Wk 13 — Essay 2 — Art!

In the beginning of the semester when we first attended this class, I had the idea that art is something specific that is typically displayed in art museums. After 13 weeks in this class I quickly learned from Prof. Zucman and my classmates that art is anything you want it to be. One example that stood out to me was when one of my classmates said that “Art can be found on an empty bookshelf”. The reason he stated that was because he said that you can imagine all the types of things that can be on the bookshelf, one can say that books are going to be on the shelf while others can say that they imagine there being plants and other items on the shelf. To get to my point art is what you imagine it to be. For example, one can see a painting and see something and someone else can see the same painting just to see something completely different from you. Initially I believe art had to be something that you could physically hold and see and that is not correct. Everyone has their own way of thinking about art and one cannot change how you view certain pieces of art.

I believe that my idea of Art has changed drastically not only by what my classmates and professor has told me but also by the activities that we have done in class. For example, I remember doing an activity where we made Zines and I was able to see that we all have an artist inside of us. I believe this activity was the one that opened my eyes in the way I see art. The reason I say this is because when I was seeing my classmates present their Zines many of them were creative in the way they displayed their zines. I still remember seeing one which started with a black heart and as you went through the pages the heart turned red and got bigger to the point where it breaks. I found this piece interesting and changed how I look at art because the person who made it told us that you can see it as the heart breaking or you can start from the end and see the heart recovering which impressed me.

Now that we are at the end of the semester, I believe that art is anything and everything you need or want it to be. As once said by Professor Zucman, “sometimes you have to imagine the art even if it is not physically there”. Also, that art does require talent but anyone of us can create I saw that all my classmates have the potential to do different types of art. I believe that by having different assignments every week it has allowed me to step out my comfort zone and appreciate different pieces of art.

My major is Criminal Justice and I am currently on my last semester. Before attending our first lecture I believed that art had nothing to do with my major, but I was quickly shown that even in my major we need art. Art in my major is used for sketching a suspect or even sketching out a crime scene. Art can be used in many different ways that I never thought of in the Criminal Justice field. I quickly realized that art can also be used to figure out the structure of a building I noticed that when we did the assignment in which we needed to recreate the California State University, Long Beach campus we needed to know where everything was located similar to when officers need to go into a home they make sure to know at least how the home is structured from the inside to be able to successful in there procedure. My goals after receiving my diploma is to quickly get involved into my field which is why I am currently applying to different agencies. For example, I am currently doing a background investigation with CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) so it is a waiting while I hear back from them, I am happy to know that at some degree art will be used in my field.

I believe that art will be able to enrich my life by allowing me to do art in my down time. I believe that this will enrich my life because pushes my attention from my field into something that can be done for fun and to relieve stress. It is important to do things that do not stress you out and allows you to open your mind. It is healthy for your brain to be involved in activities that they are usually not involved in. I believe that if an individual does not have something that takes them away from everyday life that can drive someone insane. Art matter a great deal! The reason I say this is because if art did not matter, we would live in world that would seem like a dictatorship. Everything around the would be the same the building designs, cars, and even the clothes that we have on. Thanks to art we have a variety of clothes to wear and when we step out into the city, we see differently structured buildings. Art is what add color to our everyday lives, like I previously stated we would go insane if everywhere we turned, we saw the same things.

Going back to what I previously stated I do not agree with it completely because I believe art should be open to every nation not just the greats. We all have heard the stories of those individuals who started with nothing and later in life became successful in life. That is what we should with art we should at those nations who do not have as much resources like we do because we never know we might find better art then the ones we are exposed to. I believe that this art class had a positive effect on me, and it has taught me that sometimes I have to experiment with things who knows if I might like it or not. Art is what add excitement into our everyday lives.