Graduate Kylea迈尔斯 discusses art and how it connects us all as human beings
作者:玛丽莎·卡尼
Kylea迈尔斯 is a May 2017 graduate of the Visual 艺术 Studies program at 十大网投平台信誉排行榜阿尔图纳分校. The Bedford County native takes a moment to reflect on her love of art and her time here at the college.
我从3岁开始画画. My mom said I always had a pencil in my hand. I used to draw these really awful heart people and then make up stories about them. 在高中时, 我总是在美术室, drawing or playing around with the clay or whatever I could get my hands on.
When it was time to apply for colleges and decide what to study, 我选择了艺术, 尽管我父母反对. But I figured that ultimately, I was the one paying for my education. 艺术一直是我的一部分, 我在做什么, 和我要去的地方, so I decided to pursue a major that would make me happy. I came to 十大网投平台信誉排行榜阿尔图纳分校 because I liked its size. I come from a really small town and a bigger campus would have been too much for me. I loved the small class sizes and the one-on-one attention you get from faculty here.
The professors and instructors in the Visual 艺术s Studies push you in the right direction. They encourage you to try every material and medium and help you find what you like best and excel at. They want you to get a basic fundamental experience, 他们会指引你, but they want to 看到 what you can come up with on your own. They let you wiggle and grow, and that really helps you to emerge and become an artist.
VAST是一个很棒的程序. At first the main medium is drawing, because any artist needs a good foundation in that. So I took a perspective class, then a form class. The curriculum the first two years gives you the tools you need and instructs you on how to use them. In the last two years, you are able to focus on what you are most interested in.
For me, that’s a lot of different things. 我喜欢尝试一切. 我喜欢画画，我喜欢绘画, but my favorite thing is to mix media together because I feel that I get a better outcome that way. I don’t want to just be a painter or a drawer. I don’t want to constrict myself in that way. Mixing media lets me be a lot more wild and free. I love creating and 看到ing what comes out of me and how people respond to it. 艺术真的可以把人们联系在一起. 它开启了对话. Even if someone doesn’t like something I’ve done, that’s okay, too. At least they have a feeling about it, and that leads to breaking down barriers we have all built.
In fact, that was the theme of my senior exhibition, “环球债券.” I had the idea of using thread to make images and create pieces. My work approached the concept of shared experiences. Every image I made for the exhibition related how each human being shares specific memories or traits. People often focus so much on their differences that they fail to 看到 similarities. Each work highlighted a specific aspect that everyone shares, 虽然我们可能感觉不到, 看到, 用同样的方式表达自己. I like to think my works enabled viewers to empathize and appreciate the connections we share as humans through visual and physical interaction. Overall, this body of work was intended to break down those barriers. We are all connected through our experiences of the world, 我们的起源, 或者我们彼此之间的互动.
It was quite interesting to have my own show. I spent the fall semester of my senior year creating all of the art, 然后到了春天, I did all of the work to set up the actual show from meeting with the gallery manager to hanging the pieces. It was good to learn the ins and outs of presenting a show. I was pretty nervous about it, but I really enjoyed it and it gave me a great experience.
I’m proud of my time here at 十大网投平台信誉排行榜阿尔图纳分校 and all that I have accomplished. There were a lot of obstacles for me to get to graduation, and there were a lot of times I didn’t think I was going to make it, 但我坚持了下来. Even when people didn’t think I would do well or that I could succeed with art, 我说, ‘no, 我要这么做, 看我.“所以我就来了. 我做到了.
