Arts TRYathlon #2: Choose Your Own Adventure

Event Logistics  (2/28/2025, Craft and Chat, Faded Fashion Bleach Painting Clothes)

#clothes #bleach #craft&chat

During this craft and chat, I got to eat Nilla wafers and I haven't had these in years so it was really good. Other than that, Belle (the TA) showed and created the concoctions of bleach so we could bleach the clothes. After instructing us on what to do, I laid my black pants (as seen above) and began painting with bleach. The smell was very strong, but the Nilla wafers kept me going.

We all had very interesting conversations; about music, what designs we were doing, and how all our semesters were going. It was cool to see how other art scholar students were reacting to their first year. One of them asked me about how I'm handling the capstone, and I gave them a good response telling them that it's as manageable as you make it. After 30 minutes of chatting, I began to notice that my pants weren't being bleached, no matter how much bleach I put on them nothing happened. Belle even tried to help and see what she could do but to no avail. After accepting that my pants were gonna be the same as the way I came into this event, I realized the importance of craft and chats.

They are meant to connect the community of art scholars. Whether it's in a forced environment or not, we create the bonds we have with others, and we decide how close we want them to be. It was also very relieving because some part of me was hoping my pants wouldn't change even after I put bleach on them. Which is very dumb to think even after deliberately putting bleach on the pants.

Ultimately, the vibe was very chill, and I got to have productive conversations with some cool people.  

Arts TRYathlon #3: Arts Scholars Event

Event Logistics  (3/28/2025, Craft & Chat, Make-and-Take)

#freeforall #creativity #doodling 

That day was wild. The whole week before that (Friday), I had planned to attend the craft and chat at Bel Air Hall from 5 to 7 pm. When leaving and seeing that no one was at Bel Air Hall and that it was at the Cambridge Community Center I was confused. When I got there the event was somewhat canceled, so I went back to my dorm. All that before seeing 30 minutes later the announcement from Heather saying the event is changed and back at Bel Air Hall.
Walking back to that event, I was very upset. I was hungry after walking back and forth and being out for over an hour (I was reasonably upset.) So when I got to Bel-Air Hall and saw the event was a free-for-all, I decided to use art to vent my frustration. That day I realized within myself, that art can be used in a tranquil way. I felt very grateful to art scholars for giving me that time to be able to sit outside of myself. I drew 6 doodles, them being random character concepts for random things. But what I drew doesn't really matter, because by the end of it, I felt at peace with myself. I had a great dinner, and I had a good sleep too.

I figured that I was more upset with what was going on in my life than the messed up event details, and I let that get me even more down. But thanks to that extra push I did to going back to the event, I was able to alleviate it all.