Text from a personal statement for a methodology course

I have always been able to draw. Even when I was very young, I was aware that the ability to draw was a gift. I was part of a talented minority. I was fortunate to have an art teacher as a grandmother, so I was never discouraged from pursuing art as a career, as sadly many in our society are. In what capacity, I was never quite sure, but I knew that I would use art to make a living.

Upon entering college, I somehow assumed that since I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do that I would major in “undecided.” The next year I declared graphic design; supposedly you can make money doing that. During the course of my studies, I began enjoying art for itself. So many different types of art; I liked some, disliked others, but knew that for me, I would not be happy making art for someone else, which I would undoubtedly be doing as a graphic artist.

It wasn’t until my introduction to watercolor and sculpture that I began to mature as an artist. Watercolor provided me with a medium that was spontaneous and expressive, liberating me from a lifetime of an obsessive-compulsive style of drawing and a complete hatred for oil painting. I had finally made the transition from drawing to painting, and enjoyed it.

But it was sculpture that opened my eyes and liberated my mind. I was introduced to artists I had never heard of before, most of which were still alive. I was introduced to art that I had never dreamed of: land art, conceptual art, video art, installation. This was art that was happening now, was happening ten, twenty, fifty or more years before I was born, and I had to come to college to hear about it. It was the artistic equivalent of learning about World War Two, Vietnam, The Cold War, and the Gulf War; Civil Rights, Women’s Liberation, Rock and Roll, etc. My first projects had to deal with concepts: light, movement, sound, environment. At this point, I became aware of a whole new side of art, the cognitive side. The idea that art is an idea. At this point, I decided I wanted to be an artist. Furthermore, I wanted to open others’ eyes in the same way that mine were opened. I wanted to be a professor.

As I just said, much of my primary influences are conceptual art, video art, sculpture (in the sense that it is an experimentation with materials), and the development of my sensitivity to the space around myself and art, realized through installation and the three dimensional nature of traditional sculpture. Don’t get me wrong; I love drawing and I love drawings, paintings, and any other art that involves the expressive gesture of the artist’s hand. However, these traditional forms, generally dependant on the natural talents of the artist, don’t give me the mental high that I get from other forms of conceptual art. The dialogue between the art and the viewer is not as pronounced, if for no other reason than because the viewer expects it.

This mental appreciation of art tends to make me the ultimate optimist. I think everyone is an artist, and I think everyone has the capacity to appreciate all forms of art. My mission in life is to convince everyone of that. Why? Because art is fun, every bit of it. But it can also make you think. It can piss you off. It can make you cry. It can also be dismissed, but not on my watch.

When an artist truly finds oneself, the art is a direct conduit to the artist’s mind. All of the training, the influences, the experience of life itself is channeled into an artwork. The artist is no longer trying to imitate life. The artist is now telling you what he or she thinks about life.

Art is about communication. The most natural means of communication is visual. To gesture to someone, to use body language, to draw an illustration of a thought, to present an idea in written language. Traditional visual art is natural, but it is not the only way. I want to get my idea across as a drawing, as a photograph, as a video projection, as a sound, as a smell, as a room. I hope to refine my understanding of art, and to challenge it. I want to use this opportunity to articulate myself within a group of peers. I want to change the way I look at art, and I want to change the way you look at art.