Semester Reflections

Semester 4

Over the course of my time in the Arts Scholars Program, I’ve learned how to present my ideas more clearly through written communication. My first semester reflection was much less polished than the second and third semester reflections. It often has a more youthful and conversational style than the others, with several instances of less formal words like “cute” and “fun.” Although this is not necessarily bad, it does make this reflection seem less mature and thoughtful than the others. This is a good example of how my writing has developed over the past two years – through both this program and my other coursework. The same can be said about other writing on my ePortfolio, like the Tryathlons. Recently, I also had to update my resume on the website to a more professionally formatted version.

During this program, I’ve also come to fully recognize how much time and effort goes into large-scale artistic projects, especially when you need to conduct research beforehand and focus on a distinct issue. Having completed my capstone project and seen the work my peers put into theirs, I’ve gained a better understanding of the importance of time management and resilience in projects like these. Outside of our capstones, I thought the improvisation workshop during the fall of my freshman year was incredibly interesting and helped bring me out of my comfort zone. Often, people don’t realize all the hard work that goes into being able to improvise like that – this experience helped me appreciate it more as well.

My capstone project drew from what I learned about pitching an idea to others and communicating the purpose behind a work of art. Because I had to find a location that would allow me to paint my mural, I needed to have a great pitch and communication skills to secure an opportunity. I also drew from the creative design techniques that we learned in colloquium, like rapid iteration, to help when I was brainstorming and sketching. Those helped me narrow down my design relatively quickly and allowed me to move forward with the project on schedule.

I was a muralist before joining the Arts Scholars community, and I knew from the start that I wanted my capstone project to be public art related. I’ve deepened my ability to plan and manage large-scale projects like my mural and developed my resilience and perseverance through the challenges I faced along the way. The project introduced me to the process behind getting permission to install public art and highlighted the difficulties that come with certain restrictions on campus.

Through my co-curricular courses – playing in the orchestra and taking an art history class – I learned two very different ways of thinking about art. On one hand, the orchestra was all about feeling in the moment and collaborating with peers, and on the other hand, the art history class dove deep into the cultural and religious background of visual art. These two very different approaches to art helped to further develop my skillset and knowledge of different art styles. Playing in an orchestra made up of people from many different majors and backgrounds was a valuable experience, and it was amazing to be able to come together and make something beautiful despite having otherwise unrelated interests.

Overall, the Arts Scholars Program has taught me how to persevere and see a large project through to completion on a tight deadline. This is applicable to any project I’ll do in the future, whether it’s for my coursework, a job or internship, or simply a passion project. The communication, planning, and time management skills that I’ve learned in this program will stay with me for the rest of my life and inform my future workflows. I’ve also made some wonderful friends in this program who are so important to my well-being! I expect that we will be able to support each other through the rest of college and will hopefully continue this after graduation.