Pentathlon

Semester 1

As an experiential component of College Park Arts Scholars, I attended a selection of five art events during my first semester. These events ranged in art mediums and each sparked dialogue among my peers.

Pentathlon 1: NextNOW Fest

Event Logistics September 7, 2022, Studio A at Adele H. Stamp Student Union, Blacklight Painting Workshop

Pentathlon category #visualart

I attended this workshop in the hopes that I would be able to explore a form of art that I enjoy, but don’t often explore. As a self-critic when it comes to drawing or painting, I don’t usually seek painting as a form of enjoyment but I find I can relax when I manage to just enjoy the process and have fun. After arriving, I was slightly disappointed to find that we weren’t given complete creative freedom, as we were all attempting to paint the same example the instructor was demonstrating with. However, I realized I enjoyed the workshop the more I used my own discretion and added touches of my own. The self-critic emerged when I tried to replicate the example, and when I couldn’t get the right technique. I had more fun painting in the semi-dark (a first!) with my friends when I embraced my own creativity and was able to take the instructors’ constructive criticism.

This experience reminded me of the Arts Scholars discussions we’ve had during colloquium thus far. As Arts Scholars, we’ve been continuously encouraged to discuss the meaning of art and our own perceptions of art. Consistent throughout every discourse was the idea that art is subjective. This aligns with my own personal feelings about art, as I feel like anything that is a form of expression can be considered art, and there are no strict criteria. Remembering these discussions and their connection to my own values, makes me feel better about exploring mediums I don’t feel as confident in, such as the painting I did in the workshop. It serves as a reminder that I can be creative without limits, which is something I’m hoping Arts Scholars will help reinforce through events such as these.

Pentathlon 2: Terps After Dark

Event Logistics September 23, 2022, Hornbake Plaza, NPHC, All Nite-ish

Pentathlon category #dance

My friends and I came across this event on social media, and since we had nothing better to do on a Friday night, we went to enjoy the festivities. I had never been to an event such as this, had never experienced the art of stepping before. The enthusiasm of my friends was contagious, and so I was super excited to witness the different dance groups, as well as fraternities and sororities show off their skills. As anticipated, I ended up having a great time. One of my goals coming to UMD is to experience new cultures and their elements as I meet new people from all kinds of backgrounds. Going to this event helped partially fulfill this goal, and it was amazing to do so with the good friends I’ve made so far.

I find a connection between this event and what I’ve learned in colloquium so far, how many forms of art can be combined to make one beautiful piece. This event highlighted dance, music, and fashion, and I enjoyed seeing how each group brought them together. Something I’ve also learned as an Art Scholar is that there are no limits to art, and I will always find forms that I didn’t know about before. The art of stepping has opened up my mind to how people can use their bodies literally to make art. As a dancer, I’m quite accustomed to moving my body, but stepping creates sounds by quite literally hitting body parts together by clapping and body slapping. I hope to continue to open myself to different types of art like I did here.

Pentathlon 3: Pumpkin Function

Event Logistics October 20, 2022, Cambridge Community Center, Arts Advisory Board

Pentathlon category #presentation #ArtsScholars

For this pentathlon, I attended a Scholars sponsored event for the first time. In the spirit of Halloween, we spent the evening painting pumpkins, listening to music, and answering trivia related to the holiday. Halloween is by far one of my favorite holidays so I loved this opportunity to decorate my dorm room. We picked our pumpkins from a variety of different sizes and were offered many different paint colors and application tools such as brushes and sponges. I was a little disappointed at how fast the brushes and paint went, but it forced me to be more creative. For example, there was no black paint, so I decided to paint the base for my pumpkins and create the black with a sharpie instead. We were also slightly crunched for time, so I used a sponge to dot on the paint instead of a brush, for a thinner layer that would dry sooner.

Being an Art Scholar has encouraged me to challenge my existing perceptions of art. When I think of art, I certainly don’t think of pumpkins, much less painting them. I associate them typically with carving. Activities such as these help me open my mind to relate things I wouldn’t normally, with art. This also occurred to me during our time with Baye and Asa, as they helped us experience stretching as a form of art. Being constantly exposed to art has helped me consider my experiences differently. Instead of waiting to reflect on how my perception has changed, I actively seek ways I can relate the real world to art. I can only attribute this to my time so far as an Art Scholar.

