Semester Reflections

Semester 3

Art can reshape our understanding of our individual and societal learned history, biases and beliefs. Before art scholars, I mainly knew one form of American history, the ones you usually see in textbooks. Through this class, I learned different perspectives of many cultures and their own histories. This got me to understand that there are so many different stories out there that are past the stories I know and see. For example, when we did west african drumming, I learned about the history of those drums and what it meant to their culture. I was intrigued to see different ways of self expression based on the different cultures. In America, you see one form of drumming and I’m not sure if it holds a significant historical meaning to it, but to other cultures, it does. It made me think of how in South Korea, we also have traditional drumming with its own historical story and background. I also learned how art can reshape our biases and beliefs. Through art scholars, I learned many new things and different forms of art I wouldn’t have even considered to be art due to my own biases and experiences. For example, when we got to experience two workshops. Recycling clothes and creating it into something that was special to the individual while helping the environment, was something I would not have considered to be “art”. After experiencing the workshop, I learned of its background and creativeness and how there are so many different forms of art that can also help the environment. This shows how there are so many different perspectives to art and there are no limits. Everyone has different creativeness, backgrounds, and passions that others may not see as “art” but it is all about perspective like how I believe doing my nails is a form of art and hard work/dedication while others may not see it that way due to their lack of experience in nails. Same with cooks, how they see their cooking as a form of art while others just see it as food. 

Some theoretical models and practical strategies for initiating the creative process is Wallas’ Four-Stage Model. The steps include, Preparation, Incubation, Illumination, and Verification. Through this theoretical model, you gather information to focus on the problem, you step away from the problem to let the unconscious mind work, then you have an “aha!” moment when an idea/solution emerges, and finally the evaluating and refining the idea. Some practical strategies are brainstorming, mind mapping, free writing, change of environment, etc. There are more strategies but these are the strategies that helped me most and the ones that I used while coming up with ideas for my Capstone Project. Through these strategies and theoretical models, I was able to come up with ideas for my Capstone project and to research effectively. 

To effectively incorporate feedback to revise and refine our ideas with greater depth and clarity, is to take the feedback we receive from peers, mentors, and teachers and see it as a place to grow instead of getting offended and taking it as an attack. I learned through this semester from many different feedbacks from peers, TAs, and Teachers that they are all trying to help you improve and they are all trying to help you do as well as you can with your project and ideas. I learned to actively listen to the feedback and advice I was given and to  incorporate it into my final project to make it the best I could. I also learned that having multiple feedbacks from different people gives me more perspectives to help reach and connect with the audience of my capstone more.

An example of a news-related item that I encountered outside of the colloquium was the controversy of the “Ladies Lounge” exhibit in Australia. This exhibit was originally created to highlight and challenge historical gender inequality and misogyny by creating a place exclusively for women. This exhibit faced a lot of controversy from men that complained about their denied entry and even faced legal challenges. My engagement in Art Scholars helped me understand this controversy better by giving me knowledge on different powerful artworks that also faced controversy.

From my experience so far, My Art History class was the most interesting to me. I learned so many new perspectives and history behind each piece and era of art. I found it so interesting how different time periods expressed a new meaning behind the art pieces which reflected what people were going through during that time. My favorite time period was the Impressionism Art Movement which was from 1867-1886. Originally, this time period was always my favorite to look at because of the light colors and it was visually appealing to me. After taking Art History, I finally learned the meaning of these pieces. I learned how the Impressionist movement was all about the fleeting moment. This time period’s art didn’t try to capture the realism of a place, but the Impression of it. In Art Scholars I learned how art isn’t something you need to capture accurately, but the meaning behind something is what makes something art. 

I don’t necessarily think my learning was improved by interacting with others in Art Scholars, but it helped give me a bit of insight on other people’s perspectives and beliefs and helped me get a better understanding of how one's perspectives affects their art. For example, my friend, she is in Art Scholars, and I have gotten very close to her during Art Scholars since we also roomed together. I learned from her that she expressed her experiences and perspectives through her art. Even though it wasn’t intentional. For example, our final project last year, she created a project based around music and it reflected her experience in music (piano and viola). The reason why I don’t think this has taught my learning to be improved is because what I learned didn’t help me improve my art in any way. Since I already had my own experiences different from my friends, I stuck to what I knew.

During the Art’s program, I went to a bracelet making event for my Tryathlon and enjoyed it. I got to talk to new people and learn of their own projects and experiences as well. I believe I have contributed to the program by also giving my perspective to other people during feedback discussions and during that bracelet making event. I do wish I was able to attend the field trip, but because I was out of town I was unable to attend. I believe if I did attend the museum, I would have had more knowledge of different cultures and backgrounds and been able to incorporate it into my final project. Luckily, in exchange for the field trip, I went to The Clarice and attended a wind ensemble concert which I unexpectedly enjoyed.

While being in scholars, I have encountered a few people with different beliefs as mine. For example, political beliefs. We discussed each other’s reasonings for our political views and exchanged perspectives. Even though they had a different perspective than mine, I was able to understand why they believed what they did and this gave me insight into their own thoughts and mind. 

This semester, I was able to learn so much about different perspectives, beliefs, and backgrounds to help me further my understanding of how it affects art.