The first semester of my education at The New School have been extremely eventful, and even more enjoyable. I have learnt many things, and I have expanded my skills widely. A large part in this was played by the Studio and Seminar classes. They were exactly what I expected from being a Parsons student: engaging, encouraging to try new things and very free in terms of the work. I felt that the syllabus of these two classes made me explore a lot of things that I deemed to be distant from my practices in the past and I was really made to push the boundaries of what I feel is comfortable for me. As cliche and basic that sounds, that helped me a lot in the sense that now I feel that I can do much more than I did at the start. It all began with the first project, where out of the blue I was advised to use the Laser Cutter. Before, I thought that this is something from the future, or is only used by spies in B-list movies from 1990s. Yet, as it turns out, it could be a useful tool in creating a piece of art. Through it I managed to make something that represented well my past experiences, and I think that the tendency of using this media is going to continue for me in the future. After this, I have realised that the course allows for such a high level of experimentation, that I decided for my next project to use the most unorthodox materials that I can think of. I have purchased a skull, and then filled it in with sealing foam, into which I have placed various objects that demonstrated the thoughts of the person who I was planning to represent in this piece. This was extremely strange for me, but I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome of it. But after that came the tough part of the course. I was asked to create a site-specific installation in Washington Square Park, and as it turned out, I was unable to do so, as well as I was not a great team player, creating something that was not to my liking. I felt that this was by far the low point of the semester, as my interaction with the group, although lovely in personal terms, was far from being productive, and did not bode well at the final critique. This failure, however, did not force me into sadness, it provided me with a motivation to work harder for the upcoming projects, and thus, I have managed to get better results in the future.

From the start of the semester my way of thinking about art changed a lot, as I have now realised that art does not have to be completely orthodox, it could come in a large amount of forms, thus for the last project I decided to combine what I have learnt from the previous project, and combine it with a performance, in order to create a very wholistic image of my old school. I have made a booklet like I have been taught before, and with a costume and  performance compelling enough to convince people that I am a representative of the said school, and the sarcastic tone of the presentation made it much more entertaining. That is when IK understood that the wording of what I had to say played a major role in making this a successful piece, because if I would have kept things serious, I would paradoxically sound less serious than I did being sarcastic.

Overall, I think that by taking these courses I grew a lot as an artist, and I have greatly enjoyed my time doing it. I have loved the tasks, and especially the fact that teaching was not reading the textbook out, but rather sharing the experience in life of the people who are practicing artists themselves, and they have a lot to tell us.

Thank you Johannah and Emily for a wonderful semester, and a great amount of skills that you taught me.