Wow. What a semester.
Coming into Songs and Places this semester, I expected it to be a class just like any other: some reading, a lecture, maybe an essay, some form of a final, and a grade. I didn't expect it to throw me out of my comfort zone as much as it did.
I hadn't made any art since 8th grade, and even then it was very guided, thematic art.
Every week, I enjoyed creating the art more and more and allowed myself to relax more and more while making it. It was also very humbling to be not only outside of my major, but also outside of my college. CED is a whole new world. I've never been in a class where people were so many lightyears ahead of me in terms of talent. It was a very valuable experience to be in that environment. Even though I struggled a lot with contributing to the discussion on artwork, I really enjoyed hearing about other people's perspectives and insights.
I'm also really grateful that we had a storytime at the end of each session. I'm much better at analyzing prose than visual art so I felt like I could contribute much more when we got there.
Above all, I am grateful for the encouragement and enthusiasm. Every week, I felt like my art was treated with the amount of respect as everyone else's. Yes, it was infantilized, but not in a condescending manner. I never felt ashamed of my art. For that, I owe a huge thank you to Tony. When exams and papers pile up and everyone is stressed out, Tony still manages to have the enthusiasm to bring us out of that rut -- silly as it might appear at the time.
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