In my time as a student at UW Bothell, there have been a myriad of ways in which I have been able to hone my skills, learn new things, and test my application of my new skills and knowledge. I’ve had an incredible amount of opportunity to explore different academic pursuits and studies and have grown immensely from the experiences I’ve had as an IAS major. The key focus of my learning journey has been to expand on, practice and utilize the IAS learning goals. With the learning goals of Collaboration and Shared Leadership, Critical and Creative Thinking, Diversity and Equity, Research and Inquiry and Written Communication, I have spent my time at UW Bothell exploring and strengthening my capability to use all of these goals, to create projects, analyze works and perform at higher standards.
Collaboration and Shared Leadership
Over the course of my work in Interdisciplinary Arts one of the assignments that gave me a chance to focus on my IAS objective of Collaboration and Shared Leadership, was the “Satisfaction Project” from BISIA 250. For this project as a part of a group, we were tasked with finding a way to collectively take photos that we felt best portrayed satisfaction visually and conceptually. So for this project I met with my group on several occasions as we all collaborated to explore the objective of the project. We took photos of anything we thought could relate to satisfaction, discussed which ones worked best, and from those we were able to discuss what we felt satisfaction collectively meant to us as a whole and how we could portray it. The open communication that our group had for this project allowed us to rely on each other's strengths and ideas. We listened to each other and worked off of each other’s suggestions and plans while giving our own input. It led us to a final project with photos from each of us that collectively centered around the idea that satisfaction came from balance and self care. With each of us still having room to have our individual takes on satisfaction shown in the pictures we chose to take, the idea of self care and balance within small intimate moments of our lives was present in the entire collection of photos we submitted. By the end of the project we all produced something we could be proud of and enjoyed working on together as we used the IAS objective of Collaboration and Shared Leadership to work towards portraying satisfaction within all of our photos.
Critical and Creative Thinking
For the IAS objective of Critical and Creative Thinking I found that my BISIA 311A “Zuihitsu Aassignment.” For this assignment we were asked to take a look at the Japanese writing form of Zuihitsu which is a combination of loosely connected pieces of personal writing and ideas. With no formal structures attached to this form of writing it is based on the term “running brush” as the writer is meant to freely let their thoughts flow onto the paper in an almost nonsensical manner. So when I took my attempt at writing this piece I found my struggle was in bringing a sense of meaning to the random thoughts I’d be writing down. So thinking critically and creatively in this project came from the process of having to use such a broad form of writing to express myself and my inner dialogue in a way that could be understood as well as being able to serve a purpose. I decided to write as if I was directly transcribing a dream. A dream with a loose meaning hidden within all the seemingly random and strange visuals, ideas and thoughts. And so for the most part this piece feels dreamlike in a sense. Things just happen without rhyme or reason, thoughts come and go in no particular fashion and the visuals I describe seem to be very loosely connected or random. I describe myself thinking about my home, only the home I describe is a metaphor for my mind. I describe my home in a way that describes my most dominant emotion. I describe my neighborhood as a collection of what I feel has been the most present in my life. And I describe my journey through learning to live in this home, and in this neighborhood. Creatively I found that this assignment worked like describing a dream to a therapist, and by the end I was asking myself what this dream could mean to me or what it could define about me in the same way a therapist would ask. I utilized analogies and metaphors which developed my work in a way that felt more real and transparent. Thinking creatively came in my decision to portray my writing in a dream-like state, even utilizing different spacing and placement of words to help give off that dream-like feeling throughout the work. This assignment was one I felt brought out the most critical thinking and creativity in me because the loose nature of the zuihitsu left me alone to formulate my own process, thoughts and ideas and carry them out in a way that felt well thought out but interpretive and honest.
Diversity and Equity
For the IAS objective of Diversity and Equity I immediately thought of my final project and "Artist Statement" from BISIA 230. In this performative course we as UW Bothell students worked together with students at the ABC (Adult Life Center) who have been diagnosed with developmental disabilities and/or autism spectrum disorder. This course as a whole allowed me to be a part of an incredibly diverse community, not just with fellow UW students of different backgrounds and identities, but with adult students who were on the spectrum. Together we were put into groups so we could collectively work with a student from the ABC in a way that involved them equally and allowed them to have fun and work on something that was meaningful to them. This entire course and the final project especially was built around a focus in fostering an equitable environment and experience between us and the ABC students. Because of this my group mates and I were able to connect with our ABC student as we listened to him and made the experience meaningful to him. We encouraged him, along with each other to speak our minds, share our ideas, and perform to the best of our abilities regardless of our own personal reservation or struggles. We actively involved the student on the spectrum in the creative process as we helped encourage him to share his ideas, and goals as we collectively created a performance that we could all be proud of. This was an incredibly fun course for me and the final performance left a lasting impression because it felt like our ABC student truly got to enjoy his experience, as well as learn new things or improve on the skills he had for the group performance we created.
Research and Inquiry
In one of my assignments for the course BISIA 383 I wrote "BISIA 383 A Couple in The Cage Analysis" as a response to a performance from professional artists which used the IAS objective of Interdisciplinary Research and Inquiry. The performance known as “The Couple in a Cage: Two Amerindians Visit the West” was done in 1992-1993 by Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gomez Pena. The performance consists of a man and a woman in a large gold cage. The man and woman dress strangely and do not speak english. With the man moving about the cage and reacting to objects within or observers, the woman mostly stays seated but will also react to objects or observers. The two also have an assistant outside the cage that tells the crowd how to interact with them. From this assignment I needed to ask questions about the purpose behind this performance as well as how I could learn from these performers and apply it to my own artistic ideas. I found the piece to be a recreation to the tradition of indigenous people being observed by westerners as if they were strange animals only meant to be entertaining to them. The way audience members were asked to take photos and try to prompt the couple in the cage to take pictures with them played into this recreation of how indigenous people were treated by settlers. Working in this class on assignments like this allowed me to research artists and the creative ways they found to make their performances purposeful and impactful.
Written Communication
Most assignments I work on involve the IAS objective of Written Communication. But the assignment that stands out to me the most personally, is the creative writing essay I wrote for BISIA 311 titled “The Might of a Hero.” The point of this IAS objective is to show the capability to thoroughly and completely communicate oneself through writing in different genres, ideas and using different types of evidence to back up their claims and ideas. With this assignment I found myself thoroughly and honestly exploring my own personal ideals and beliefs in regards to fictional heroes. Expressing how they’ve shaped me all throughout my life and why they’re so important to me. Using several personal anecdotes and stories, I talk about the power behind fictional characters and the thematic resonance woven into the fictional heroes that inspire us. In this piece I praise heroes and give insight on what they’ve done for me all my life as well as what they are capable of doing for everyone despite being fictional. I felt this piece of writing was one of my most honest and transparent works and it gave me the opportunity to fully realize and communicate an aspect of myself that's been a part of me all my life.
As an IAS major I’ve had numerous experiences in classes, projects and assignments, that allowed me to learn how to improve upon my skills in relation to the IAS learning goals. I’ve had numerous opportunities to put those learning goals into practice and in doing so have strengthened them as tools that will always be at my disposal in any professional, academic or personal endeavor. I’ve worked on Collaboration and Shared Leadership, Critical and Creative Thinking, Diversity and Equity, Research and Inquiry and Written Communication in order to increase my capability to take on any task and explore it thoroughly. Being an IAS major and working so much on these goals has instilled a confidence in my ability to take on any task with a thorough, educated, creative and well thought out mindset.