I am a numbers guy, I always have been. Throughout high school I’ve focused on taking math and science classes; those have always been what appealed to me. The prospect of getting two fine arts credits to graduate seemed like a chore to me.
Coming into my senior year, I still had one credit to satisfy. So with reluctance (and the threat of not graduating hanging over my head), I signed up for Art 1.
And I love it.
Now let me emphasize again, I am not the artistic type. Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll say I’ve never been able to draw a stick figure that looked right.
But now for 90 minutes every A-day I get to take a break from the monotony of other classes to simply relax and indulge my creative side a little bit.
Mrs. Cooper does a fantastic job of always making sure we have something to do so we are engaged, but not making us feel rushed with what we are doing. We are constantly learning new, yet simple, techniques that have allowed me to produce art I never thought I would be capable of.
Now, I am not promising that in half a semester of art you will go from a five-year-old scribbling with crayons to Van Gogh painting starry night. But if you put in even a ten percent effort and listen to half of what Mrs. Cooper has to say then you will improve.
So take art, and see what you can do. The better I get, the more fun the prospect of doing things seems to be.
If you’re like me and you don’t have any interest in pursuing art as a career in your life, Art 1 can still be useful. Everyone has to draw things at some point. Whether you’re making a blueprint as an engineer, a sketch as a biologist or are simply playing Pictionary, getting a little bit better at drawing is a useful skill.
This is a skill we should all take the opportunity to cultivate. Throughout the class so far we have been given a variety of tools that we get to keep. These tools range from a ruler and a color pencil set to several different types of pencils for sketching. This allows you to continue doing art not just in class, but beyond the class as well.
That is another thing that the class motivates you to do. It gives you the skills and the tools to do art on your own. I have found myself, the numbers guy, wanting to sketch things and draw on the weekends, something I never would have dreamed about before taking this class.
Even if you have already satisfied your requirements to graduate through things like band or choir, I still recommend that you take Art 1 before you leave Liberty.
It is a class that I have been able to enjoy not just for what we are doing, but for what we are not forced to do. There are no tests, no studying, no equations, no formulas, no dates and no long lectures about who did what in what century. You sit down, you do some art. Mrs. Cooper provides guidance and gives the assignments. You do get graded, but earning an A isn’t the focus of the class. The focus is on having a good time, engaging your creative side, and learning not only how to do some art, but to enjoy the art you are doing.