Sarah Liu
Arts Scholar
Semester 1
The first semester at the University of Maryland College Park was probably the most hectic thing I have experienced thus far in my 18 years of life. With COVID-19, the odd transition to college, and a completely different learning atmosphere, I expected university to be a very consistent and stressful experience. I expected for my work to get torn to shreds and for the expectations to be incredibly high. However when I actually started college, it was nothing like I expected. The pressure and school work waxed and waned, I was encouraged to grow, supported and when I had questions, they were answered with respect. I feel like though university was nothing like I expected, it was probably for the better.
Though there were a lot of classes that I found interesting, I am currently undecided so any course could be towards my major. However, for my English 101 class, the in class work we did really helped me understand how to work in a team efficiently and communicate my ideas. Because we are not in a person to person setting, communication is a bit difficult for all of us, practicing through my English class in 10 minute bursts helped me to not get overwhelmed with stress about communicating online.
During Arts Scholars we covered a lot of ground. There were so many different interesting topics and genres of art we discussed that it almost got difficult to track. One type of art that stood out to me was live poetry and improvisational music. I found myself both intrigued and intimidated about the idea of making music up as I listened to the poet. The idea that it might not come out as perfect terrified me, but after hearing performers speak about it, I decided that it was worth a shot in my spare time. I expected for us to discuss more about techniques of art such as different methods for expression. In hindsight this was not possible because of the different things that qualify as arts. I didn’t expect for my peer mentor to be so involved in my life, and to be so welcoming of questions, but I was really pleasantly surprised. My peer mentor was willing to discuss with me how to make a schedule that would work in my favor and what I could do as a student to plan out the best teachers and time for my courses, which I really appreciated.
There are many differences between highschool and university, especially now. Compared to high school, University life offered me a lot more freedoms and drawbacks. On the brighter side, I had more free time to spend doing what I wanted, and because I live at home for now, the dynamic and atmosphere of my house has changed for the better. I still plan to live at home next semester, but I am still excited to hopefully be on campus during sophomore year. Though spending time at home is very enjoyable and I have a support system here, I still want to experience college to its fullest.
I was not surprised about how the university handled the COVID situation. There were precautions taken and I do not know what happened on campus because I wasn’t there. I do think that the communications between the administration and the students was about what I expected as well.
The most impactful thing I learned in Arts Scholars was actually to keep an open mind to what others have to do or say. I think that listening to other students is about half of the learning experience in college, and if I had entered closed minded, I might have missed a lot of information about many different interesting topics. An assignment that I learned a lot from was the podcast. We all helped out in researching weed legalization laws and though I didn’t choose the topic, I ended up learning how to go along with ideas that were nott mine. This is something that I have been working on and I am sure that it will come into use later when I have more projects involving groups.
Semester 2
While the opportunity to foster relationships with the faculty members was given, I was at first very shy with approaching them. It was a little intimidating to talk to the faculty members, but after meeting with Heather a few times, I grew more comfortable around her. I asked her questions about the Colloquium and Capstone projects. Another thing I struggled with is communication online. The pandemic has presented unique challenges, one of them being learning to communicate with other people through a computer. It took some time to readjust, but I found that eventually I got the hang of it. I would like to strengthen my relationship with Heather, as well as Harold and Gabby. For incoming students that want to foster a mentoring relationship with the staff, I would suggest going for it and asking a lot of questions. It can be very intimidating and scary, especially for a college freshman, but all the staff are incredibly warmhearted, kind people who are incredibly helpful. There is nothing to be anxious about, though it may feel like it.
One of the things that I did to make connections with other students in university was to take some art classes. There are usually a few people who take these classes because they too enjoy art and have a passion for it like me. Having people who enjoyed similar interests as me was really helpful because it gave us a topic to talk about and bond over. The greatest obstacle for me was not being on campus. I think it is easier to create relationships with other people when you see them in person week after week instead of maybe catching a glimpse of them in a Zoom meeting. One of the ways that freshmen can make connections with peers is to join clubs that they find interesting. Chances are they are going to find someone that has similar interests as them. Also, with university being in person next semester, I think it will be easier for other students to create more bonds and friendships between each other.
