The Influence of the Arts On My Life
By Elizabeth Overtoom
Art has been an
essential part of my entire life experience. As I have matured, I
have progressed from basic stick figures to more complex drawings
that come with increasing skill. When I am listening to a sermon or a
lecture for school, I often doodle to help me focus. I also use
drawing to pass the time as I listen to audiobooks or music. I find
those outside factors influence the way I draw and my artistic
abilities. When I am having trouble thinking of an answer to a
question, drawing helps me focus on the solution I am searching for.
I have always loved to draw, and I would not be the person I am today
without art.
From the time I
was five, I have had four different art teachers. My first art
teacher, Teri Rueckert, taught me pottery and introduced me to mixed
mediums, such as using vibrant colors from chalk and the graceful
beauty of oil pastels to create a work of art. Ms. Rueckert made her
lessons entertaining and instructive, and set the cornerstone for my
love of the arts. Russell Taylor taught me oil painting. He made the
lessons amusing. Many of my lessons ended with us getting covered
paint, mostly from projects that involved me splattering paint on
cardboard. He showed me the power of the random, and also showed how
to not follow the picture I was painting down to the exact detail,
but instead put in the elements I thought would fit with the overall
tone of the picture. Carol Brown, is currently teaching me watercolor
painting. One of the special talents she includes in her instruction
is incorporating lessons about the masters into her teaching. My
other current art teacher, Sherri Redman, is teaching me how to
sketch.
These early
experiences brought together a love and passion in storytelling. I
see fundamentals of art and language in movies and literature.
Through my lessons, I have come to notice the artistic details and
elements in movies. I am fascinated with the processes of coming up
with how elements in the story should look, and with the artwork
displayed in the finished films. It has inspired me to pursue a
career in the line of cinematic arts.
I
have researched cinematic arts through watching and reading about the
artists who think up the marvelous movie sets and the look of the
characters for films such as The
Lord of the Rings and
The Hobbit.
I am mainly interested in Alan Lee and John Howe, who are both famous
book illustrators, and movie conceptual designers. They are well
known for their artistic interpretations of J. R. R. Tolkien's works.
I love learning about their techniques and how they thought up the
ideas for their beautiful paintings and sketches. I also enjoy
reading up on how the ideas for the CGI scenes and how the movie sets
were designed, as well as seeing the different ideas for the
characters' appearance. I am fascinated with the processes and the
artwork displayed in their work.
I believe art has
helped me progress as a scholar. Knowing and understanding art has
trained me to explore history and literature in detail, just like, as
an artist, I need to see the specific parts of an object to draw it
properly. For example, while studying the middle ages, I could
appreciate the affect on the Eastern European culture and had a
better appreciation for the architectural intricacies found in some
of the early orthodox churches. Art has improved my ability to focus
and taught me to persevere. I have become more disciplined as I have
repeatedly practiced techniques. I see the parallel of this kind of
exercise transitioning into my studies: I need to repeat a math
concept to understand it completely. Therefore, art has helped me
progress as a scholar.
As a
natural compliment to visual art, storytelling- especially creative
writing- is my new present interest. I love reading, and over the
past school year I have been studying a more in-depth view of the
classics, such as John Milton's Paradise
Lost
and Jane Austen's Sense
and Sensibility.
I enjoy learning abut the different literary techniques and how
authors use them to create their masterpieces. Someday I hope to be
one of those authors.
I am excited to go to the New School for the Arts and Academics for a
multitude of reasons. First and foremost, I wish to advance my
artistic talents further, by being taught by some excellent artists,
as well as learning more and different methods of art. Coming from a
home schooled environment, I loved the look of the hands-on classes.
They are unlike anything I have experienced before. I believe coming
to this school will be beneficial artistically and academically,
giving me a strong foundation for my career. The New School for the
Arts and Academics will challenge me, and I recognize it will require
more concentration and dedication than a normal public school offers.
It will push me to work harder for good grades. As a home schooled
student, I am in my house for most of the day. I only interact with
the people in the co-ops I attend and in my extracurricular
activities. Overall, I believe going to this school will be a
wonderful event in my life, and will help me when I graduate and go
to college. It will also allow me to meet new people, make new
friends, and generally have new experiences and opportunities I would
not have otherwise experienced.
