Best Piece of Academic Work:

Best Piece of Academic Work

and Reflective Essay:

            For my best piece of academic work, I chose an art piece I completed my junior year at the University of Montana. This art piece was a still life painting I created in my Painting II class, but it was also a painting that required me to really get outside my comfort zone, and this was a feeling that ended up being experienced by every single person in the class. Prior to the completion of this still life painting, we had been working on a previous still life with oil paint, but I think our professor could really tell that we as a class were starting to get a bit burnt out on still lives in general, along with oil painting, so he decided to change things up with us a bit.

            We were required to bring in a fresh new canvas for this new project, which we all were slightly confused on because we were all still working on our previous still life project, but we didn’t question it, we simply did as we were told and arrived to class canvas and paints in hand, and ready to see what he had for us next; naturally we all generally thought we would just be starting a new art piece that we were would have at least two weeks to complete, as per usual for the rest of our paintings we had worked on prior to this one, but we were all terribly wrong about that. As we all began to arrive to class, we went on as usual with setting up our areas, easels, paints, etc. and as our professor arrived, he was much more bubbly than his usual, so we all suspected something was up. He ended up requesting that we all surround the still life that was in the middle of the studio by making a circle with our easels, some rolled their eyes at the fact that we were yet again going to be doing another still life, but we did as we were told of course. As we got into our circle, our professor gave us the instructions for the project, he said, “You will have two hours to complete this project. You need to paint this still life from the angle you are seeing it, and be sure to paint it from real life; and you may either use oils or acrylics for this project as well.”

            Naturally, we were all very confused and concerned because we were only going to be given a total of two hours for this project, and had no idea how we could complete an entire still life painting in that amount of time, but also make sure that it looked tasteful at the end result as well. But one thing that did excite us was that we could finally step away from using oil paints and use acrylics if we wanted, I personally was very excited for this because they were my preferred medium of paint at that point. Our professor then went on to tell us that he would be giving us further instructions, or more so prompts throughout the two hours that would also help us in completing this assignment, but also require us to dive into a few new or unexplored painting techniques as well. As my anxiety began to set in, I had no idea how I would successfully complete this assignment, but I decided to just let go of my anxiety and basically just go for it. For me to let it all go and just go for it at that point in my life wasn’t very easy for me to do, I was struggling with my artwork at this point in my life because I found myself continually clashing with what the expectations were of the contemporary view of the Fine Art program at the University of Montana. This wasn’t something that was at any fault of my own or even with the Fine Art program, it was simply the fact that I hadn’t experienced teachings quite like this before, and my clean cut, organized wildlife art was something that could be found throughout Montana, and really is a common theme in this state; so, it was time for me to try to step out of the comfort zone I had built for myself with my art work up till this point, and I do believe that this assignment was a really big step and key factor in knocking down the barriers I had placed upon myself at this point.

            I remember that as I began painting, I felt a sense of calm hit me as I let go of the anxiety that was holding me back, and I remember that I didn’t see anything but the canvas in front of me and the still life I was rendering on it. As I focused on my painting, I remember my professor interrupting the calm focus I had with one simple sentence, “Now that you all have gotten a far start onto your painting, I want you all to get paint onto your canvas without using your actual paint brush.” As my concentration broke from this interruption, I instantly felt that anxiety hit me again, I looked at my friends in the class and they had the same confused looks on their faces that I had on mine, and it was clear our professor noticed them too, because he then went on to explain it a bit more to us, he explained that we could use a palette knife, our fingers, essentially anything that wasn’t our paint brush. He then went on to tell us that he would continue giving us more prompts like this one throughout the rest of the class, and that as soon as he gave the prompt we would immediately need to stop what we were doing and switch over to move on to the next prompt. I started to feel a bit better now that he explained it more to us, and decided to yet again go for it, and it turned into a lot more fun than I anticipated.

            The class its self became more fast paced than it had ever been, we ended up turning on some music and it became clear everyone was enjoying themselves, even though with each prompt change we had less time for each prompt which also made it all so much more fast paced as well. There were times that it felt very chaotic for me personally, and it was pretty obvious that the rest of the class felt the same as me at this point. Finally, when it came down to us having about fifteen to twenty minutes left of class, our professor told us that we were going to be completing our final prompt, and that this one would possibly be the most difficult one of all the ones he had thrown at us, he then instructed us to move from our own easel down two more until we came to someone else’s easel and art piece. Obviously, we were pretty confused about this because none of us had technically finished our own works yet, so we couldn’t understand why we were now all at someone else’s easel, especially if it was meant for us to be critiquing that individual person’s artwork since they hadn’t finished it yet. It was at that point that my heart sunk to the floor when my professor began speaking again. He informed us that now we would finish off this assignment by completing the art piece that was in front of us.