Pentathlon 4: LeVar Burton Reads

Event Logistics November 5, 2022, my dorm

Pentathlon category #literature

I enjoyed doing something in the comfort of my own dorm for this pentathlon, especially as I was a little bit under the weather. I decided to listen to one of LeVar Burton’s short story narrations, titled “The Foster Portfolio.” When I was younger, my grandmother used to read stories out loud to me everyday after school, so doing this was a little bit nostalgic for me. The story itself was really intriguing, and prompted me to do some exploring of my own on topics mentioned that I didn’t really understand, so I could grasp the story more fully. I also thoroughly enjoyed the music in the background and the inflection Burton used. It made me more engaged and gave me clues to what I should be feeling if I was slightly confused. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the narration.

For this pentathlon, reflecting on my previous experiences, I chose something that I deliberately wouldn’t really have considered art before. I wouldn’t have associated literature or books with art. However, the combination of mediums in this particular narration was refreshing. I also find that I would’ve been more likely to consider “storytelling” a form of art than the phrases I mentioned above. This realization reminded me of the most recent colloquium discussion, in which my group discussed how art can be a mirror to one’s self. Our own individual experiences and perceptions are crucial in how we perceive art, and I didn’t realize how different even my own could be. Usually we discuss how different people have different perceptions, but the change of a word, and my own perception of this event changed.

Pentathlon 5: Craft & Chat

Event Logistics November 10, 2022, Bel Air Lounge

Pentathlon category #visualart #ArtsScholars

For the last pentathlon, I attended another Arts Scholars event, a Craft & Chat. I was excited because I could get together with my fellow Arts Scholars again and create art in a casual environment. We embroidered pieces of old t-shirts for this particular one. Jenna was super helpful in teaching us how to get started; we traced our design with markers, put the cloth in an embroidery circle, and went from there. After some trouble getting the hang of the technique, I realized I actually had some previous experience. When I was younger, I used to sew a lot with my grandmother, and cross-stitching, at least in my mind, is slightly similar to embroidering.

Being the last pentathlon, this event has made me reflect on all of the new skills and arts mediums I’ve either been introduced to or been encouraged to use more often. Embroidery in general, has made me consider getting back into stitching since it was an integral part of my childhood, and I used to love doing it with my grandmother. I’m super glad for each and every pentathlon, as it has opened my mind to what I consider art, and has influenced me to try to perceive art in everyday things. This event in particular has made me realize how important I find community to be in creativity. Personally, it is easy for me to have an artist block or feel uncreative, but being with others like I was at the Craft & Chat gives me inspiration and makes me feel less self-conscious about the art I’m creating.

Pentathlon

Semester 2

As an experiential component of College Park Arts Scholars, I attended a selection of five art events during my second semester. These events ranged in art mediums and each sparked dialogue among my peers.

Pentathlon 1: Valentine's Day Card-Making

Event Logistics February 9, 2023, Bel Air Lounge, RA Mark

Pentathlon category #visualart

I attended a Valentine’s Day card making workshop with a few of my other Arts Scholars friends for my first pentathlon event of the second semester. The event was hosted by one of Bel Air’s RAs and took place in the lounge, which created a fun and comfortable atmosphere. We were provided with different colored and patterned paper, as well as colored pencils, markers, scissors, and glue. When I first sat down to make my card, I had absolutely no ideas as to how I wanted to make my card. I looked on Pinterest for inspiration, although I slightly felt like I was cheating on my creative process, so I decided to compromise and utilize the cards I saw only as inspiration. I also drew inspiration from the cards I used to hand make for my mom when I was little.

Being that this was my first pentathlon event in a couple months, it was easy to connect the contents to what I had previously learned in colloquium. I remember when I was creating my final project for the final exhibition of last semester, that a lot of the artworks I researched took inspiration from the art period or from other artists. To me, it felt like I wasn’t appreciating the creative process when I took inspiration from others for my card, but I realized that it has occurred since the beginning of time. I think that this craft also already relates to Art Scholars this semester due to the fact that I am in the art therapy workshop. I know that we will be partaking in many forms of art, some similar to the crafty nature of the card-making and reflecting how they make us feel.

Pentathlon 2: Concert

Event Logistics February 27, 2023, Capital One Arena

Pentathlon category #music

In late February, I attended the SZA concert here in Washington, DC. SZA is, and has been for a while, one of my favorite artists, so I was super excited to go. The day of the concert, I had two exams to take as well as a lab to go to, so it felt like a much needed reward. Since I was only able to get two tickets, and I couldn’t choose which friend to take, I decided to take my mom with me. I was excited to see how my mom’s experience was different than mine, since she had never really listened to SZA before.

