A wise person once said, “Do not underestimate yourself by comparing yourself with others. It’s our differences that make us unique and beautiful.” I had been taught this in one of the most unusual ways. A few years ago, during the end of the day I had been given an invitation to come to the art show, which had meant my art was accepted. Once I had got home, my family congratulated me saying,” I knew you would get in.” and “ You did such an amazing job.” I had entered art in, but as I seen other kids art, I didn’t expect mine to get in, yet somehow I had still made it. The other children's art was more intricate and showed a higher level of skill, while mine was nothing out of the blue. I was itching for the art show to come. Suspense was slowly killing me from the inside out. The art show was only in a few days, but I wanted it to come much sooner. After what had felt like years of waiting, the day had come, the art show had finally arrived. I was so jumpy through the whole day of school, I wouldn’t be surprised if I had got compared to a frog. After school, I did my homework and tried to relax in one way or another. My method hadn’t worked since, curiosity still was killing me. As the old saying goes ” curiosity, killed the cat.” was true for my situation. The clock had finally struck 6:00, signaling was time to leave. My parents had drove my anxious self to the art show. As I walked in through the large glass doors of the community center, my nose was greeted with
Throughout my early teen years, I was exposed to different mediums of art and discovered that I could express myself through more channels than just paper. Although Barry found comfort in her 11 x 17 newsprint and some paint, I was able to focus my energy on making music and taking photographs. Without my art teachers, I wouldn’t have the expressive outlet I do today. My childhood was not filled with unhappiness as Lynda Barry’s was, but from both backgrounds, we found a warmth from the exposure of art that the educational system gave to us.
I’m sitting at my computer, ignoring pages of economics homework and mugs of cold tea now strewn about my desk, as I search for a direction to go with my life. Such was was my predicament several months ago. It’s undeniable that I’m an artist, hard and true, for a pencil found its way into my hand as a child, and no desire of mine nor of the universe ever tempted it to pry away. Throughout my earliest years and memories, I maneuvered with graphite, paint, and crayon every adventure that I ever dreamt of pursuing. Oh, I was a resilient child, as well, who refused to take part in any art class at school or as an extracurricular for an abundance of years, as I was invariably convinced that I could learn all I wished on my own accord! Consequently,
The pencil liberates my stresses and sorrows. Bare and unimpeded, my mind is able to isolate itself from anything that was happening in my life. At my art table, which is merely an escape from reality, my curiosity is able to wander. Within this room, five blank canvas's look in on me as I become a mold of my imagination. A step inside my world develops into a sea of color and exploration. The vibrancy of the walls resonates throughout. Over the years, my room has served as my oasis. It’s my escape from monotonous and mundane routines. It’s my exploration of another side of me. I observe such works of art almost as much as I create. Taking notice of my classmates’ innovations and inspired by their creativity, my paintbrush begins to alleviate stress. I strive to produce pieces others will appreciate, but often find myself to be the true admirer. My pride, in this world, is driven simply by my own curiosity to express myself. I credit this side of me as the “passion” that supplements my insane drive for success. This passion has sparked critical thinking in me as well as how I see failure. Life is a blank canvas and you can truly draw whatever you want, and if you fail, you start over and don’t make that same mistake again! Hard work takes ideas quite far, but true success is derived from ingenuity and the generation of
Another game that displays the white males world view would be Spelunky. Spelunky is a 2D platformer where you are a white adventurer exploring this cave full of monsters and traps. The goal of the game is to explore the whole cave and avoid dyeing by any means. As you go through there are damsels that happen to get stuck in this cave for no reason. These damsels have a variety of uses, the first being that if you rescue them they give you a kiss and you gain a extra life for when you die. The other uses are throwing and shielding. Throwing the damsel can trigger traps, hurt monsters, and free you hands so you can do other things. Shielding is when you hold the damsel out to take arrows, bombs, and monster hits for you. Now if your damsel
It was early July in Southern California: the sun was high, the air was warm, and the palm trees were swaying. Unfortunately, the bright sun could not light the darkness of the pit I had been slowly falling into during my tumultuous school year at my new charter school. On that day, when the other girls were tanning beachside, I was sitting deskside. I was trapped in a tiny, moldy, yellow-carpeted education office at the school I had transferred to the year prior. Like my fading hope, the dusty chandelier was barely hanging on from the ceiling. The room’s peculiarity added to my anxiety, as I felt failure lingering in the musty air. Though I had been sheltered by my parents’ optimism, I knew what I would soon hear: “I am so sorry sweetheart,
Rathnasambhava, the Transcendent Buddha of the South and Madonna Enthroned are very similar images that were produced by very different cultures. Both images were produced during the 13th Century. The image of Rathnasambhava, the Transcendent Buddha of the South was produced in Tibet during an interesting period of the country’s religious history. The branch of Tibetan Buddhism is led by a religious and sometimes political leader called the Dalai Lama. It was during the 13th Century during the reign of Kublai Khan, around the time of the production of this painting, that Tibet experienced the first incarnation of the Dalai Lama. One has to wonder if this painting is somehow related to that occurrence. According to
As the only child, of my mother, I often faced the problem of not having someone to play with forcing more creativity. I often did various arts and crafts projects, but I found that I enjoyed drawing the most. With each drawing I become completely engrossed partially because it is a self-taught skill that requires focus, but also because I must be patient with myself as I work towards what I envision and learn new techniques. The Art of Drawing is a skill that I can continuously develop and perfect. The patience that my artwork teaches goes beyond the work itself. It demonstrates the importance of accepting my weaknesses and working towards bettering them. I am able to properly release the struggles I encounter and not be consumed because of my artwork. Creating my drawings is more than expression, but also self-discovery because I can be more honest with myself, embracing who I am and what I feel. However, from time to time I do encounter “artist block” and the exhibitions held at the museum of fine arts at Florida State University could provide inspiration much like my environment here at Spelman
The rain had been drizzling down all day. It hit my window and pounded on the roof like little beads, a continuous ding. It was a beautiful sound, one that could sooth my racing mind and nerves. I had been tossing and turning for hours, sleep was a useless thought. “Today was the day,” I thought, “State Fair is the make it or break it show of the season.” I rolled over, the block letters on my clock read just passed 12:30 A.M. Who am I kidding, sleep is for the weak. I unwrapped myself from the tower of blankets I had covered myself in and preceded to busy my mind.
