Personal Narrative: The Art Center Stage

This past year, I have been apart of Naperville Central’s brand new Special Spaces club. When my friend approached me and asked me to join, I agreed even though I had no clue what I was involving myself in. In retrospective, I can honestly say that becoming a part of Special Spaces has been one of the most meaningful, fun, and fulfilling experiences I have had in high school.

The day had finally came, it was July 21st, 2020. I had been waiting for this day for what seemed like forever! I was beyond excited that of all artists, I was chosen to escort the Interplanetary Ambassador around our world and culture. Once I greeted him at the New York Space Port, I decided to take him to our very own Metropolitan Museum of Art located here in NYC. The ride from the space port to the Museum was a little over two hours and felt like forever. On the way there the Ambassador asked many questions about our clothes, food, money, and many of our everyday things that are around us. Then, out of nowhere he asked me a question that changed my life as an artist completely. He said, “In my planet we have clothes and money and everything that you humans have, but we do not have art. Can you please explain to me what this art thing is?”

After doing my Exploration of Aesthetics Paper last week, I decide to take it a step further. In my exploring the night sounds, it was hard to focus because of the loud sounds of the cicadas. I really didn’t know much about the insects except they come every 17 years and are really loud and everyone I know didn’t like them, so I didn’t because I don’t like bugs. However, a friend of mine posted a video and I watched it on cicadas. It changed my whole view on how I look at the insects at this point. They are beautiful creature and tell a story just like humans. We all have purpose in life and so does the cicadas. They live underground for 17 years. On a warm night they emerge and surface the land. They connect with each other, just like little children wanting to play with their friends after not seeing them for a long time. Then they transform to begin their final life on earth. The process is like giving birth as a human or letting out the lost soul and finding god for the first time. They become adults and search for their mates when shell hardens. Synchronized choir, we all call noise, is their mating call. They are finding love for the first time. They come in all colors, it’s sad watching the video

tudying,reading and drawing. Once I hit the 9th grade I became interested in basketball and football and began to aspire to play for the school. By increasing my activity slightly I lost a little weight and I started to develop muscle mass. My junior year I ended up making the varsity basketball team, but due to my horrible attitude the coach and I never saw eye to eye. My athletic career was cut short, I was devastated! I stopped being active and i slowly put weight back on creeping from 165 lbs to a sloppy 215 lbs. By this time I met a young lady who genuinely had an interest in me but also had a wondering eye. Whenever we would go out on dates she made sure that I knew about every man in the room who she found more attractive than me, she

Coming to the Interlochen Arts Academy I knew that I would be surrounded by a very talented and diverse community of unusual artists. It never occurred to me though that a large percentage of the school’s population would be from international countries. When I was in public school, there were only a handful of people that I knew from foreign origin, but they had already assimilated to American culture and were well aware of are virtues and manners. As I arrived on my new campus the first person that I met was a young man named Bassett. Bassett was from Afghanistan, so naturally I was excited to see some diversity in my new community. As the weeks went on Bassett and I became really good friends, until I started to notice some odd things about

Looking back on my first art response paper I was excited and nervous to be introduced to a new community. Before this semester, I never had the opportunity to be submerged in a community as diverse as Eagle Heights. After my first meeting with my community partner Jeff, I knew that I would be interacting with children from around the nation and world. However, I underestimated how challenged I would be by this factor. Throughout the eight art classes I held and the various volunteering I did throughout the semester, I was faced with overcoming language and cultural barriers. Though challenging at times, I am thankful that I was able to face these obstacles. I believe I was right to be nervous at the beginning of the semester. But, I was also correct in being excited for what the semester had to offer. Though my goals changed as the semester went on, I learned a great amount from my experience.

difficulty choosing which art to pursue for the next four years. But when I was

My trip to the Museum of Fine Arts with my family was quite amazing. We went through the art of the Americas, art of the ancient world of Egypt and Greek gems and jewelry arts of Europe and more. Even though I fell in love with so many pieces, I spotted a few that I consider as favorites. The “Seated Woman (Dora)”, 1938 by Pablo Picasso was one of my favorites at the exhibition. The artwork which is an Ink, gouache, and colored chalk on paper painting depicts Dora Maar seated in profile. The painting intrigued me because of the subject whom appears to be seated like a queen on a throne. Furthermore, it is interesting how the lines turn the picture into a fabric of webs and meshes.

Drat! The trainee in our spacecraft beamed me to the wrong destination, his trainer was supposed to be guiding him but I guess he had more important things to do. Somehow he beamed me to a place called the St. Louis Art Museum, instead of to the planet Zorf where I was supposed to set up a trade station.. I’ll be sure that young Flee gets more training. I guess while i’m waiting I can look around and see if we had made our mark on this civilization.

I felt like I would soon explode from embarrassment. I got up quickly, and briskly walked up to the stage. I stated and said my name just as I had practiced a million times in my head. It was extremely challenging, especially because someone was actually judging you and it wasn’t just in my head.

The Evanston gallery was crowded with bustling teenagers and their parents, all proud of their children for their photography being selected to be featured in the gallery. Here I was, standing under my photo explaining it to those who were curious. It was a plant in black and white with just the top tip of leaves being hit by the sun, the rest blanketed in darkness. I saw it to symbolize growth and on a personal level, how I’ve grown more comfortable in both my skin and my decisions in the life I lead.

For many years children scribble. They scribble on walls, on paper, and even on furniture! As a child, I was different. My drawings actually look like something, ssimply because of the fact that I took art seriously and found it fun to create what I wanted with a stick stuffed with a rock inside it. Though I did try, my drawings still seemed semi-scribble like. I don’t know what come over me, but one day it was rather gloomy outside, and was a three foot tall sheet of snow draped over my complex. I was bored, and because I got cold really quickly back then I wasn’t allowed to go outside. So I decided to draw something. I didn’t know what to draw, but I my gut was telling me draw something with true effort, and not a bunch of scribbles that looked like a dog’s barf that a person had barfed on.

The minister is currently looking for a new place for the church to be located in. He shared, "I found several places near my house, one was 10 minutes away from the current church location by car."The minister has been searching for 2 months diligently for this new home for the body of believers in Denver. Pastor Thomas will be registered soon at OU, but currently he isn't. "Now things are quite busy here. I will pray about that, and when My co-worker returns from Dover for Kbers training, I will have more help at the church." Shared the Pastor.

On October 5, 2017, I experienced my very first Art Hop on the streets of Stanislaus and Fulton. At first, when I arrived there I did get lost because I thought it would be at a single place and not everywhere but I asked around, eventually I didn’t realize we were there walking in it. Even though there were so many galleries, I personally liked the first gallery I went to. The first gallery I went to was called “The Pink Show,” is a dedication to those who have endured cancer. It was committed to bring cancer awareness through these amazing, beautiful arts being shown and featured lots of great art, an auction, live music, food, and drinks. Outside of their gallery was a pink car with signatures all over the car, there are also, positive comments

When I was about 10 years old, I like to play many sports, ranging from basketball to soccer. What I didn’t know was that I was going to start participating in another "sport".