“For being different, it’s easy. But to be unique, it’s a complicated thing,” said Lady Gaga. As a young child, I have always been different but creative. My vigorous thirst of art making was fostered by attending Langley Fine Arts School and all-women’s college Moore College of Art and Design. This might sound atypical to any other story of a young artist, but I am going to explain why my story is unique. A friend once said to me “An artist sees the world in a different way.” It was uncanny to hear this because I have only known the world through my artist eyes. My story is different because my first love was unique. Do you remember your first love? Why is your first love so different from all the other loves? It’s because it’s your first. It’s that love that you can never let go because it was built on friendship, laughter, and connection. My first love was when I was eleven years old to a gay boy. At the time I thought nothing of it because I was just being a kid. This story is akin to Patti Smith, author of the remarkable novel Just Kids. It is an honest story that tells the tale of two friends, soul mates, roommates, lovers, and muses. Patti Smith speaks about her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, a young gay photographer. This extraordinary novel reveals how Patti Smith saw the world; how through her youthful eyes she thought Mapplethorpe was her creative soul mate. Nevertheless since I was 18 years old, I have struggled with accepting and defining my
Art, an unexpected passion, truly surprised me. Ever since I was little, I was never artistically inclined. In fact, in middle school, the best artworks I created were collages, as further evidence of my absent artistic talent. What I lack in talent, I make up for in memory, passion for knowledge, and an eager curiosity. Art History
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.
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
Honestly, I am still trying to find out who I really am, but I know that every decision I make can affect that and that’s why I try my best to think before I speak. It sounds easy to do, but in real life it can be really
Once in high school, I put my all into my art. I started exploring different styles and types of art, like design. I applied my skills everywhere: from designing the yearbook for eight years straight to photographing for the Admissions team. I toyed with mediums like acrylic and watercolor as I deviated from the paper I used to use. As time passed, art became who I am: it was what I used to think and feel about the world and I’m compelled to create for
When I was a younger I also has to struggle with finding the answer to who I was, and this lead to a lot of feeling lost and confused with no notable place to turn to for answers. When seeking answers it helps when there is someone or
you need to find yourself and discover who you are in order to live a happy and fulfilling life.
We continued through the museum by this time we broke off into small groups of our peers and I walked those halls filled with all that great artwork snapping all the photos I could and taking in every piece. It is a beautiful experience to be surrounded by such artwork, brilliance, and mastery of craft. I felt like I travelled through time and countries with each piece was a different feeling but none would compare to the ballerina. Before this I saw artwork and didn’t understand it’s depth and nor did I want to but after I realized the talent, effort, and story behind some of the pieces I realized art is the most intimate storytelling and expression. After this trip I was determined to find my place in artwork and after a few failed attempts with many forms of media I found Graphic Design. It was one of the most challenging but rewarding things I’d ever done in my life. Many times I found myself frustrated with the programs and the even sometimes the outcome but I just worked harder and harder and in the end when I finally did get the results I wanted it was the most accomplished I’d ever
In my life I have failed at many things, but I have always been able to recover. When I was in the sixth grade I had convinced myself that I was the most accomplished artist in my entire school; I thought I could challenge an eighth grader in the school’s bi-annual art competition
Around the time Smith and Mapplethorpe started dating, they were walking around in Washington Square on a summer day observing the tourists, stoners, and street singers. At this point in their lives, they were dirt-poor; their dinner sometimes consisted of day-old bread and stale cookies, but they were happy. As they walked towards the fountain, they noticed an elderly couple observing them. The wife said to her husband, “Oh, take their picture, I think they’re artists”. The husband shrugged and responded, “They’re just kids”.
I got to do my art projects in my free time outside of school. I dropped off from doing loads of art due to being an active kid. Then, fifth grade rolled around and I got back into my right brain, working on all types of art. I would paint with my hands, brushes, and even my barbies hair. I finally got to be in an actual art class when I entered seventh grade. I absolutely loved having time during school to express myself. One thing I didn’t agree with was having all of our pictures or paintings the same subject. I would add a little splash of my own unique ideas to it. I always felt the need to express myself in my own ways through
Who am I? What is my place in the world? What do I want to do with my life? These are some of the most fundamental if not somewhat cliche questions that we as humans ask ourselves. From the moment of birth, we begin on our long journey toward not only discovering the world around us but also discovering ourselves. Although the journey of self-discovery is lifelong, most developmentalists agree that it is during the adolescent years that we seriously begin to consider the question of who am I? One of the most famous people to describe
My identity crisis started when I was about 9 years old. The realization that I was different from friends, family, and my classmates were scary and hard to bare. As a young child, we are taught and framed to be a certain way, think a certain way, and live a certain way according to the family structure. Like most young girls I often fantasized about my wedding. What type of dress I was going to wear, what colors I would pick and what type of dress my wife would choose. My fantasies were often disrupted by the sound of my mother’s voice instructing me to complete a task, or letting me know she was home. At that very moment internal shame, and denial would set in. This is not normal, a wife, why was I thinking about a wife? I don’t like girls! I like Josh. That’s who I will marry, Josh.
Yeah, I don’t really know what I am doing with myself anymore. When we started dating I was confused and scared. I pushed you away. I know and I feel horrible about it. I didn’t mean to but I just didn’t know how to express my feelings for you and I don’t do well with embarrassment or compliments. And It’s easy for me to get embarrassed when someone I like says something nice to me or about me. Later on I heard that you had done some unfavorable things to people I was close to and I became conflicted. Then my friend told me that he wished for me to break up with you. We talk often about me breaking up with you. People thought that I didn’t really love you, to be honest I wasn’t really sure if I loved you. Then thanksgiving came around and I couldn’t see you or talk to you everyday, so I wished to see you everyday. Though that didn’t come through because I ignored you. Though it wasn’t intentional at first as time passed I was afraid of answering you because I didn’t know what to say. I stopped talking because you insisted on buying me a Christmas gift. Which is a nice gesture but I didn’t want you to buy me anything because I was fine with just having you. The last day we were together Jaden said you were upset with me and I understood why I mean I did ignore you that that hurt you so much. But when you said you would ignore me the rest of the day it made me really upset, Instead of being mature and ignoring that comment since I knew you weren’t going to
I remember the first remember the first time I met him. It started when I got to my new school I made a few friends, but still didn’t know him. Then there was one day when I was in after care. My brother was there and he said he was playing tag with someone so I decided to play as well. Then I met him His name was also Andrew, and he was in the grade under me. When I first saw him he was so energetic it was insane he was so full of energy. He seemed like a very nice person, but then we started playing teen titans go. So he took it too far and punched everyone in the stomach while screaming booyah. So I thought that it wasn’t going to work out. The next day we played with him again, and he was also rough. Then we eventually became really close friends over the long school year. It was really fun, but then since the elementary school only went up to fourth grade I went to the next school. So I had to survive fifth grade without him.