Maryland Teens Explore College Level Artmaking
By: Lindsey Mack
On Saturday November 9th, 2019, the Maryland Art Education Association (MAEA) and the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) hosted the second annual workshop for National Art Honor Society students throughout the state.
For these 40 student art leaders, it was creatively jam-packed day!
Each student enjoyed a day that included:
An introduction to MICA, along with a MICA sketchbook.
Morning art-making session focused on visual brainstorming and materials experimentation.
Lunch in the Meyerhoff Dining Hall with current undergraduates.
A Presentation by MICA Admission focused on portfolio preparation.
An afternoon master class with a MICA professor: Product Design with Juan Noguera, Poster Design with Brockett Horne, or Life Drawing with LaToya Hobbs
This event was organized by MAEA members Rachel Valsing, Lindsay Miller and Lindsey Mack, and was sponsored by both MICA and MAEA.
We caught up with our student leaders in order to hear what they had to say about their experiences:
Question #1: “What attracted you to register for this workshop?”
A: “I wanted to participate in this workshop because it was an opportunity to not only see what an art college was like, but to also take a class in an art college with actual professors that teach there. It made me experience what a day at MICA could feel like as an undergraduate.” - Dilxon
A: “I signed up for the workshop because I participated in last year, and it was really cool. I also wanted to try the life drawing workshop because it was different from what was offered last year, and I wanted to try something out of my comfort zone.” - Carlos
Question #2: “Which part of the workshop did you enjoy the most? Why?”
A: “I liked everything about the workshop... from the art-making, to the food (the dining hall had amazing vegan pizza). However, the part I enjoyed the most was the morning sketchbook activity that involved all 40 attendees. I enjoyed this part the most because we had an opportunity to interact with new people and look at their art. Additionally, this activity was helpful because it creatively warmed us up for the afternoon master class, since it offered a range of materials, prompts and concepts.” - Samarth
A: “I enjoyed the lesson taught in the life drawing session because it gave me a whole new approach to portrait drawing. The teacher had us draw a human skull from observation, then she partnered up students to draw each other’s faces on top of their skull drawings. This allowed us to focus on the structure of our heads before getting into facial details.” - Emily
Question #3: “What new knowledge did you gain from this experience?”
A: “I gained so much knowledge on what to have in my portfolio when I submit an application. Instead of trying to make what I think is ‘good art’ I should have a purpose that originates around my own unique ideas because there is only one me.” - Jackie
A: “I gained new knowledge on graphic design and its use and purpose in the real world. I learned various compositional techniques to creating a strong, interesting protest poster. I learned from other students who were in this session because we all approached the prompt differently.” - Dilxon
Question #4: “How did this workshop benefit you as an artist?”
A: “It pushed me out of my comfort zone, which for me was sticking to a certain technique or the same style, but this whole experience forced me to experiment and learn about new skills and new things to add to my own art style.” - Clarissa
A: “I learned that art doesn't have to be photo-realistic, nor does art-making always have to have a complex meaning. It can be for fun or just to experiment and figure out what works. Sometimes I get so caught up trying to figure out what to do for a major project, and I forget that simply playing around in my sketchbook can lead me to a cool idea.” - Tanisha
We are so glad that the student art leaders of our state got so much value out of this experience, and look forward to planning the third annual MAEA/MICA High School Art Leader event for Fall 2020. Stay tuned!
