ePortfolio Reflection

My ePortfolio overall displays my growing comfort with graphically designing web pages and with writing about myself. My capstone is a great example of my increased ability to present ideas through a mixture of written and artistic communication. I think that my capstone is significantly more aesthetically pleasing than my ePortfolio and overall I was able to convey more specific and meaningful information via the written portions. Overall, my capstone showcases the growth I made throughout this semester. 
Several of my pentathlon experiences heavily influenced the way I perceive and interact with art. During a Writers Here & Now event with the Writers’ House, Elissa Washuta showcased how she uses her art to process her experiences with abuse, addiction, PTSD, and generational trauma, express her emotions, and educate about colonization. Arts scholar Katie Rees’ “Art Behind Bars” presentation also showcased art in a very specific context. The art in the presentation is used to communicate non-universal experiences, to process trauma and emotions, to seek social justice, and to educate. Through both of these pentathlon events, I was influenced to view art not solely as an aesthetic expression or medium for storytelling, but also as a powerful act that can cause change. My first pentathlon, which was in the category of my own performance, and Hysterics stand up comedy show challenged my perception of performance art. Before this event, I saw theater as something I could appreciate but not participate in; after this performance I realized I should not restrict myself from any mediums regardless of experience. 
My capstone drew upon the theme from Arts Scholars that was the most meaningful to my life and art. Art as social change has been touched on by countless guests and events in Scholars Arts, so that was my focus: researching how art was used to enact social change in a specific context. For my project, I specifically looked at how graphic design was used throughout queer history to fight for LGBT+ rights. It shows how you can connect to history and people through art, similarly to Rees’ “Art Behind  Bars” capstone presentation. Throughout my capstone project, I also found myself drawing upon specific creative and research processes taught in class. In class, I learned how to manage my time by setting aside chunks of time each week to work on my capstone. I also learned how to motivate myself by listing my To Do list in order of priority. Creatively, I learned how to hone my creativity through iterations and feedback.  
Through Arts Scholars I was able to, either directly or indirectly, pick up a variety of new mediums. Through semester-long workshops, I was able to learn the foundations of both wire sculpting and music mixing, two very different mediums. The wire sculpting workshop also inspired me to pick up more traditional clay sculpting. Arts Scholars also inspired me to pick up needlework after I viewed final projects from several different workshops that I was not a part of that focused on sewing and embroidery. Finally, In class activities helped me discover a passion for curation and deepened my love of writing. 
I feel that our full class colloquium activities demonstrated an ability between everyone to collaborate effectively with those holding diverse perspectives, partly because the Arts Scholar community is a diverse one. In the larger class setting, we would often collaborate in smaller groups before sharing to the full class. Those more intimate projects between a smaller group showcased that ability since we would combine, elevate, and compromise on creative ideas throughout our work. We also had full class discussions where we would bounce off of or add on to each other’s ideas, showing an example of diverse collaboration in a larger setting.  
I want to do art professionally, and I feel Arts Scholars helped me look at art in a more academic and professional nature. I also feel it helped me learn how to engage with art in a deeper manner, finding more meaning within art. Finally, Arts Scholars inspired me to use art for social change which I plan to never stop doing.