My name is Laurie Simpreus and I am majoring in Strategic Design and Management. I took a year off from Parsons The New School for Design so this Spring semester I completed my second year courses. I was originally a Fashion Design major but, I made the switch on March 1st because during my time off I began exploring different jobs and I was became really inspired by the fashion business industry. Looking back at my first year courses to now what I have been consistent with was using Black culture in my art pieces and drawings. What inspired me was the culture that I come from so I made sure that I included that in my work. Whether it was through my drawing and imaging class where we were given an assignment to express our culture through one of the methods we’ve learned. We could take a song and make three art pieces from it. A highlight from my semester would be from my Space and Materiality class. The class works primarily in 3-D form so it was my first time producing any work in that medium. The assignment was to create a message bag that included two out of three elements light, sound, or words. Your piece could give a message that was easy to read or a piece that is abstract. The structure that I created was made from African print fabric and the base came from foam. After, I drew a few sketches for what I wanted to create my concept became that I wanted to glorify the African hair because of how diverse our hair is. My headpiece was successful and my message was well received. Another,highlight from my year had to be a field trip to different Chelsea art galleries. Our class visited Chuck Close and Banksy. Seeing two very different artists work space was very interesting. I am looking forward to being introduced to new thought processes from other artists and visiting more museums to my advantage as a student at Parsons.