My Art Term Paper was My Art Project
My Art Term Paper was My Art Project
It is no secret that I do not have an artistic bone in my body. When I was in college I had to sculpt and present a piece of abstract art for a general requirement class. It was so difficult. I had a very fun and exotic art teacher, Ms Genie, who thought that anything and everything was art. I was so frustrated with her. I could not get her to be more specific. Every time I asked her what exactly she wanted she would just say “anything you do will be perfect.” Many ideas were roaming around in my head. I could create a flower arrangement. That sounded expensive. I could make a really good dessert but I was a disaster in the kitchen. I could even take some really cool black and white photographs but I was out of film. I decided this class just wasn’t for me and I walked straight into Ms. Genie’s office and gave her a piece of my mind. Amidst her lava lamps and pachouli scented oils she asked me to calm down and sit. She told me I was thinking of this all wrong. She asked me to work off my strengths. Ms Genie asked me what I was good at and what I enjoyed doing? I was always a good writer. It’s the only creative thing about me. Suddenly a light went off. I was going to write an art term paper.
A term paper is art. I think art is a very abstract statement. I wasn’t sure how Ms Genie would feel about my art term paper but I figured if she chose to be so broad I could interpret it anyway I wanted. I thought about writing. It is a form of art. It’s creative, it’s funny it can be colorful and interesting and it’s open to interpretation.
I quickly got to work on my art term paper. I had to figure out what angle I was willing to take on it. The first paragraph would be the introduction with a clear thesis statement writing as an art and my knowledge of it. My thesis statement would indeed prove that writing is indeed art. I would state three main points proving my theory and each subsequent paragraph would expand on my three points. The last paragraph would sum up my three points, reiterate my thesis and hopefully even get the audience, in my case Ms Genie, to agree with my point of view.
I was cooped up in my dorm room for days trying to fine tune my art term paper. I really wanted it to make sense and I wanted to stick it to Ms Genie. I did a lot of critical analysis research to find the best way to present writing as an art. I used many examples of poetry and prose. I even found a bunch of research papers samples to quote.
The day my term paper was due I was pretty excited. I knew I would get a really good grade. I thought I had proved my point in my art term paper and Ms. Genie would be really proud of me. I walked into class with my head held high. Everyone had some really interesting creations. Some people had food, others had wood sculptures. One person even carved a popular cartoon character out of a bar of soap. One by one everyone went up to the front of the class and presented their piece of art. I had forgotten about the presentation portion. I held my art term paper up and explained my project to the best of my ability. A week later I received my grade A for my art term paper, F for my presentation. Oh well you can’t win them all.
