Mimi Nguyen
Arts Scholar
Semester 1
Being a student in the College Park Scholars Arts program has introduced me to various opportunities to explore my creative outlets. This course is different from many of my current courses in that many of the assignments are not heavily based on something that is taught. The assignments focused mainly on events, creative activities, or creative things mentioned in class on zoom. The supporting course I took was TLPL288W, which was a class about forbidden literature and censorship. The course goes into detail about how past literature has been censored. The overarching idea is that many concepts put into novels were revolutionary and challenging, thus causing societal conflict. This does not exactly connect to my major, but I do enjoy reading books and learning about how they connect to society. As a hobby, I write short stories and it was interesting to read novels that were different from my own writing style. One novel that we read was “Forever,” by Judy Blume. This was one of my favorite novels read in the class because it targeted ideas such as sexuality, teen pregnancy, and relationships as a teen. Education on relationships and sexuality in America is not effective, in my opinion, and I resonated with Blumes portrayal of these ideas. Everything presented I expected because the Arts program should target all mediums possible such as creative writing, music, drawing, etc. Painting was one thing we hadn’t done yet, but it is difficult to bring that into a virtual setting. I appreciated the Arts program being inclusive of many art mediums. I will be living at home, and I honestly feel as though my high school experience has been better thus far. The virtual setting is not ideal. My perceptions will remain the same because I will be at home for the spring and all my classe are online. The COVID-19 pandemic has been hard on all of us. The university did the best they can to keep everyone safe. The podcast assignment was a bit hectic, but I appreciated my group because we all did the best we could to piece together a thoughtful product. That project taught the importance of teamwork and never taking on more than you can handle.
Semester 2
This will be a transparent reflection.
I’ve completed my first year of university and the College Park Scholars Art Program. The year has been a series of ups and downs and rights and lefts, but I can say that I’ve gained a lot of valuable experiences and lessons. The online format made networking and building relationships with others difficult. Truthfully, I don’t believe I was successful in building meaningful relationships with faculty members. I can say that I definitely try to make myself known, but breaking that fourth wall was hard. The challenge at hand would have to be engaging more with others on campus, especially as a student who did online learning from home both semesters. I relied on an in-person environment and I could not get that. I suggest that incoming students explore different avenues at the university and interact with others. Get familiar with the faculty, students, clubs, etc. Another moment of transparency: I enjoy the process of being creative, but I burned out a lot this school year and struggled to create art. I loved my creative writing workshop, but I struggled with my project because I had things going on. I felt like I was in a rut. I felt isolated, so I cannot give advice to incoming students based on experience. However, I can say that it is important to reach out to others and know that there are people out there who care and will listen. The Arts Scholar program definitely fosters an environment based on inclusivity and exchanging ideas. The spring workshops were one way in which I contributed to the community. ArtsFest was unfortunately forced online, but it was a way for us artists to create and showcase it to others in the program. I’d love to continue to work on my creative writing and possibly a larger project I can integrate into the program. The program definitely reinforces the idea of artistic appreciation. Social and cultural expression was one area of emphasis in the program and it allows us to appreciate the deeper meanings of art in relation to other people's lives. We define art earlier in the program and this definition helps us widen our scope. These definitions can help future Art scholars have vision for their own artistic projects. Lastly, I found that the podcast project, as tedious it got at times, was the most helpful. The pandemic had started and I did not think I was capable of getting such a long-term project done. However, my group and I did it successfully. Incoming scholars can get the most out of this program by simply making the most of it: make use of your resources, engage with others, and have fun!
Remember to add credits for images when necessary (i.e. you do not own the image).
Artifacts in Gallery Format
Semester 3
- Art can help us recontextualize and reshape our biases and beliefs because of how dynamic and multidimensional the art process can be. For example, an artist who uses sculpting as their medium may intend to talk about the importance of using sculptures and shapes to convey messages such as history. Somebody who is not aware of the history of certain statues may interpret the art differently than the artist, which shows how everybody interprets art differently. This is where art opens discourse about these themes, biases, and beliefs.
