FREDDY WOLFE
Arts Scholar
SEMESTER 1
We are certainly living in extraordinary times, and this first semester of college has certainly reflected it. My visions of what college would be like were certainly inconsistent with my experience. The COVID pandemic has thrown everyone for a loop and the response from the university has been as good as to be asked for. Living at home this semester, I completed all of my classes online. This changed how all of my courses were taught and changed how learned. My synchronous classes tended to be the most effective, while the asynchronous classes didn’t really seem to present much value to me. It was a challenging semester in many aspects
However, my first semester as an Art Scholar was very rewarding in various ways. I didn’t really know what to expect when I decided to join the Arts Scholars program. I was surprised mostly by the work that we were doing. The podcast project was a really interesting foray into the really creative aspects of the program, where we would be creating work of our own. It was a group assignment where we were tasked with creating a podcast about art’s power as a tool for change. This was the most involved assignment that we did in CPSA100, but it was also the most rewarding. Working hard with my group to create a final product that we could be proud of was a really great experience and I hope that we will continue doing such rewarding work in the future. I also did not expect the multitude of opportunities that would be presented to us. I think that I may have not taken advantage of everything that I could have, but that probably has to do with the overwhelming nature of a first semester of college, even if I was staying at home.
I experienced many connections from the Scholars coursework to the coursework from many of my other classes. One of the most impactful connections that I noticed was between my Journalism History class and my Arts Scholars work. As a classically trained fine arts photographer with ambitions to move into journalistic work, these classes were two sides of a coin. Photography has this duality as a mode of artistic expression and as a method of documentation. I was able to really explore this duality in these two classes. This theme was also present in my Scholars Academic Writing class, where I explored this idea further in my essays.
Next semester I will be on campus, where I hope that my vision of college will be more aligned with my experience. I will also be taking my first “Arts Supporting Course” in the form of a lab about the perception of light and photography, which will be a deeper dive into the strong focus on photography that I have created for myself. Along with the photography lab, I will be taking a photojournalism class for my major and hopefully I will be taking the “photojournalism workshop” for my CPSA101 workshop. As I am preparing to continue as an Arts Scholar I’m looking forward to the future.
SEMESTER 2
Though the first year of college is generally a very new experience, It goes without saying that this year was a standout year in particular. We’ve had to adjust to forging relationships with people that we have never met in person. We’ve had to learn to communicate in a way that we never have before.
I spent my first semester at home, so any prospect of in-person relationships with any of my peers was out the door immediately. I spent most of my first semester spending time with my friends from high school, who were also home. Where I started making meaningful connections with UMD students was through group projects. Being in a large zoom with 30 to 100 other students in it wasn’t really an environment that fostered many conversations, as everyone just had their cameras and microphones off. Even in classes where teachers asked us to turn our cameras on, it was always just an awkward affair. However, once we were placed in smaller groups, it became much easier to converse.
The podcast project in CPSA100 was a good example of this. My group and I ended up having a pretty good time putting together our podcast, and it felt like the first time I had really talked to anyone new that semester. I had a few other group projects that semester and even ended up living with one of my group members when we both came on campus in the second semester.
Once I got on campus after winter break I was pretty ready to get out there and meet new people. It was pretty slow at first, but after a few weeks, I had a group of friends that weren’t just names on a screen.
I’ve talked to some students who were at the University pre-COVID and they described how different the social scene was back then. You would meet people in lecture halls, at the library, or out on the town on the weekends. It seemed like you’d generally have a larger circle. This year was interesting in the fact that your social circle naturally ended up being pretty small just by circumstance. The libraries were closed, every class was online, and you had to sit with a predetermined group of six people every time you wanted to go out to a bar or restaurant. By design, it was hard to meet people.
Thinking more about the “artistic,” side of the Arts Scholars community, it was something that was very familiar to me. My high school, Baltimore School for the Arts, was very similar to the environment in Arts Scholars. A very heavy emphasis on a community of like-minded people, who all create in some way or another. I think that I saw Arts Scholars as more of a creative community than a social community, as most of my friends that I made ended up being spread in different programs around the university.
Arts Scholars was really at its most valuable when it reminded me to continue to stay engaged in a creative way. Sometimes I can get so caught up in the humdrum of life as a college student that I’ll just forget to nurture my creative side. But having a constant reminder of creativity in my schedule was a really valuable thing that helped me continue to create, even when it wasn’t for anything.
The most important part in my eyes was the pentathlon. Even though I would sometimes slack and forget to do it, it is a really great part of the curriculum. Actively seeking out a cool artist panel or a movie or a creative event helped me to continue to learn more about art on my own terms. I was able to pursue things that I was interested in and learn about things that I could choose.
One of the most rewarding experiences that I had doing pentathlon was attending “Photography and Beyond in the Kamoinge Workshop,” a panel of photographers that all talked about their processes. It was a really great experience that I probably would not have had if I wasn’t seeking out pentathlon events.
Overall, Arts Scholars has been a great community and I am very optimistic about next year, especially with a hopeful return to normalcy.
SEMESTER 3
Art can reshape or recontextualize an understanding of our learned history, biases, and beliefs through its ability to show a new perspective. People only really know about things through their own perspective, and if you show them your perspective through creative expression, you can shape their perspective on a topic. One example of this would be the communal drumming class that we had. I went into it not really knowing anything about the West African style of drumming, but I left knowing a lot more about it and knowing the significance and affect it can have on people through their creative expression and them sharing their passion for it with us.
