Semester Reflections

Semester 3

My third semester at UMD and in Arts Scholars brought new ways to connect with my community and expand my artistic critical-thinking skills. In colloquium, we explored how art can recontextualize history by bringing new perspectives. For example, during the African drumming session, I saw how West African tribes express universal human concepts such as love, nature, and emotion through the media of music and dance. In doing so, I was able to remove bias I may have had about how different I am from these groups, and realize that art is a powerful tool to promote social change after negative historical events (West Africa's history of imperialism and religious discrimination) and recenter human experience. Another focus in colloquium was mastering the creative process. One way to initiate this that helped me was week four's concept map, where I explored the topics I was passionate about and connected them to produce a higher-level idea. I also learned about the importance of scholarly and artistic research in the creative process, in order to solidify the work's context and message. Lastly, feedback was a large part of our time. The specific feedback that helped me the most was the surveys from students who attended our workshop preview session; they pointed out gaps in our teaching such as left-handed methods. Art is viewed differently by everyone based on their prior experiences and emotions, so getting new perspectives concepts helped to enhance their effectiveness in a way that we would have been blind to. 

Outside of scholars, I am able to bring in values I have learned. For example, I had seen news about artists using a new crochet style to express their attitudes towards and quantify statistics from social issues like climate change. They did this by visualizing graphs, charts, and diagrams on large, wearable pieces. From Arts Scholars, I have gained the ability to translate art into a social message and analyze artworks in the context of social issues. So, when I saw this new style, I was immediately able to connect with its message, and become inspired myself to use other combinations of styles and media similarity. Without Scholars, I would have just viewed the art's visual appeal. Another way I am able to connect Scholars experiences to the outside world is in my other courses. For my ARTT200 (3-D Art) class, we visited the Hirshorn museum and were asked to create our own work pulling inspiration from three of the artists. I got to see Mark Bradford's astonishing Pickett Charge, an experience elevated by knowing the context of the historical events and his life that I explored in Scholars. For the final project, I did scholarly research, aided by tools we learned in colloquium, about the movements of my three artists such as Futurism and Minimalism. Adding this allowed me to engage the audience in my piece because of its richer sense of history, symbolism, and conceptual meaning. Even seemingly unrelated courses for my Public Health major, such as EPIB301 (Epidemiology), offered synergy in the idea that social change must be a collaborative endeavor with research and powerful communication skills to enhance it. 

My interactions with other Arts Scholars this semester were the most beneficial ones I have had in the program yet. I have built the closest bond with Scholar Kendra Warmuth. We partnered up to create our Capstone idea, Crochet for the Community. Working collaboratively on a project has given me challenges, such as coordinating time to work, and blending our ideas into one cohesive outcome, but it has also given me skills in communication, time management, and more. Our interactions, specifically when talking about the social impact of our Capstone, push me to be more socially engaged myself, and to push the limits of art creating social change. Being in this Living-Learning community also enhances my learning through the feedback cycle. Interacting with Arts Scholars outside of class, such as in the the hallways of Bel Air, gives me a chance to see outside perspectives on my project and gain inspiration from their ideas. They always have advice, but it never feels condescending- it is clear this supportive community always wants to help each other learn and produce the best art. 

My contributions to Scholars have also improved, however, I feel I could have done more. I made an effort to develop a sense of community and positive interaction with the other Workshop leaders, such as before and after the preview sessions, always supporting their work in any way I can. I also believe that our plan of incorporating Scholars ideals into our peer workshop (with a direct local impact) will help to spread, solidifying Scholars' larger goal to be a group of socially-conscious, forward-thinking, innovative, collaborative young minds. One example of somewhere I could have improved my contributions were through field trips and Try-athalons. The Kayla Farrish dance I attended motivated me to want to support and get the word out about other art programs at the Clarice, but I was unable to attend any other performances. Two out of my three Try-athalons were at gallery spaces, an independent activity where I supported the arts, but without a direct impact. I could have leveraged this opportunity to try a new form of art on campus, or volunteer my time to a better cause in support of the larger Scholars community.  

Lastly, I benefitted from various perspectives and beliefs in Scholars. For example, I watched the Capstone pitch videos for an individual project related to artificial intelligence. I had the opinion that AI use is always harmful to our brains and the environment, without offering enough technological advancement. However, the way they explained AI made me realize that not all AI use is bad, and to view it not as a tool to be relied upon, but to use to enhance existing artistic ideas. I used to think that art and AI could never coexist, but now I can remove that bias and be open to ways in which it can, to the benefit of art's future and cultural impact. Seeing new perspectives gives me a well-rounded world view and skills in critical thinking to use throughout my entire life.