What I Became in Fine Arts 110 by Victoria

What I Became in Fine Arts 110 by Victoria - August 2016 Scholarship Essay

It started with smears of blue and purple. My tiny, uncalloused hands reaching every cold tile in my parents’ kitchen. The floor was my canvas and my doughy fingers my brushes. I was an artist before I could even spell out the word. This was how I expressed myself, though over the years it became more refined. Instead of using parts of my home, I used sketchbooks and art kits received on holidays. I joined clubs and classes and though I was shy, I belonged.
I found that art class was something I could actually excel at when bombarded with a course load of advanced classes. Art wasn’t competitive in the world of GPAs. Once I got to high school, I was scared and intimidated by the world around me. My advanced biology class, chapters of Dickens, and endless pages of parabolas filled me with trepidation. It didn’t help that my fear of failure actually led me to believe that there was no way to achieve greatness. But at the end of the day, in Fine Arts 110, I found a reason to put all those doubts to rest. Even though my day put me on edge, it was hard not to feel at ease molding red clay in between my palms.
After my freshman year, I realized what was going to get me through high school. Over the semesters, each time I saw something was achievable in art class, I saw that my problems in other parts of life were manageable too. A biology textbook became someone’s masterpiece, Dickens’ became a work of genius, and math became just another way to view the world, much like different art styles interpret the world. Art class didn’t just ameliorate my stress, it gave me another way to view my problems.
Art was therapeutic, however as my classes became more advanced, it came with its own stress too. Instead of panicking though, I found I way to make life easier on myself and still enjoy what I loved to do. I got involved and by senior year I was art society president. It turned out that this decision to get involved not only put positive stress on me to interact and make people feel the same sense of belonging, it made me into a role model. As president I had to turn projects in on time and keep pushing my limits of skill.
In no way am I a perfect artist, nor have I rid all of my troubles through sheer creativity, but during high school I found that art class gave me the power I lacked elsewhere. I found the power to achieve, to lead and support other, to try, and to view the world with zest.