs to be a balance, you can not work yourself to the bone and get no enjoyment out of life or the outputs your giving life. If you get to caught up in the business and science in life it can destroy much of the beauty. Reawakening my mind to the simplistic beauty in life around me has been one of the best outcomes of this class.
Most classes in college are lecture and test based, in which you read, cram, and commit “academic-bulimia”. Unless you truly look, and do your research many majors, may slide by without many hands-on courses. This class took a different approach to the subject as we had a different project weekly for 10 weeks. This forced us to try our hands in a new craft each week that either challenged our creativity, required patience, or questioned our artistic competence, yet was satisfying once completed regardless of the challenges or lack of ability. It was great to review in an interpersonal level what I have strengths in and what I need to work on. So, the art of projects helped me to grow.
The Student of Art Galleries were like nothing else I had experience or saw in my past. Yes, I have seen art and been to museums, however these were exhibits sole designated for the students of the Art program to illustrate their work. To ensure many get the opportunity to display their work, the galleries are changed weekly to accommodate dozens of student’s arts per semester. It was interesting to view the array of interests, inspirations, ages, background, and materials each artist. I came to appreciate the uniqueness and art. I also look to find the actual connection within the artist for crating the piece.
The lectures were amazingly insightful and gave me a greater understanding for art.
megatomy 