            The anxiety I had felt so strongly at the beginning of the class was now back in full swing, and I couldn’t believe he was asking to do this. Something that all artists know, is that you cannot just paint or draw or completely take over another artist’s art piece like this, it’s practically a cardinal rule, and a true sin, especially to be doing it without their permission. It was clear to me that the terror I was feeling was also felt by my fellow classmates because it seemed we all immediately jumped into instruction mode and wanted to give guidance to the individual who was now in front of our art piece, but unfortunately we were all quickly silenced by our instructor. He told us that our art piece was officially in their hands, and we needed to respect that, he also told us that we needed to treat their art piece with the same respect we would want them to treat our own with. So, I did as I was told, no matter how difficult it was, I swallowed my tongued and did what some would consider to be unthinkable, I began painting on another artist’s painting. I told myself to simply let go and just see where the painting could take me, and I also remembered a few different techniques that had been demonstrated to us a the very beginning of our painting class at the start of the semester, I started using different scratching techniques, along with flicking paint onto the canvas and using palette knives as well, I discovered that the more I let myself dive into this painting the more I was falling into that sense of calmness and serenity that I had felt earlier in working with my own painting. This was something that I could tell was being felt by my classmates as well, because what had started out as silent complaints and grumbles about painting on a another artist’s work, had now turned into total silence, and the only thing to be heard at this point was our professor’s footsteps as he had turned off the radio that had been playing our music prior to this prompt. You could hear the stirring of water and the mixing of paints, the scratches on the canvas, along with the quiet splatter of paint, and that was it. It was as if we had escaped from the chaos of the world we had outside and the annoyance we had originally felt with still lives and entered into our own little paradises. By the time our professor called time on us, I personally had been a little startled by it because I had been so focused again on another painting, but it was nice to finally have this rollercoaster of anxiety and serenity come to a halt. Before we were instructed to return to our own easel and painting, I looked at the piece that I had finished, and although I could not tell you today what it ended up looking like, I can tell you that I was truly excited to see how two different points of view and personalities were able to come together like this and actually make a successful art piece. I actually found myself excited to see how my still life turned out rather than dreading it, and I was very stunned with the end result, pleasantly stunned that is.

            When I look at the picture I took of my still life, I can tell you exactly what was my creation and what was the creation of the other artist that worked on my art piece, but I know that any viewer would not be able to tell the differences that I see, and that makes me happy to know that. To know that two dramatically different personalities were able to come together like this and create something that I feel incredible pride over, is the success in itself.

            As an art educator, I can respect and understand why my professor had us complete this assignment, he saw that his class was feeling drained and burnt out on a subject matter, and he wanted us to find our spark again, and that’s exactly what we did. We were able to take all our previous lessons on technique, paint mixing, color, harmony, shading, highlighting etc. and turn them into something that was totally different than any of us had created before. We were able to break down barriers and comfort zones that some of us probably had never even realized we had ended up building up on ourselves because we had become so set into our own ways and our own perspectives as artists, that we didn’t even realize there were other ways to successfully complete or approach art. And, for myself, I was able to really get out of my comfort zone, and let go; let go of anxiety and embrace serenity and instead be moved by the paint, my brush and the flow of my painting, rather than drawing out and idea and sticking to the exact plan and way I believed this painting needed to turn out to be.

            In regards to this being my best academic work, I truly believe it was, because I was able to let go and just enjoy the art, and I don’t think I had really enjoyed my art like that in such a long time because art had turned into something for me that wasn’t my escape anymore, it had become assignments and deadlines rather than the paradise it had originally started out to be for me, and even though this was an assignment with a sort of deadline, it was also an excuse to find that paradise I had found before, and I hadn’t realized how desperately I was trying to get back to that until now.

            As an art educator, I want to ensure that my students do not lose sight of one of the most important meanings and significances of art, and that is freedom of self-expression and creativity. All too often do I hear my students say things like, “the only art I can do is stick figures”, or “I’m a terribly drawer/painter”, or even “I can’t do it, art just isn’t my thing”. When I hear statements like this, it does actually break my heart because art is so much more than your ability to do it; it’s a variety of mediums, it’s history, it’s galleries and showcases, it’s theatrical and musically, and most importantly, in my opinion at least, it’s a freedom of creativity that you cannot find anywhere else but within art. And, that is something I felt with this assignment; now, when I am teaching a lesson, that had specific directions, guidelines and expectations, when I can see that one student or even multiple students getting to that point where they are frustrated, burnt out, or drained on a particular assignment, I tell them to just let go and go for it. I tell them to stop overthinking the art piece itself and to especially not think of the grading aspect of it, and to simply go for it and see where the art piece will end up taking them. I’ve found myself doing this especially during my student teaching experience at Havre High School, and I’ve noticed that after telling these select students who have shown these different emotions, that when they do actually let go and just go for it, the results are beautiful, you see them enjoying their art work and the overall assignment again, and that to me shows success as a teacher.

            All too often is it seen that art class tends to be stressful if you are a student who doesn’t considered themselves to be a so called “artist”, and I want to try my best to make sure that my students do not feel that they won’t be successful in my future classroom because of that fact, I want my students to feel that they actually can be successful with their artwork regardless of the level of their ability and I want them to feel excited to come to my class, not dread it, because that is how a felt after I ended up completing the still life I described at the beginning of this reflection, because that’s what makes it my best academic piece, the fact that I found my escape again and basically fell back in love with art that day, I broke down the barriers I had put on myself at that point, and I’m continuing to do so not only as an artist but as an educator as well.