When initiating the creative process, we learned about a model that gave us four steps. The first being preparation, where you take in ideas and inspiration through research and observation. The second is incubation, where you let all of these ideas that you have taken in simmer and allow yourself not to actively focus on the creative project. Then there’s illumination, where you have that ‘Eureka!’ moment and everything becomes clear. Verification is when you build on your moment of illumination and bring that idea to fruition. This model was extremely useful when creating my capstone project proposal. The most important of these principles to stay mindful of when I was creating my capstone proposal this semester was “incubation.” Remembering to take a step back to let my ideas simmer for a little bit was a really helpful tool that I didn’t really know to do before we learned about it this semester. I would usually just procrastinate things because I had this idea in my head that “once I started it, I had to finish it.” I definitely still fall into this trap but being aware of it and trying to stay mindful of it has helped.
We also learned about the “Critical Response Process” as a way to give feedback and critique our peers’ work. It gave us a blueprint for discourse around each other’s work. It allowed for a constructive conversation and really helped the process of critique. It gives each party enough time to speak their minds and gave guidelines of what to say to make sure that any suggestions remained productive and constructive.
One news-related item about art that captured my attention over the past few months was the rise of “NFTs.” There’s been a huge rise of these pieces of art that are digital, but have a tag attached to them that gives them value. I think that my engagement in arts scholars allowed me to have a more open mind about these. Most people just view these as a joke but knowing how difficult it can be for artists to have any ownership of digital work it makes sense that they would want something signifying that it is “the original.” This makes a system of buying and selling digital art that is much more similar to the art market of physical art.
One of the courses that really had a lot of connections to what I was learning in Arts Scholars was ARTH 261. In that class we were learning about “Monuments, Monumentality, and the Art of Memorial.” One of the principles that was very stressed was ‘close looking,’ where you really took time to look at and analyze pieces of art. In Arts Scholars, we also spent a lot of time analyzing outside works and talking about them. I think the skills learned were very parallel for each class and showed different applications of close observation and careful analysis.
I think that my learning definitely was improved by interacting with my peers. When in colloquium, being able to work together and learn some of the ways that other arts scholars did things was valuable. When we would go on different excursions, being able to work together with my peers was a great resource that also made me feel more engaged and invested in the content we were learning.
One way that I felt as though I had contributed was through the feedback sessions for students’ workshops. I felt that I was able to give feedback that would really help my classmates create their workshops even though I wouldn’t be taking any. This was a good way that was organized into the program for us to be able to contribute to the program.
Being in Scholars has brought me in contact with a lot of things that have challenged my previous beliefs and opinions. One example of this would be our semester project of our capstone proposals. Really planning things out is something that I always struggled with and didn’t really think was for me. I’ve always been more of a go with the flow person that likes to let my inspiration find me. Having to plan out an entire project without even really starting it was new. It was rewarding to try to do things a new way, however. Even though I still believe that a more fluid way of working is better for me, I probably would’ve never tried to do it a different way if I hadn’t gone through the planning necessary for this capstone project.
SEMESTER 4
Looking back through my ePortfolio, I see a lot of growth in the way that I am able to talk about art. Doing the pentathlon assignments really forced me to improve at verbalizing my thoughts about art. The only art I ever really had to talk about was visual art - but having to complete all of the different categories made the types of art that I was talking about much more expansive. Having to learn how to think critically and give my thoughts about dance for example, was something that I had to learn how to do.
I had never really gotten familiar with the professional process that went into creating art. I had always just made art for the purpose of making art. Coming into my Capstone project, I had never really gone through such a rigorous creative project proposal and justification process.
I was also introduced to a lot of styles of art that I had no clue even existed. Last year, I went on a “field trip” where we talked to a “vogue dancer” named Marquis Clanton. He is a competitive vogue dancer. I had no experience with this before and if I wasn’t in arts scholars I probably would’ve never been introduced to it. I could say the same about countless of the guests that were brought in to speak to us. So it was really cool expanding my knowledge and understanding about different art disciplines.
My capstone project definitely drew on a lot that I had learned during my time in arts scholars. I took a physics of light and lenses class as well as a photojournalism class as some of my supporting courses, and those classes really prepared me for the photography that I would do for my capstone. The photojournalism class especially really helped me to develop my skills in photography and creating “photoessays.”
I took the “Commedia Del Arte” workshop this past semester. It was something that was really out of my comfort zone as I had little experience with improvisation or movement based performance. I think being forced to try something new and really stick with it was a great experience for expanding my experience with art.
Looking back on my experiences in Arts Scholars demonstrated an ability to collaborate effectively with those holding diverse artistic perspectives, interests, and abilities was in my CPSA 250 arts research practicum class. The class was filled with many different students all working on completely different projects. We would work together to critique and help eachother develop our projects. During peer reviews of our exhibition statements, I was able to collaborate with my peers and give and receive feedback on my capstone project.
My experience in scholars was very rewarding. Being introduced to so many different perspectives and disciplines was a rewarding experience. Seeing perspectives that are likeminded in a broad sense, but very diverse as well is an experience that will help me navigate through the rest of my time in College Park as well as the professional world.
​
​
