Kari Maygers
Arts Scholar
Pentathlon Semester 1
As an experiential component of College Park Arts Scholars, I attended a selection of five art events during my first semester. These events ranged in art mediums and each sparked dialogue among my peers.
Mxmtoon Online Concert
September 10, 2020 @ 9PM; #music
For my first pentathlon event of the semester, I attended Mxmtoon’s Online ArtsFest concert. Mxmtoon is a musician who started on youtube and I’ve been a fan of her music for a year or so now. It was incredibly exciting to see her play live even if it was over zoom. She makes a lot of music that I can relate to, especially Fever Dream and Almost Home (which she played). After she sang, we got to ask questions in the chat, and she discussed how she got into music and how she’s been trying to stay creative over quarantine. I also learned that she originally decided to go to college for architecture (my major) before she decided to go into music which was a fun fact to learn. The concert and chat session were a nice break and reward after completing some large assignments for that week.
Why people believe they can't draw TED Talk by Graham Shaw
Originally from February 2015 (watched 10/4/2020), TEDxHull Event, #presentation
Graham Shaw is a specialist in communication who helps people create memorable presentations and is also known for his fast cartoon drawings. The point of his talk was to try to show people that they could draw, even if they were not drawing intricate and detailed pieces. He had the audience follow simple steps to draw fast, little cartoons to prove that they could draw. I picked this talk because I also struggle with this mindset and tend to think my drawings and paintings aren’t good simply because I did not create an intense masterpiece. A point that he made that stuck with me was “how many limiting thoughts do we all carry around with us every day?” It made me think about all the ways I tell myself that I can’t do things and the negative attitude I can get about things I create. It made me think about how challenging those perceptions and thoughts in my head could change the way I view not just my art, but other things I do every day.
Art Therapy Project
October 24, 2020, #visual art
For my third pentathlon assignment, I created a watercolor painting as an art therapy project. The prompt was to think of people “that help you maximize the moments of joy in your life” and create an art piece for each of them however, I decided to alter this slightly and just make one art piece based of a good memory I have with these people. The picture is from the first and only time I got to go to DC with my friends while we were on campus, just before everything shut down from the pandemic. It was nice to revisit that moment and go back to a time when I could see and hang out with my friends in person. I miss seeing my friends every day on campus and doing this project was a good practice of gratitude and patience. Right now, it’s very important to remember that, even if it doesn’t feel like it, this situation is temporary, and I will get to see my friends again when it’s safe to do so. I am grateful to live in a time where I can still talk to my friends everyday even if I don’t get to see them.
The Haunting of Bly Manor
Netflix (Released October 9, 2020), #film
This show was “perfectly splendid”! The Haunting of Bly Manor is a series created by the same person who created The Haunting of Hill House and includes some of the same actors, such as the main character, Dani, played by Victoria Pedretti. The concept and story of the show had a similar feeling to its predecessor at first but ended up feeling much different at the end. I found myself guessing at what would happen next only to be completely wrong while trying to piece together the puzzle of the story. I have even watched some of it back with my sister and realized just how many fine details I missed when watching it the first time. On the surface it seems like just another spooky show coming out just in time for “spooky season”, but in actuality it is a complex story about grief and loss. I really connected with some of the characters and while the ending made me sad, it was a beautifully written story that I enjoyed watching unfold.
Chill With a Quill
November 17, 2020 @ 7:30PM, #literature
Chill With a Quill was an Art Scholars event hosted by the AAB over zoom where we got the opportunity to free-write based on the prompts provided for us. There were two prompts: writing something based on the poems we were shown or write a letter to your future self. I chose to write a letter to my future self, which I have done a few times before in my life. It’s always interesting to look back on those letters and see what was on my mind at the time, my priorities, my handwriting, my language when writing, and I enjoy seeing the comparison to those things at the time of opening the letter. It was a very relaxing and reflective experience and gave me an opportunity to sit and think about my plans and my future. It will be especially exciting to open because I will be starting a new major in the spring and I’m sure my future self will have a lot to say about how that’s going and if I like it as much as I think I will.
Pentathlon Semester 2
As an experiential component of College Park Arts Scholars, I attended a selection of five art events during my second semester. These events ranged in art mediums and each sparked dialogue among my peers.