Fine arts Is another fun and exciting thing for kids or teenagers of all ages to do. The
The low ceiling cowered above and the black plastic chairs formed a restless crowd around me. From my seat, I could smell the acute scent of cleaning fluid, whiteboard markers, and the nauseating perfume of the girl sitting next to me. Like so many other students, she exuded concentration. Her brows were drawn as her hand moved rapidly over the testing booklet, only pausing to reposition herself or cast an almost imperceptible sidelong glance. The effortlessness of her actions furthered my anxiety as I began tapping my foot uneasily against the speckled linoleum floor. Through the dusty shades that hung precariously in front the only window in the room, I could see the outline of a solitary building shadowed by the dense gray fog that clung to the courtyard outside. At that moment, I would have given anything to be able to run and scream at the top of my lungs. I had an inexplicable urge to break free from the confinement of that room and what it
Schools that offer fine arts classes have lower dropout rates and raised attendance. The fine arts positively impact students of lower socioeconomic status more those of a higher status. The fine arts have no barriers for race, religion, and culture when it comes to being involved in the arts. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to be involved (Katy Independent School District). Without the arts these students have no outlet for creative capabilities and no way to express their talents. Students who need this way of expressing themselves are overlooked and they are the ones who need it the most (Dickson). When viewing the participation of arts in the eyes of a ten-year old, “It cools kids down after all the other hard stuff they have to think about” (Arts and Smarts: Test Scores and Cognitive Development).
The era of accountability has heavily swayed public schools towards narrowing the curriculum across content and disciplines. Student test scores have become the measure in which states, districts, schools, classrooms, and teachers are deemed “excellent.” Also, many schools have been confronted with budget cuts that determine the content offered in schools. Unfortunately, arts programming across the United States’ K-12 public education has been minimized and/or not given the proper attention it deserves. To strengthen the argument for arts education, researchers have developed the integration of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to curriculum and lesson planning. I argue that the integration of the arts in classroom curriculum with early childhoods students can provide benefits not only for students but teachers. Arts education centers on allowing both students and teachers to engage in creativity and bring out their multiple intelligence. I recognize four reasons why arts education is a valuable tool with young children: (1) arts can be used across subjects and context (interdisciplinary), (2) it touches on the needs of different learners (multiple intelligence), (3) flexibility that allows creativity in the classroom, and (4) shifts away from traditional methods of rote learning.
They say that young adolescents lack spice and some even lack creativity. Is this ultimately a problem in our schools? We all know a child that lacks an imagination. We all know a child that lacks resourcefulness. We all know a child who seems to have been left behind. We all know a child that is shy. We also know that arts education can help improve our students in many ways. Arts education is a key source for innovative skills that can spark intelligence in our rising adults. Arts education should be in schools because schools that have art programs are proven to have high graduation rates, arts education is proven to raise overall test scores, and it provides vital skills for success. These three points are only the beginning of why we should
Art is a form of human expression. Art can be seen as the artist sleight of hand on his mood. Art is in various media from posters to public wall of which we call “graffiti”. Art is elusive as the use of colors shapes and the surface used adds a new dimension. Art portrays various ideas, feelings such as triumph, love, happiness, sorrow and boredom in loss to mention a few. Art is beauty and creativity. During man’s evolution art has progressed over in its most primitive state up to its most modernized versions today.
As an up-and-coming artist I found myself in a peculiar situation - the sight of a white canvas and a paint brush in my hand induced an unbearable state of boredom. So I sat out on a quest, searching for the perfect muse to rejuvenate my artistic spirit. Diligently I explored every aspect of society and within six months my inspiration sauntered into my life. Afterwards, I spend an-other month soul searching before I finally made two life altering decisions. Now, all I needed to do is have a chat with my mother.