Support
I never imagined myself growing as a person so much that I could feel confident enough to explore one of the largest cities in the world alone. Being able to enjoy time with myself is one of the best skills I have ever developed. At college there are always people around, and in high school there were always family around; however, having a week in a country where you don’t speak the language and have no one but yourself to enjoy time with truly teaches you to love yourself. Every minute being able to make my own choices without any other persons influence really taught me a lot about myself, but on the other hand it made me all the more grateful for everyone in my life I was lucky enough to return too. I was lucky enough to travel to 5 museums, climb the Eiffel tower, and walk through numerous churches and monuments of Paris before finally returning to my hometown in Conklin.
After being enrolled in the art program in Cortona Italy, I was taught in fine detail how to get the most out of a museum experience and include parts into my work. My goal for my enrichment grant was written according to the things I wanted to see, and how experiencing those sights would enhance my senior year as an art major; I gained all of that, and so much more! I was able to see works by the famous impressionists in the place that they were created. Thus, I was able to create drawings in the same environment those artists did. My drawing can be seen in my photos, and the way I took those drawings and made them into a more modern painting style in my SYE can be seen in my photos as well. The impressionists took a part of the environment and painted it in the way they wanted to viewer to see the earth. In response I pulled the shapes from the environment I responded to most, but left the background solid. In this way I found my own purpose in interpreting the impressionists work, by emulating style and subject matter but changing my composition style.
While traveling alone, I had the experience in observing other travelers. I made the most of this experience by keeping a photo documentary of travels. The photo I found most inspiring is in my photos. My conclusion from the study was as follows:
“There is a cyclical relationship of the way we separate ourselves, grow and reunite with our loved ones in humanity. It reminds us that in a society where individualism is praised, that we are a still species that thrives off of intimate social bonds. Finally, being aware of the personifications of others during their travels makes us as travelers more aware of our own baggage, physically and emotionally, that changes who we are in our own journeys.”