Eileen Jakeway LBST 1105 Julie Hicks 11/20/13 Reflective Essay

As the semester is drawing to a close and this class is coming to an end, this reflective essay will serve as a personal decision on what art is and how I will keep it in my life and my heart. I have come to believe that art is whatever we accept it to be. Art is love, art is power, art is compassion and art is heartbreak. I think that art has purpose, that it creates meaning and that it is an experience. For me, art has become an emotional response to a physical representation of some truth of this world. It is taking a perception of some facet of our human experience and relaying it to others, asking them to form a judgment on it. I appreciate art because it makes me more conscious, makes me feel more alive. To me, this awareness of experience is what ultimately makes life meaningful. I think art provides a culture to explore the basics of its beliefs: to ask why they are the way they are and to reflect on the implications ones values have for ones life. The title of my portfolio is called Celebration of the Composition because that was the title of one of the works that struck me at the Rowe Center. I think that art is exactly that: a celebration of the composition of the world that surrounds us. For culture and society at large, this means that we can take a look at how we exist and why. We can dig deep and find purpose. Anything that is worth exploring can be explored. It is our way of trying to feel and create. Art has as many roles within a culture as there are roles that need to be

filled. Sometimes, we can look at our own past and history to make sense of our world, but it requires some effort. We use art to combat apathy so that we can synthesize what we learn from our past, so we might apply it in ways that create something new. Sometimes, it is meant to point out the various, eclectic parts of our world that dont seem to fit together initially, but actually meld beautifully to create one harmonious whole. I think that we have to take time to see and craft these connections on our own, but that they are there and go even deeper than we can imagine. Every interaction we have brings us more in touch with our own souls and to the world at large. As mentioned before, I believe art prompts us to think. About what is entirely up to the artist. Issues like race, gender, sexual identity and social class are often addressed because they are the most difficult to talk about in everyday life. Many artists, like Dread Scott, make it their entire focus to expose issues of racial discrimination, prejudice and clashes among social classes. Issues of gender and social class were also present in Lorraine Turis work, especially The Seamstress. The other pieces I encountered this semester that I thought spoke to many of these issues are the photos by Erik Ravelo. The crucifixions of innocent to their adult oppressors spoke to many problems plaguing the global community. Many of the artifacts at the Harvey B. Gantt Center also spoke to me about issues of race, particularly the letter written from a sister to her uncle about her brother being re-captured by neighbors after slavery had been officially abolished. The lines that were so clearly segregated before were not removed after the end of the Civil War, rather significantly more blurred. The three written responses I selected were from the Rowe Exhibit, The Light Factory, and the McColl Center for the Visual Arts. I enjoyed my visit to all of the

venues, but I was most able to articulate my emotional and intellectual reactions to these three. Somehow, these exhibitions of art made me feel something and talk about the experience in a way that was also meaningful to someone else. At Rowe, I was initially worried that I would not personally connect with any of the pieces there. I felt the pressure of writing the first paper of the semester, worry that I would be unable to capture and remember all about a piece that made it memorable. However, when I dispelled the thoughts going through my head and tried to focus on the art, I did feel drawn to certain pieces. And I surprised myself when in my reflections, I was able to actually describe the emotions going through me and why they mightve been important. Since this was my first successful interaction with art, I still feel personally connected to the exhibit. The other piece I felt drawn to the Celebration of the Composition whose title was also instrumental in forming my definition of art. My initial experience at Rowe opened me up to all the other venues I visited. Although I did not connect personally with most of the art, I valued my experience at The Light Factory because I became more acutely aware of my surroundings. I spent a lot of time looking at people looking at art; I also paid attention to the way the photos were arranged on the way. Assembling an exhibit is an art in itself, composition is just as important in the viewers experience as the pieces. Lastly, McColl Center for the Visual Arts was a very memorable venue for me, especially because the work of Joseph Herscher really resonated with me. The building was beautiful and historic and the interaction with the artist was unforgettable. I loved that there was art connecting with my experience in Physics. I thoroughly enjoyed the science class and ended up doing quite well due to lots of studying, but here were the

same principles I learned about in physics being used not for calculations, but for joy and to help people. I was able to re-envision something that had personal affected me and that stayed with me. The piece entitled Celebration of the Composition really struck a chord in me. I have made it my personal mission everyday to celebrate the composition of my life, my world. In response to this visually, I created a PowerPoint highlighting the beauty that surrounded me all summer long. No matter how nature got to look the way it does, I believe it is worth celebrating its composition. The Absaroka Mountains in Wyoming spoke to me as much and about the same things the painting did. There are universal emotions that are evoked by beauty everywhere--I try to show that in my visual response. Shortly after I visited The Light Factory, I went to the beach with the Levine Scholars Program. It was fall breaka time for fun and relaxation. I went for a run one morning and walked back down the beach as the sun was rising. I was moved by the sunset, especially the way the light reflected off the water. There was a boat floating out on the ocean, farther away from the shore. As I walked, the boat sailed alongside me. Something about it touched me deep at the core and I was inspired to go back and write poetry about this experience. I finally understood the emotion in the eyes of the girl in Surfland by Joni Sternbach. This implication of art in my personal life, days after I visited the venue connected me to it very deeply. My perception of art has changed in that I am no longer afraid to have an opinion about art. I realize that there is no one universal rubric for critiquing art and that the mundane can be as meaningful as the exotic and beautiful, but also that there are qualities that give art value. My ability to understand it has been enhanced by being exposed to

such an assortment of artistic works and mediums. I have been shocked, appalled, terrified, awe-struck, bedazzled and reduced to tears in the duration of one semester, even sometimes one exhibit. My understanding of the world through art has been augmented, by realizing that art is an explanation, an effort by humans to better understand the world. I am no longer nervous or intimidated because I do not consider myself an artist. Ive come to realize that art includes all people, from all backgrounds and contexts. While certainly being qualified to talk about it gives you more credibility, I think the real beauty of art is uncovered when an inexperienced novice like myself is able to access the aesthetics that make art work. A time I most connected with art this semester was when I read the letters written by Zora Neale Thurston on display at the Harvey B. Gantt Center. It was so real, so accessible and very intimate because these letters were not written with a broader audience in mind. Zora wrote one letter angrily to her ex-fianc as a scorned woman. Another was to her friend, a cousin of the Kinseys and the last gave directions to the boat dock where she spent her summer days. It was exhibited as the Gantt Exhibition on the second floor, amidst other artifacts, posters and paintings. I could not tear my eyes off the neat typewriter ink or the dirty edges, indicative of years spent in an attic. It was strange to see a real-life connection to an author Id heard of only in reference. I felt very moved and returned to these letters even after our tour was over and class was dismissed. I suppose there was also the appeal that this art was not traditional and it was not considered valuable at all until it was uncovered and put in a museum. It made me think how little we value the objects we encounter every day in our lives, but there must be some inherent significance to them if they can suddenly mean so much once a few years

have passed and the author passed away. Perhaps we need time and space to appreciate things, because we cannot value what is right in front of us. Ive grown as a student and as a person in this class. The very first bit of reading we had to do felt as if it were speaking to my soul. I connected with the points the author made about art, composition and how it can help us improve our lives. I feel as if I have been collecting evidence throughout the semester to prove that this article was right. I have gained a new appreciation for art, but also the way I interact with those around me. This class was as much about the experience as it was about the art. Being excited every Thursday night because the next morning held a class I genuinely looked forward to and riding into uptown each morning to get coffee and some breakfast with friends; it all made LBST 1105 a thoroughly enjoyable memory. If ever I were asked to name a perfect college class, I would be able to proudly say that Ive taken it.