Application...

Today i'm going down to Laguna College to turn in my porfolio, transcripts, letter and essay. i thought i'd post the small statement i wrote for the essay...it just gives a little insight into me.
wish me luck...

I can’t pinpoint the exact time I heard about LCAD, and this is either because it sounded too good to be true, or I just have a bad memory. I do, however, remember being more intrigued by it that any of the other art schools I had looked into. Pretty much all of my life I had assumed I would go to Art Center College of Design; it was where my parents went, it’s an exceptional school, and it’s close to where I live. When I began going to school at Pasadena City College (PCC), I began to feel, to my dismay, that Art Center was not the place for me.

I think I’ve found myself in a dilemma many young people are experiencing today, that in this glorious age of experimentation, computers and digital media…I just want to draw. I want to use a pencil, to mold a kneaded eraser into that perfect point, I want to hold a stick of charcoal and actually get my hands dirty. I’ve always been prompted to take more computer classes, get into graphic design, learn web design, etc. And I did all of those things, did well in them, and even enjoyed them. But then I’d go home and make one of my friends pose for me, and I’d get some paper and a few conte pencils…and forget all about merging layers, ppi’s, and the difference between vectors and pixels. People always ask me if I want to go to Art Center College, and are surprised when I say no…until I explain why.

I would love to go to Laguna College of Art and Design because it’s the only school I’ve seen that exhibits such a commitment to the essential art of drawing (no pun intended); and though it hasn’t shied away from the new developments in the creative world, it has not abandoned it’s roots. I was ecstatic to hear of it’s emphasis on the study of the human figure, my absolute favorite subject to work from. The first year providing students with a colorful variety of art forms is, in my opinion, a wonderful idea, and one that brings out one’s full potential and area of passion. My year of no small amount of panic came to a halt when I learned about LCAD. Having visited the campus a number of times, I’ve had the privilege to see student work, and students at work, and it inspires me. These people really love what they’re doing…and it shows.

Needless to say, art is what I delight in, it’s where I find satisfaction, and aside from my faith in God, it’s what keeps me going. It’s my natural “high”, my way to free my mind, to temporarily forget what’s going on around me, and just focus on what’s in front of me, or inside of me. When my parents would have models come every Thursday to pose in our studio for three hours, it was often the highlight of my week. People who know me well recognize what joy it brings me to simply sit and draw, for three hours or three minutes…it has the same effect. To be able to have a way to be at rest while creating something I can be proud of is, I know, a rare thing, and something to treat as a gift. 

I know LCAD will be a vital step in my growth and maturation as an artist. There is so much I have left to learn, and though it sounds daunting, it also excites me knowing what I could receive, and give as a student there. I’m ready at this point to make art my real focus, and not just some thing I do for fun (without losing that aspect of it, of course). And what better place for me to do so that LCAD?

For the past 4 years of being at PCC I prayed that it would be made clear to me what I was meant to do, and I think it has. Doors have opened, and events have come to pass, just within the last few months that have, hopefully, given me my answer. I only regret how long it has taken me to come to this place in my life, but I believe in the Lord’s perfect timing so I’m not too worried. I’m also prepared to accept that Laguna College may not be part of what is planned for me; yet greater still is the hope that it‘s exactly where I‘m supposed to be.


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