I haven’t utilized the #music category for a pentathlon yet, so this one in particular allowed me to analyze my perception of art in a different way. Something I’ve seen in many of the field trips I’ve attended as a Scholar is that they utilize many different forms of art together to create a visual and auditory experience for the viewer. I found that this was the same for the concert. SZA herself had many costume changes, each corresponding to the current set or songs she was singing. Not to mention, the giant screens projected her and other visuals during her songs. Lastly, of course, was the music itself. As the consumer, I went expecting to hear her music, but all of the other forms of art present (fashion, visuals, etc) really enhanced the experience and made it unforgettable.

Pentathlon 3: Studio A Ceramics Workshop

Event Logistics March 4, 2023, Studio A, TA Jenny

Pentathlon category #visualart #presentation #ArtsScholars

I attended an event sponsored by one of our TAs Jenny for my third pentathlon. I was super excited for this one in particular because it took place at Studio A, which I’ve been to a handful of times for other Scholars events and thoroughly enjoyed my time at them. I was also thrilled at the prospect of working with clay since I haven’t worked with a medium like that since elementary school art classes. This was also an event that I was able to enjoy with a few of my friends, so it kind of felt like a bonding experience. Working with the clay was definitely a challenge creatively for me personally. I restarted my pieces many times and never really made something I was very satisfied with. I eventually made three smaller pieces, which seemed to work better for me.

This pentathlon event is more directly related to the work in my Art Therapy workshop this semester. One of the mediums we worked with recently was Model Magic, which is somewhat like clay. I think the reason I had less of a creative block during the workshop was because we were working on a smaller scale and had multiple colors to use that blended super easily then and there. Having a creative block during this pentathlon made me realize, although we’ve never really discussed it, how important it is to acknowledge creative blocks and try to move past them. They happen to everyone, and there's no reason to beat yourself up about it. You can’t force creativity. Regardless, it relates to my workshop’s lesson that art can be a means for release. Even though I didn’t create a masterpiece, it was enjoyable in the moment and I was able to work through some of my stress.

Pentathlon 4: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Event Logistics April 7, 2023, my dorm

Pentathlon category #film

For this pentathlon, I decided to cozy up in my dorm on a lazy Friday. I watched Wes Anderson’s 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel. I wouldn’t consider myself an avid movie watcher, but I can admit that I always enjoy watching Wes Anderson’s films. The Grand Budapest Hotel details the story of a mysterious man, the owner of the Grand Budapest, which he tells to one of the main characters, Zero. The film plays out from there, leading us on an exciting murder mystery surrounding a valuable piece of art. I thoroughly enjoyed the film, and looked forward to finding all of the typical characteristics of Wes Anderson’s films like the symmetry and balanced compositions.

Watching this film reminded me of one of the big ideas I learned from colloquium last semester, that we should try to reinvent art in our minds. Art is subjective and personally defined, and can therefore be found in anything you try to find it in. Normally I wouldn’t have considered movies art, especially more modern ones that I would think of (very action-packed, CGI filled type movies), but the art lies in the preparation. Unlike last semester, however, now that I’ve added an Art History minor, I can compare The Grand Budapest Hotel to works of art I’ve studied so far as part of this minor. I can see the same compositional balance, tonal colors, and symmetry. In both my art history courses and Art Scholars colloquium, I’ve learned that the majority of art we view has been inspired by art or artists of the past, and I can definitely see this when I make comparisons like those above.

Pentathlon 5: Across, Not Over

Event Logistics April 19, 2023, Quantum Cafe in the Atlantic Building

Pentathlon category #dance

I decided to do something casual once again for my last pentathlon, so I watched a dance performance via UMD’s dance streaming service to take a break from my homework. I didn’t need to browse very much before a video caught my eye. It appeared to be a more contemporary style dance at first glance, called Across, Not Over. I have been dancing since I was about five years old, pretty much strictly ballet, so I try to immerse myself in and explore other forms of dance that I don’t have practice. Therefore, I figured I could take the opportunity to do so with this assignment.

The recording of the dance performance starts with a bit of context for the viewer. It highlights the form of dance, called Kathak, which is one of the eight major forms of Indian classical dance. The ultimate goal of this form of dance is to present the dancing body as an image of itself and to challenge preconceived notions about dance. I found the angles of the camera very interesting, because they showed other people in the background and parts of the scene that wouldn’t normally be shown. I feel like this helped emphasize the importance of the dance itself, because the other elements were very informal. This was also emphasized by the lack of props or grandeur. The only “prop” used to aid the dance was the performer's own shoes. I feel like this really connects to what I’ve learned in colloquium, that I have learned to be open when it comes to art in all of its forms.