Stowe loves art sports. It's true played three throughout most of high school and while I was in band as well it was on a whole different level than studio art. The sole purpose of my high school was to graduate overachievers packed with multiple science and math courses on their GPAs and send as many off to small ivies as possible. Very little emphasis was placed on painting, pottery, and photography. Even AP English was hard to come by and if it wasn't going to be offered by Mr. Curtin few people had interest in enrolling in it. There was an art requirement, but many students found ways around it with private piano lessons or a semester of chorus. The requirement was a small one and if someone missed it by graduation it was overlooked.
The music program is an extremely strong one considering the school's small size. The students enrolled in band are particularly devoted to their playing with many starting in 4th grade and continuing on through their senior year of high school. It helps that there is always several carved out periods for the band to meet during the week, but the fact that students have the same band instructor from beginning to end also contributes to students' devotion to the class and their music.
Studio arts on the other hand did not garner the same attention as the musical arts did and while the students that took them were just as devoted they did not receive the same attention and funding that the other courses did. My high school was quicker to subsidize and science field trip than provide advanced art students with much need supplies. Time was another issue as well. With all of the required classes that I needed to take there wasn't much space in my schedule to take a painting or practical arts class. Because of my time constraints I didn't have very many creative outlets and I burnt myself out by the end of high school.
In college I continued my mindset of putting other courses ahead of others and by the beginning of my junior year I was tired and depressed and could barely get out of bed most days. I ended up changing my major from a science to a humanities and for the most part I've been happier though trying to complete an entire major in three semesters has had its stresses. This semester I had the opportunity to take a painting course with Dennis and without it I could easily say that I would have walked away from school without my diploma and gone into the woods where no one could find the body. College is hard enough and while I'm not the best painter being able to receive credit for painting in an old house on Lapsley Lane has made it much more bearable now that I've nearly neared the end.
A Good Friday inspired acrylic on unstretched canvas.
My first large scale acyclic on canvas.
