Event Logistics 2/13/2025, Craft and Chat
#visualart, #shrinkydink
For this event, I attended a craft and chat held in the Bel Air lounge. The goal of this event is to create a shrinky dink keychain. I decided to base my keychain off a gonk droid from the star wars movies. During this event I got to see what other people decided to make for their keychain, almost everyone used symbols and characters from either internet status, artists, musicians, or movies. In my Art Scholars workshop we learned about how people use art mediums to make connections. Using this lens allowed me to see that some of the other people in art scholars have similar interests in things that I like. Noticing how someone has similar interests as use could be just to make new connections or strengthen old ones. For example when trying to get a job or internship somewhere, it could help you if you have similar interests as your interviewer or have a similar background. Say you’re trying to get a job at an engineering company, and when you get to your interview you find out that your interviewer has an interest in your favorite project in that field, this could give you a better chance to get the job. Having similar interests is such a common thing in engineering that they have to create different fields that are specialized in one interest. Using common interests is also an important thing in arts, allowing you to find people that have similar styles in art to you and collaborate with them or get their opinions on certain things.
Event Logistics 3/12/25, The Clarice , And the Whole Earth Dreams: UMD Wind Ensemble
#music
For this event I attended a showing of “And the Whole Earth Dreams” at The Clarice. The show consisted of multiple segments and pieces. The band was mostly composed of wind instruments with some percussion, and few guest performers. Something that was really interesting about this performance was that in between the pieces almost all of the performers move around the stage switching chairs and sometimes switching instruments. I feel this idea of switching people around for certain pieces and having guest performers is related to what we do in Art Scholars. For example, in my workshop we have different art mediums almost every week and I find that some people find out that they are better at one of these than the other art mediums, while for someone else it could be flipped. Near the end of this workshop we will create final projects based on one the art mediums and we’ll need to switch people around to the art medium that suits them and that they excel at, just like how in the band, performers are moved around to positions that they had strength and skills in. Some people are better at one thing than others and those others could be better at things the people aren’t as good with. In engineering there are so many different subsections of engineering, because for example some people are better with circuits so they become electrical engineers, and others could be better at mechanics so they become mechanical engineers. These different variations are needed though, to work together and make the world function, just like how in a band the different players work together to make the musical pieces work.
Event Logistics 3/27/2025, The Clarice, Bach Cantata Series: UMD Choral Activities
#music
In this event I was able to attend a performance of the Bach Cantata Series at the clarice. Something that was interesting about this performance, besides it being entirely in German, was that the choir consisted of people of different ages and different generations. There were people in the choir that seemed like they could be enrolled at UMD right now, others like they could have been the parents of those people, and some seemed like they could even be grandparents. I like that the interaction between different generations is not something that I often see, and I wondered where else I have seen something like this. In Art Scholars, I have been able to see art bring people of different ages together, even if their age differs by a year or so. It is interesting to see art and common interests bring people together. In the world of engineering this is something that happens often, people from older generations are able to connect and help younger generations of engineers. A mixture of generations and ages allows different fields such as art and engineering to evolve and adapt, having some people with lots of experience and some with new ideas is what leads to innovation. Say someone has an idea to build a new satellite, but doesn’t know the logistics behind it and what they really need to do to make it happen, well someone that has been working with satellites for years will be able to help them in achieving their goal. This event has opened my eyes to this kind of collaboration, something that's always been there but I just haven’t really noticed.