Before I came to CAT, I had very strict and specific ideas about what an artist could be. When I thought about artists, I thought about adults living the life of the “starving artist”, painting profound pieces that illustrated the eternal human struggle of life. It wasn’t even until my teachers started referring to us, the students, as “artists”, that I’d even thought that normal students like me could be thought of as such. From making our individual code names and signature designs in tenth grade, to deeply exploring what exactly is art and what makes an artist in twelfth grade, much of my time at CAT has been spent reflecting on my growth as an artist and how my pieces are actually art. The time we spent at CAT thinking about how we all were creative individuals and incorporating art into almost everything we do, has helped me to grow and become an artist.
Earlier I mentioned my Code Name pieces that I created while I was in tenth grade. That was around the time when I was just beginning to feel like a creative individual, so when Matt told us to think of a code name that described us, I had to really think about who I was and how I wanted people to see me. I had just spent that previous summer watching Rent nonstop, so my code name was, of course, Boheme. The only reason I can really think of why I chose that name was because the movie Rent had really embodied who I wanted to be and be seen as: a complete individual who didn’t let the outside world change who she was on the inside. Someone who was free in their minds and lived freely. Looking back, I can see that those rebellious tendencies were also the makings of an artist. I wasn’t quite there yet because I had let a movie I really liked influence me instead of the idea coming to myself, which is was a more creative individual would have done, but it was also the beginnings of me beginning to branch out and come up with some of my own ideas. I remember being unsure of my code name designs, because I’d never had to do anything like that before, and I was afraid of them not looking as good as everyone else’s. Still though, I tried different ways of writing my name, over and over again, I hated some and I loved and was very proud of others. At the end of my code name design project I felt very accomplished for creating pieces that were me and were about me. It was the first time I really did feel like an artist at CAT. I still had a lot to improve on, though. I was self-conscious at how my code name designs might look, and that affected the true individuality of them, because I remember changing my ideas about how they would look depending on if I thought they would look “cool” or not. Although a true artist has to concern his or her self with how an audience will understand an art piece and what they will get from it, a true artist also has to be true to his or her self and trust that their own creativity and individuality will be enough, and that they don’t have to change their style to make it more aesthetically pleasing. I’ve learned that art doesn’t have to be pretty to still be art.
Artists are people who have to consider what their work means to other people. Their job is to infer how people will understand their piece, since the artist not only makes art to express their feelings, but to also send that message to the audience. So the artist has to think – “How can I get my message across in an creative way to my audience? What is the best way?” Those were the exact questions I had to consider while I was completing my What is Art? piece. I had a message I wanted to send with my art piece – that we needed to concentrate on solving the problem of the homeless people on the streets. But just that sentence doesn’t illustrate what I see in my mind when I think about those people. So many of us don’t think of them as people – we just think of them as small annoyances that we need to overstep, ignoring their pleas of “Spare change?”. I know that I have been guilty of that. So when thinking about how I was going to create my piece I was thinking about how I would get across to the audience that they actually are people? We hardly ever give a face to these people, some who are older and many who are close to my age, and that wait the main message I wanted to send with my piece. If we can see the faces of these people and see how they aren’t that much different than us, then we can make the next step into really noticing that homeless people ARE people, and that we need to take care of them. They could be us, they could be our parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, they could be our children. They ARE us, and I think that we as a city should be more conscious to that fact. My piece may seem stark and kind of dark, but that is exactly what I think of while thinking about the homeless problem. I didn’t waste time worrying about how my art would look next to someone else’s, because I’d already learned that art is art and didn’t have to be pretty to be real art. I was confident while finishing my art piece; because it said everything I wanted it to say. While completing this piece I was also able to clearly see my strengths and weaknesses as an artist. One of my strengths as an artist is that I have a vivid imagination and that I can visualize what I want my art pieces to be. However, my downfall is that I am not always able to do everything I want to do when I create my art pieces. My ideas are oftentimes to far-reaching for what my capabilities are at the time, so it has always been a challenge for me to compromise what I visualize with what I am able to do. When you look at this piece, you can see how I am as an artist. The piece is very simple, with not very many contributing components creating the idea of the piece. I am a simple artist and strive to translate my ideas easily and as uncomplicated as possible to the paper. I don’t like to have clutter in my art and this shows in my art piece. The fact that I felt so strongly about the homeless issue and was able to translate it to art to help others see that this was an important issue, as well, is just one way CAT has made me become an artist.
I mentioned earlier that CAT has helped broaden my artistic horizons. When I came into CAT, I thought artists could only be adults who lived in the 19th century and painted old paintings that honestly looked boring to me at the time. Now after studying so many different art forms, I’ve come to appreciate art in a new way. Art doesn’t have to be just boring paintings of kings and queens who lived long before me, art can be in every day life. CAT taught me that art can be in everywhere I go, in places I’d never thought about before. Is the way you design a t-shirt art? Is designing a tattoo art? What about creating a website or illustrating debate arguments? Art doesn’t have to be a standalone feature that you only look at. Art can be what you wear, how you access information, it can enhance your learning. Being in this Digital Design class has made me wonder things like “Why did the designer of this billboard make it look this way? What does he or she want me to know about this product? What do they think is the most important feature?” These questions are all things I would have never considered had to do with art, but now I know that art can be almost anything that you see that has been created for you to see.
When people are thinking artistically, big things can happen. Art has helped along many a revolution and many a social revolution, where people throw away old ideas to make room for new, innovative ones. A big example of how art has helped encourage revolution was in the Mexican revolution. The artists were all working to instill pride and resilience into their people. They used their art to influence them, so they could see that they were strong, impressive people and that even though the times were bad for them, they had an amazing past and they were working hard to secure a good future. The art helped keep up their morale and helped the Mexican people to stay strong and stay proud of their culture. Art has also helped to illustrate the social ideas of the time. I studied Art Nouveau in Digital Design class, and I learned how the art which was all about getting rid of the old ideas of how art had to be and creating new ways to create art also mirrored society where people were getting rid of the old ways of living to find new ways. This was in the time of mass industrialization all over Europe and people’s lives were changing. They were able to express it through their artwork, which mirrored their lives. Art is a very powerful thing. It can help you to stay strong and proud of your people and your culture, and it can also inspire you to find a new way of living. Art is integral to humans and society. It is a way to illustrate those feelings and desires that might be too complex to explain in words, and it is also a way to show others what you feel and broaden their understanding to feel the same way.
As for myself, thinking artistically has affected me in such a big way. It has helped me to become so much more open-minded to others’ thoughts and beliefs, even if I don’t agree with them. It has taught me to be more conscientious of how I portray things to others, because even though your ideas may make perfect sense to you, the idea is to make it so others can understand, too. I know that thinking artistically will help me so much in the future in college, as well. Thinking artistically is another way of saying “to think creatively”, and that will come into play so much next year when I am trying to think of a way to say something in an essay that the professor is going to read hundreds of the same topic. “How can I say what I want to say in a way that won’t make the audience feel like they’ve heard it all before? How can I shed a different light upon it?” Those are the kinds of things I will consider while writing papers for school, and they will help make my writing even better. Thinking artistically doesn’t mean only thinking creatively while drawing, sculpting, or anything else involving art. Thinking artistically means thinking creatively in all ways of life, and this is something CAT has taught me how to do that I will take with me next year in college, and use in everyday life.
