Semester 3

Art can reshape an understanding of our learned history, biases and beliefs by giving people a new perspective in a unique and entertaining form. Throughout history, historically oppressed groups of people began to express themselves and reflect on their shared experiences through various art forms such as through fine arts and many modes of performing arts. One specific experience that stood out to me this semester as reshaping our learned history, biases, and beliefs was when we had the opportunity to listen to artist Ivelisse Diaz and hear about her experiences as a minority as she led a multicultural Bomba workshop. She was able to bring up a difficult conversation for some about race and culture, but she reframed the way we thought about other cultures from being something we should try to stay away from and not talk about, to something that should be widely appreciated.

Some practical strategies for initiating the creative process that I have learned throughout this semester through my participation in the Capstone project process include the importance of brainstorming, sharing ideas, learning to critique and take criticism, and using that criticism to improve. Aside from all of the new experience I have with researching from various types of sources, the most important thing I have taken from this process thus far is to use my resources and the people around me. I have taken great inspiration from my community, my family, my friends, as well as my relatively new College Park Scholars community in creating my Capstone project thus far. Instead of just relying on myself to come up with great ideas, I have learned that it is much more important to try to take inspiration and suggestions from others in order to improve because I do not have all the answers.

Similar to the practical strategies that I learned for initiation of the creative process, it is important to incorporate feedback from others. In addition to taking inspiration from others, it is important to rely to some extent on others throughout the process because they likely have different life experiences that could lead to a unique perspective on my project that I would have never otherwise thought of. To incorporate feedback, I have learned that it is important to ask questions. By asking questions, it tells peer reviewers what areas of the project I might be looking to improve, in turn guiding their feedback and making it easier to incorporate into the larger project.
One very relevant example of a news-related item that I encountered outside of colloquium was a community effort for unity in the form of a memorial mural in Minnesota following the police killing of George Floyd. I came across this mural as a part of my personal research into my Capstone project about murals that ultimately served a major inspiration for our most recent ideas for our Capstone project. It was nice to see the healing powers of the visual art form on a hurting community and it was a unique form of expression and serves as a coping mechanism and visual reminder to push for change. By bringing my own ideas to the table regarding my Capstone project, it helped me to better understand the healing powers that all forms of art can have on their intended audiences.

An Arts supporting course that I took over the summer was WMST 250 or Womens Studies. This particular course displayed important connections between art and ongoing issues in society. I learned about how many forms of art have been used to influence the views of society, bringing up difficult issues in a representative way. This course connects very strongly to what I have experienced as an Arts Scholar as I have learned to use art for good and that I can personally make a difference through my art, just as others that I learned about in this course have. I have learned from both Arts Scholars and WMST 250 that if you take the time to appreciate art, it can help you to learn about other cultures and gain new perspectives.
   My learning was improved by interacting with fellow Arts Scholars outside of class as some of my classmates have become some of my best friends. My learning experience has been greatly enhanced by all of these people because they come from backgrounds that are so different from mine, but we all have a common appreciation for the arts. Some of my classmates and friends are interested in fine art like me, while others are interested in theater, dancing, music, and writing, all of which I have learned about from them throughout college.
   I have largely contributed to the Arts Scholars program this semester by helping to welcome our newest Scholars as a Peer Mentor. Though this has been a difficult semester to get to know the freshmen in the program, I held several events 2 in person and 3 online to help them to feel a sense of belonging in the community. Two of the events that I held virtually gave them an opportunity to get to know me, each other, and get a pentathlon credit for their class. I also consistently checked up on them to see how their semester was going through our groupme and informed them of any virtual or on campus events that they could go to to become more involved as a Scholar and an University of Maryland student.
   Scholars brought me into contact with many people and concepts that challenged my previous beliefs or opinions, especially concepts related to the arts. The reason that I initially chose to be a part of the Arts Scholars program is because of my passion for drawing and visual arts. I was not previously interested in any form of art other than visual arts because that was what I was used to. Since I joined the program, I have learned to expand my interests and learn about the artistic interests of my peers, friends, and hallmates and have been open to allowing them to teach me how to participate in their own specialty art forms like theater, music, dance, and the literary arts.

Reflections: Image

Program Synthesis

Through creating my capstone project, I greatly improved my written communication skills, especially my professional communication skills. Examples of this include the regular emails drafted by my capstone partner, Jenna Deutch and I throughout the course of this project to be sent out to members of the College Park Scholars faculty, University of Maryland Facilities staff, as well as to our own peers who are student members of various Scholars programs that make up the Scholars Advisory Board. The way that these skills improved was through constant communication with Arts Scholars faculty members as they advised us about who to contact and what to ask about, and through constant practice in drafting these emails to be sent out to get our project approved.
Through the process of my pentathlon events, I have also been able to improve my written communication skills as they relate to art. By attending a variety of events, I was able to experience a lot of new forms of art that were unfamiliar to me. Aside from just experiencing the new forms of art, it was also a new skill for me to learn how to write about my own art and the art of others as that is something I had not previously been able to communicate effectively about.
One way that my perception of art has been influenced was by viewing the capstone projects of my classmates. Coming into college, I was only really interested in visual arts as that has been a hobby of mine for years. However, being able to see the work of my classmates throughout the semester as they completed projects using forms of art that I am completely unfamiliar with allowed me to learn to appreciate the talents of others even if they were things that I didn’t previously know about. By interacting with my peers weekly in class and using discussion boards, I was given the opportunity to ask questions to learn about other people’s main forms of art which has sparked even more curiosity and appreciation for the work of my peers. A second way that my perception of art has been challenged as a result of this program was when we had guest speakers lead a writing workshop last school year in which they challenged me to think creatively in a way that was very different from anything I had ever done before, which also made me further appreciate a form of art that was not my own.
One thing that really stuck out to me as being very helpful was the lesson about prioritizing that was given during the CPSA250 class. Not only will I be able to apply the content of this lesson to a variety of things in the future, but it was very helpful in decision making as it has to do with the work schedule of my capstone project as I learned to consider concepts such as urgency and importance when deciding the order in which to complete parts of the project.
I have deepened my artistic skills as a visual artist as some assignments such as pentathlon and my capstone project allowed me to further develop my drawing skills. I have expanded my creative abilities through the embroidery workshop this semester as I took on a new form of art that I have never experienced before. I think the skill of embroidery is something I still could use a lot of practice at, though it is something that I am newly interested in and would like to develop further.
Looking back on my experiences in Arts Scholars, I have demonstrated the ability to collaborate effectively with those holding diverse artistic perspectives, especially through my capstone project. My capstone project was community based, as its purpose was to publicly represent our scholars community. As a result, this required me to get input from faculty and students as to what our designs should look like to achieve our goal. One example of an accommodation that was made during this project was to change a symbol to be a moon so that it would more accurately represent one of the programs.
The professional communication aspect of my capstone project will likely be very useful in the future as I go on to become an educator. In this role, it will be necessary for me to communicate professionally with other staff members, parents, and students. The lessons I learned about how to effectively talk to others in a convincing and professional manner during my capstone project, especially in the written form of emails will definitely serve me well in the future.

Reflections: Text