Pentathalon Semester 1

Pentathlon Semester 2

As an experiential component of College Park Arts Scholars, I attended a selection of five art events during my second semester of Sophomore year. These events ranged in art mediums and each sparked dialogue among my peers. 

Online Game Zoom #Presentation #ArtsScholars

3-4:30pm February 6, 2021

This past Saturday, I hosted a game zoom with my fellow peer mentor Vicki for our mentees and the Arts Scholars community. The main game we played was called "Drawphone" on the site but may better be known by the name "Telestrations." The main premise of the game is to create a drawing based on a prompt which gets sent to someone else, and they write what they think the picture is showing. That new phrase is sent to someone else to draw and the cycle continues.
Through both the drawing and writing elements of the game, the creativity of our fellow Arts Scholars really shined. Most of the fun in the game is at the end when you can see how the initial prompt changes through each drawing and phrase. You can see how people take one prompt and use their creativity to make up for any lack of drawing skills or add details to convey the original message more clearly. Furthermore, the interpretations of the drawings were entertaining to see through the new phrases that the players would write.
My own perception of the arts has expanded through playing with my peers in a funny game. Through seeing the high quality of some of my peers' drawings as well as through their creative interpretations of less drawn-out pictures, I am able to see the limitless reach that creativity has. Even in a game with no eraser and limited drawing functions, there is no bound to the location art can be made and the creativity and fun it can produce.

Arts Advisory Board and Peer Mentor Zoom Collab! #dance

5:30-6:30pm February 28, 2021

This past Sunday, I hosted a zoom breakout room with Vicki Zhang, a fellow peer mentor, in collaboration with the Arts Advisory Board and Peer Mentors. I taught the k-pop TikTok dance to "Any Song" by ZICO. The way the event was organized involved 4 total break out rooms hosted by either a pair of peer mentors or a pair of members from the Arts Advisory Board. The participants all joined a break out room for 30 minutes, doing one type of artistic activity, and then switching to another breakout group for 30 minutes.
My own stress levels have been relatively high these days, and the movement and blood flow from doing an easy dance provided an outlet for my brain. The importance in scheduling creative outlets has only been emphasized even further for maintaining my mental health.
Watching the first group actively participate and dance along made teaching the dance that much more rewarding and exciting. Their enthusiasm made dancing over zoom much less awkward and encouraged me to be even more enthusiastic. The second group was a bit less active and while Vicki and I were running off the adrenaline of the first group, it was a bit discouraging to see less willing participants in a fun activity. It really shows how the willingness to participate makes a difference in the ambience of an event. When it comes to attending artistic events or even participating in class, I hope to work hard in being an active participant, so that everyone including myself can take away the goals in a more enjoyable environment.

"Can You Keep a Secret?" Virtual Murder Mystery Opera on Vimeo by OperaTerps #Music

April 10, 2021

This past Saturday, I watched the murder mystery Opera "Can You Keep a Secret?" by the OperaTerps. This 90 minute performance not only featured acting but a diverse repertoire of music as well with pieces in multiple languages like English and French. The entire film was set up through a series of videocalls between detectives and suspects. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the use of different languages did not break the flow of the story line nor did it seem out of place. The subtitles during the songs were very helpful and a great choice to include. Seeing how the OperaTerps chose to incorporate so many different artistic elements from film, theatre, and opera, I was inspired to continue pushing my artistic boundaries. I'm sure many of the singers were not necessarily the most familiar with acting and the classic genre of murder mystery is not something you necessarily associate with operas. Plus with the video call conversation set up, I'm sure it was a new experience for everyone to record their parts over zoom, socially distant. I found the flow of the storyline easy to follow and the audio and video quality were surprisingly good. Being so impressed by the overall quality and entertainment this 90 minute murder mystery musical provided, I am encouraged to not doubt my own abilities and work hard at overcoming any barriers. Their performance was stellar despite being made during a pandemic. Knowing they were mindful of keeping distance and even using it to their advantage for a modern take on a classic scenario, I truly can see how limitless creativity can be.

Coloring Page as a form of Art Therapy #VisualArt

April 25, 2020

This week I chose to do a coloring page for the visual arts category as a method of art therapy. With only a few weeks of the semester left and ArtsFest being just around the corner, a lot of stress has been building up between completing projects and studying for exams. The easiest option that involved the least amount of materials and clean up seemed to be the coloring page. The variety in art therapy options are very appealing as it means anyone can find some form of art therapy that caters to them and they are all relatively accessible. I found taking some time to just color a print out I found online with some markers let my mind wander away from my concerns and gave my brain a breath away from frantic worrying. The Arts Scholars program has emphasized the importance of finding balance among the different activities in our lives regardless whether its between the STEM world and the artistic world or between school and hobbies. Allowing myself time to be freely creative without academic pressures or constant worries really was beneficial in re-motivating me for my more academic pursuits. Once again, Arts has reaffirmed the importance it is for me to take a break in the form of a creative outlet because it puts my mind into a good place which benefits the quality of my work in the long term.