The Arts Scholars program fosters a community in many different ways. One is the use of group projects to help students get to know each other and be more comfortable with talking to each other. This helps introduce students to each other. There are many ways that the Arts Scholars community has influenced me, however one of the most prominent ways is exposing me to different forms of art and how they are used to express things. A good example of this is the weaving field trip I took. In the field trip, Gabby talked to us about the different types of weaving and the history behind it. She then showed us an example of how weaving was used to discuss the misogynistic culture that surrounds television shows like The Bachelor. In the future, I hope to help expand the ways that art can be viewed, as well as to express different messages and themes using my art.
My understanding of art before joining the Arts program was fairly limited and I was not as great at analyzing art and finding deeper meanings in art. However, as I took different workshops, listened to different people talk about art, and continued to make my own art, I realized how expansive and symbolic art has the capability to be. I learned how to analyze art and find messages in it. I started to draw upon different artists’ work to create my own messages and improve my art. To help expand their ideas of what art is, future Arts Scholars should keep an open mind in what they consider art, and learn from those around them. There are many great examples of art all over the place, and it is fun to discover new art or messages in art.
Some of the most beneficial aspects were the workshops and the pentathlon. The Painting the Gods and Goddesses workshops helped bring out my creativity by asking me to do something I’ve never done before: work under time constraints. It’s difficult to come up with a concept and then draw it in around 25 minutes. Most of my work takes days, weeks, sometimes even months. 25 minutes seemed absurd to me at first. However I started thinking critically about how I could best come up with concepts based on keywords in a myth and I slowly got the hang of it. The pentathlons forced me to move outside of my comfort zone when it comes to creating, viewing and consuming art. I am a studio arts kind of person, I like spending days and days painting. I’m not great at making or critiquing movies, dancing, or music. The pentathlon was a great gateway to explore some of these types of art that I had either been too scared to try or confused on how to talk about them. The best way to get the most out of the Arts Scholars program is to try everything. Arts Scholars have a lot to offer, whether it be resources or creating bonds, and it is important to take the opportunity that is handed to you.
Semester 3
Art is a form of self expression that is shaped by the culture and society that the individual is around. It is very much based on the period of history that the art was created. Art helps preserve the ideas held by different people in the culture for future generations to look back upon. An example of this is the drums that originated from Africa, yet the culture was passed down to those who passed it to different people around the world.
Initiating the creative process is difficult as ideas for art do not always come every day. However, some things that can foster the creative process includes brainstorming with others. During the beginning of our colloquium when we were just starting to learn what the colloquium would entail, we were placed into groups based on our TA’s and we were asked to create a web of ideas for what our colloquium could be about. We then exchanged webs with someone else in the class and were asked to think about how we could help expand or critique our partner’s web. This helped open up avenues of thought and more options for what our colloquium could entail.
With creating art comes the revision and feedback of art. For those who are critiquing it is important to ensure that the artist is at the point where they are ready for critique. A good way to ensure this is by asking them if they would like critique and respecting their response. When giving feedback, it is important to keep an open dialogue. Both parties should be listening to each other and keeping an open mind to what the other is saying. This will help with ensuring clarity, understanding and depth of the critique.
One piece of media that I encountered was an expression of the artist’s idea of what the education system was doing to them and their mental state. Their art depicted the process of how, despite all the creativity that they had and all the ideas they wished to express, the education system was forcing them to think in a box. Something that my engagement with the Arts program provided was understanding how the process of art was a part of the piece itself. While it is understandable that the final product was a work of art, it was a little harder to understand how the artist was able to use texture and different mediums in his expression of art.
While I think that my learning experience would have been improved by interacting with fellow Arts Scholars, I didn’t really get the chance to interact with other Arts Scholars. This is because during my time as a Scholar, I was not living with other Arts Scholars. While I had a wonderful time interacting with other Scholars during classes, it was difficult to interact with other Scholars, especially when I didn’t live with any of them. When I was given the opportunity, however, I found that my peers provided great insight and a different perspective.