Art Therapy Project
February 6, 2021, #visual art
For my first pentathlon event this semester, I chose an idea from the art therapy project list. The idea was to paint or draw while listening to music, let yourself relax, and just respond to the music. I chose to listen to a Minecraft lofi hip-hop playlist because I have been playing and watching a lot of Minecraft recently, so it has been the main thing in my head. While listening, I drew some bees from the game and some doodles. This activity helped me relax after a stressful second week of the semester which I really appreciated. I also liked getting to draw what has been in my head because it allowed me to get some of it out so that I could focus on other things I needed to do. It was almost like when you get a song stuck in your head and have to listen to it or sing it to get it unstuck.
While this was just some doodling and listening to music, it showed me how even taking a little bit of time to unwind and do something you like can make your day better. I am in the art therapy workshop this semester as well and this past class we discussed happiness. We talked about the things in our lives that make us happy and how we can use art as a medium to express our happiness. This activity allowed me to explore that more outside of class. I really love doodling/drawing and playing video games, so combining the two was very lovely.
As Above, So Below (2014)
February 27, 2021, #film
As Above, So Below is a horror movie from 2014 that is based in Paris, France. It takes place in the catacombs of the city, which are old burial tunnels that were used to deal with the overflowing cemeteries. The movie follows Scarlett Marlowe (an alchemy scholar) and a group of people who are searching for the Philosopher’s Stone within the catacombs. The experiences they have and things they witness are based off ancient philosophies and writings such as Dante’s Inferno, which create the main horror elements of the movie (aside from the claustrophobia). The movie is shot in a “found-footage” way which is not a style used in many movies. This style made the movie scarier because it made the characters appear to be more like normal people and the sort of first-person perspective made it feel more immersive.
I thought the movie was scary, although it is not very difficult to scare me. This movie also has elements of anthropology/archeology which was one of the reasons I wanted to watch it. Admittedly the archeology that occurs in it is pretty illegal and not done in an ethical way, but it has those elements nonetheless. And although it is not done in a good way, I still find the anthropology/history elements interesting.
“Color as Material” by Amy Sillman
Talk given on 11/12/14 at the Whitney Museum of American Art, #presentation
In this lecture, Amy Sillman discusses the concept of color. She covers many different aspects including the physical process of creating oil paints, the intrinsic meanings behind different colors, the history of paint/color production, as well as the difference between color theory and color practice. Sillman begins her lecture by discussing the materiality of color and the physical process of creating oil paints. She describes the paint-making process beyond just the mixing of pigment and base and says that entering an art supply store is a tactile and sensory experience that encompasses the entire shopper. As part of this, she also discusses how expensive color can be. She gives a few historical examples, such as cadmium red, and how the price and longevity of that color compares to other purchases that would be considered expensive.
She also talked about the dangerous aspects of paint-making and the history behind the paint you would see in an art store today. Paint making is a chemical process and many of the pigments used throughout history are considered dangerous today (such as lead white) but there are still aspects of modern paint-making that are dangerous. She goes on to explain how some colors that we use all the time have terrible histories behind them and how modern ready-made paints affect artists and their processes. This part of the lecture was particularly interesting to me given my capstone topic. For my capstone, I am researching the history behind paint-making and creating my own paints, and although my paints will be watercolors and not oil paints much of this still applies. While making my paints will not really be dangerous, there are pigments and processes I have found in my research that are.
Another thing that stood out to me in this lecture was the way Sillman talked about color practice versus color theory. Most artists are aware of color theory and the color wheel, but Sillman says that color theory is simply a way to “predict what happens next” when it comes to color. To Sillman, color theory is a boundary that she actively pushes against and fights in her artwork. This made me think about the way I use color in my artwork as well as the colors I will be creating for my capstone project. Also, seeing the way that Sillman’s paintings change throughout her process made me feel better about the fact that my artwork almost never turns out how I originally thought it would.
Color Me, Stress Free by Nicole Panebianco
April 9, 2021 @ 7PM, #artscholars #visual art
The event started off with Nicole telling us about her capstone project where she is creating her own coloring book to help people cope with stress. As part of her project, she had us print out a picture from her coloring book and led us through a small meditation as inspiration for our mandalas. The prompt was to think of our happy place and then write down a few adjectives to describe it.
For my happy place, I thought of the last time I got to see my friends in person. We were hanging out at a friend’s house, walking around in the woods and chilling together outside. I used the words quiet, calm, and bright to describe my happy place and tried to pick earth-tone colors for my mandala. I tried to relate the colors to different things from the environment such as the trees, sunshine, and water.
I really enjoyed this event! It was a good de-stressor after the super stressful week I had, and it allowed me a time and place to wind down. It was also fun to get to be a part of someone else’s capstone project. My capstone project does not have a part that involves community engagement in such a direct way, and it was a good reminder of how different everyone’s capstone projects are.