Semester Reflections

Semester 4

Across my two years as an Arts Scholars student, I experienced significant growth not only as a member of the program but also as a person and a human being. In my early semesterly reflections, I wrote about my struggles with leaving my shell and putting myself out there socially. Since then, I've been mostly successful in this endeavor and have cultivated a wonderful group of friends, associates, and cohorts that I admire and respect. Additionally, I noted how Arts Scholars supporting courses such as ARTH200 spurned my thinking on censorship in media — specifically, the Hays Code and the censorship of queer love in American film. I later utilized this new latent interest in my capstone, pursuing research in the New Queer Cinema with a better grasp on the history that came before it, thanks to Arts Scholars. Across my TRYathalon reflections, I also notice better written insights that developed after Semester 2.

The Arts Scholars field trips I really loved because they gave me new insight into unfamiliar artistic forms. One example was my most recent field trip, the trip to Baltimore to see Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Not only was I unfamiliar with Chekhov — I was also unfamiliar with Chekhov adaptations and comedic theater as a whole! Being able to see that production (with the awesome knowledge that Harold created the lighting) led me to begin developing my own play with a number of close friends. I also loved the sculpture and mosaic work in the Baltimore Museum of Art, which further inspired my own work on clay and scrap sculptures.

The production of my capstone was not altogether smooth (as one would expect from such a large, time-consuming project) but it was aided by my experiences in colloquium and Arts Scholars activities. For example, the concept of a “brave space” emphasized throughout colloquium I applied to the conception and creation of my capstone project. My capstone, an audio documentary on the works of Gregg Araki, is a balance of the familiar and the unfamiliar. I have been a fan of Araki’s work for a very long time now and I never pass up the opportunity to see one of his films (especially with friends). I have a deep knowledge and appreciation of his films and what went into their creation.

On the other hand, my experience with the medium of audio documentary is very limited. I enjoyed the audio documentary The Fire This Time for the first time quite recently which marked my first ever run in with the art form and piqued my interest. Although I had no significant experience with the audio documentary form, I put myself into a brave space and gave myself the challenge to learn a new method of artistic expression.

One of the most important lessons that the Arts Scholars program teaches is how all artistic mediums and techniques deserve attention, whether it be filmmaking, magazine writing, wood block printing, soap carving, poetry slamming, comedy improvising… each and every style or passion lends itself to the worthy expressions of its doer or progenitor. The program taught this lesson in multiple ways, one being the introduction of local artists into colloquiums. I best remember the vogueing night when students learned to vogue, as well as the poetry and improvisational music night and the African drumming night. Previously, I was completely unfamiliar with each of these art forms and the opportunity to engage in them with my peers provided by the Arts Scholars program helped to show me just how many different ways people express themselves through art.

Another way the program utilized was through my lowbrow art workshop, where students explored the viability of art forms such as graffiti and advertising in the face of popular critical notions that ignore many lower artistic methods. For my final project, I engaged in the lowbrow art form of digital, on-the-fly photography, which revitalized my interest in the medium.

Ultimately, I feel that my experience in Arts Scholars helped to foster a greater, more appreciative interest in the arts that will help me in my future studying journalism and film. Much of journalism is informed by an awareness of one’s surroundings and circumstances reporting on the essential truths that circle all around us, and the Arts Scholars program’s highlighting of the everyday art made by anyone from career artists to UMD peers has assisted me in that general awareness of the incredible things around me.

ArtsFest in particular was eye opening: my peers in colloquium that I mainly knew as friends and Bel Air dormmates revealed themselves to be thoughtful, driven, passionate artists that are capable of creating so much wonderful art. It really moved me to see the incredible personal expressions that each peer had tucked away inside of them. I will never forget those little insights that the Arts Scholars program provided me.