- In class, we learned about the creative process and how to research and turn that research into a plan of action to create an end product. The theoretical part of the art process comes from the artist themselves in which they brainstorm ideas, discuss with others, and create a picture that is not exactly tangible just yet. The practical part is the doing part, where you may start researching and explaining what that research means in relation to your project. It can also look like drafting an outline or creating prototypes.
- Feedback can be helpful when constructive. This can look like providing a peer with positive comments that tell them what worked well. After telling them what was effective and strong, follow up with constructive criticism on what may improve the project and how it can strengthen what is already strong. Hearing feedback from our peers can give us a fresh perspective because we all have different ideas.
I took ENGL492, which was a graphic design and rhetoric class. There were a lot of connections between this class and Arts scholars because it asked us to create prototypes based on different theories, ideas, and social contexts. The class would participate in workshops in which we would provide feedback to each other, and once the workshop was over we would create revision plans to help us finalize our prototypes.
To be totally transparent, as a commuter, it was difficult creating connections within the Arts Scholars community. I had a difficult time creating these connections because things were constantly changing. Transitioning from online school to back in person while also being a commuter with responsibilities outside of campus life made things hard for me, especially with the classes I was taking this semester. I do take accountability, though, and could definitely manage my workload/responsibilities better.
Being in Arts Scholars definitely does expose you to different types of people who may think differently than you. The great thing about this, though, is that you challenge your echo chamber and learn that it is okay to be exposed to something you are not used to. We tend to, as humans, seek information that confirms our biases, but once we step out of that comfort zone we can bridge the gap between our biases and other people.
Semester 4
The Arts Scholars program helped me understand Art differently than two years before. I feel as though my capstone was the biggest project in the program that helped progress my immersion, influence and understanding of the Arts. I honestly was unsure of how I wanted to approach my capstone and I felt very lost. However, after some reflection I was able to break out of my perfectionist habits and understand that anything can be Art. The moment I would overthink and doubt myself, my creative abilities were significantly tampered. I was able to take my hobby of creative writing and the things I’ve been learning in my psychology major to help me integrate my interests with my more “professional” line of work. This helped me understand that Art can really be anything, and Art is very interdisciplinary. My first pentathlon of the semester had been the Blacklight Summit that showcased various artists doing different kinds of art, such as film, dancing, music, etc. My perception of art was challenged significantly because I was honestly very taken aback by all the performances. They struck me because I was having a hard time understanding what the artists were trying to convey to the audience, but I realized that perhaps ambiguity is just as important as one set meaning. Art is always open to interpretation, and I interpreted the summit as artists releasing energy that the audience experiences vicariously, creating a room where everybody is taking on the artist's life energy. These emotions felt uncomfortable at first, but I think that's what the artists’ intended. Another example was Katie’s Butoh workshop, which taught me a lot about dance, as somebody who is not a dancer. I learned that some forms of dance are more about how they feel in your body versus the aesthetics. I think aesthetics are important in dance, but Butoh in particular helped me relive what yoga felt like: therapeutic and present.
My capstone helped me refine many skills such as research, techniques to stay focused, how to provide criticism, prototyping, and many other things that I never thought were related to Art. My capstone had been a creative research project, so I had taken the sources we researched in the first semester and built upon them in our final semester. I learned that Art is just as researched based as standards academics. Research will follow us forever, I learned. In addition, I took this capstone as an opportunity to immerse myself back into creative writing. Doing this capstone project helped me eliminate my perfectionism and relearn how to write freely and be in the moment. I also used this capstone to try slam poetry again, which I struggle with. However, doing slam again reminded me why I tried it in the first place. Overall, my capstone helped me tap into my old hobbies I had abandoned due to various reasons. The Arts Program was a spectacular experience and I appreciated how I was able to tap into my hobbies again because I go through many creative ruts. I can say with confidence that this was the best semester I've had in the Arts Program, and I'm grateful for it all! This semester has definitely topped the previous three.
