Written Reflection on Course Approach

Image: Martha Rosler. “Beauty Rest from the series House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home”. c. 1967-72

1. How do you plan to approach this class?
   I plan to major in Strategic Design and Management, which is primarily studying business/entrepreneurship/advertising. I knew coming to Parsons would entail taking art classes, which I’m usually comfortable with when it comes to digital mediums. However, traditional and analog mediums give me a bit of anxiety because I’m not well versed in it at all. This is only exacerbated when you’re surrounded by such talented painters/drawers/illustrators. So, I’m going to look forward and try to put out the best work I can with the skills that I learn along the way.
2. What you would like to get out of it?
   Ultimately, I want to learn how to refine my drawing skills with traditional tools and methods. I’ve pretty much taught myself how to use Photoshop through exploration and tutorials on YouTube, so I’d also like how to learn how to do things through an academic setting.
3. Why do you feel you chose “Places+Things”?
   As I said, drawing makes me uneasy and drawing figures make me feel very nervous. Places+Thing made sense to me because “places and things” are easier to illustrate for a novice drawer, in my opinion at least. Buildings and landscapes are ultimately made up of geometric shapes that are easy to draw together – figures/people definitely are harder because of all of the organic shapes that comprise them.
4. How would it best serve you?
   I’m taking Visual Culture for my Studio/Seminar 2 so I hope that this class supplants those two since their subtopic are relatively within the same realms. Language is
5. How will your college experience serve you?
   I chose this specific program because it seems evenly split between learning the principles of design and art with a curriculum dedicated to business otherwise. I want to work in advertising/branding, so any and all of the art classes should give me a greater understanding of the principles of art.
6. How will you engage your class to seek out learning?
   I want to observe others work and see how they use their techniques and their process and hopefully incorporate it into my own cycle of productivity.