Visual Journal

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An overall theme that spoke to me was that time passes quickly when enjoying what we are doing. For me, art has always been something that I have loved since a young age. I did art throughout high school; however, I never did any art in my freshman year of college. I was so focused on my business classes and forgot how much I loved art. Taking this class now and doing the work for it, I realize how much time passes when I get into the zone. The work doesn’t become work, instead, it becomes something that I genuinely enjoyed doing. During quarantine, I got back into art as I had tons of time on my hands and I realized how much of the day I spent doing art even though it felt like only an hour and appreciate it so much more. 

During the discussion, Ian Birky mentioned how we are constantly sitting in our rooms on our computers, and our stimulus value is going down, and how we must find things to bring that stimulus value up. I immediately thought about how this art class had allowed me to stimulate my brain while focusing on art, which has always been a part of me. 

Additionally, when Ian Birky brought up his patient, who for an entire year, instead of talking drew her life and the trauma she went through, it resonated with me. I struggle with anxiety, and with the help of my therapist, one tool I have gained that has helped me come out of an anxiety attack is to draw/sketch/doodle/color anything. Focusing on art takes my mind off what is causing me anxiety, and I sometimes get lost in the moment and forget about my concerns. Additionally, she encourages me to draw out what has made me feel anxious when I sometimes have difficulty expressing myself in words. 

For my piece, I took some of my doodles and writing from my journal that I draw in when I am feeling anxious or need to focus on something to get my mind off of things. I used photoshopped and brought together some of my pieces.