As I had extremely limited interactions with other Scholars during my three semesters here, I found it somewhat difficult to contribute to the Arts program. However, I found myself able to help my fellow Arts Scholars through giving critiques (when asked) on their colloquium projects and having discussinos about fieldtrips that we have attended. I wish that I was able to help the Arts Scholars community outside of classes, but I live across campus and it was very difficult to make connections with other Arts Scholars because of this.
Throughout my discussions with other Arts Scholars, I have come across many different people with many different opinions on different subjects. I found that I mostly agree with my fellow Art Scholars. During a discussion about a field trip, I read a question asking about the diversity in classical music and what could be done to include more women of color in performances. This question really made me think about my own experiences and how many classical pieces I played that were written by white men and how that affected my perspective on classical music. It also made me think about the definition and effectiveness of ‘inclusion’. On a broader scale, the importance of questioning and challenging values that we hold allows us to think about subjects from different perspectives and create a more progressive and accepting environment for others.
Semester 4
One thing that I learned through finishing my capstone was to release ideas that weren’t suiting the purpose I created them for. One example of this is my ‘Dead Darlings’ section on my Capstone website. This helped me create better ideas that were more on target for my themes. It also encouraged me to not settle for something that was just ‘okay’ but strive for something better.
One way that my perception of art changed was through a classmate’s capstone. Eva Ginn’s capstone was amazing in so many ways and expanded the bounds of art. Her capstone was of soundwaves of her reading gratitude letters she sent to her friends projected into a mini planetarium-like structure. She considered the amount of people that would fit and how tall it would have to be to accommodate most people. Her idea itself is also very creative and incorporates visual and written arts with modern technology. She also thought about how to evoke emotions through music and thoughtfully chose royalty free music to play through headphones. Eva’s capstone felt like a redefinition of what art is and an expansion of what art could be in the future.
Another way that my perception of art changed was through James’ capstone project. James led the workshop that I was part of and it was through his course that I started to understand how similar engineers and artists really were. I had never really considered the engineering side of art, as most of the time I draw people, so there was never a need to. However, in James’ capstone project, we went over so many different aspects of how art and engineering intertwined and how engineering could help elevate our artistic visions.
One technique that I ended up using during my capstone was the importance of lowering your expectations to a manageable level. I came into my capstone with high expectations that I would have these insightful ideas that would intricately address all these issues that the Asian American community faced. I thought that I would complete so much art successfully but I was wrong. It was not feasible for me to do all this work with all the other things I had going on including school, clubs, and trying to maintain my mental health. Eventually, I had to learn to let go of some of my expectations and settle with what I could do. In an odd way, I learned to appreciate my work a lot more than I used to.
Through my participation in Arts Scholars, I was able to deepen my artistic talents through learning how to encourage creativity despite certain roadblocks that I might be facing, such as burn out. I also learned to set my expectations to a reasonable degree and that not everything will come out as planned, but everything will come out alright. I was also able to consider new mediums that I want to try. One of them is embroidery. Someone’s capstone about growth featured flowers that were embroidered that represented a different stage in life. I thought that this was a very interesting and unique way to represent growth and wanted to give embroidery a try.
One way that I deepened my artistic talents was through my capstone. I had never done a year-long project that required me to do so much pre-planning and research before. It was stressful and a little bit hectic but I combined something that I am passionate about (social justice in terms of Asian Americans) with art. This helped fulfill my immediate goal of trying to send a message with my art. I am proud of the ideas that I came up with and mostly satisfied with my execution. I created meaningful statements through my art and thoughtful responses to issues that I saw in my broad community.
One way that I was able to collaborate effectively with others who hold a diverse artistic perspective was when we were reviewing our capstones. I was able to receive insightful feedback on my capstone from artists of all disciplines. Furthermore, I was able to give others consensual critiques on their projects. This helped both of us improve our capstones and improved the overall quality of our work.
One method that I will definitely be taking with me is using self-imposed constraints to help spark my creativity. There are many times outside of art where I have been given a project with next to no guidelines. It felt overwhelming and I struggled to come up with ideas. Constraints helped me feel like things are a bit more under my control and gave me a sense of structure. I hope to use them more often when faced with a variety of options.