Teen Power

       I can’t believe it’s already the end of April, almost the end of my first year in grad school. who would’ve thought I would be here. God works in such mysterious ways. reflecting on these eight months, I can’t wrap my head around all the things that have happened; things i’ve learned, realized, thought, felt. It’s been a ride. I was a bit distracted at one point but I’m getting back into school and being engaged again. school was never for me but I know grad school’s different. I feel my mind absorbing and growing, finding myself wanting to listen to professors about what they have to say. Yea…I have never felt that. It’s a weird feeling- pretty foreign to me…maybe it has to do with the fact that I’m realizing now, that I’m paying massive amounts for every word spoken.

yesterday in development of adolescences we had a few high school students from the frank sinatra high school come in our lecture to speak and answer questions. I was really taken aback by their level of maturity through the way they were able to express themselves. they were so insightful and well articulated. their visual language and  repertoire of vocabulary was far more advanced than even some of the grad students in our program....

Roberto- 11th grade
Margarita- 12th grade
Samantha- 10th grade
Zahra- 10th grade

a few words from our dialogue from the awesome teens:

“You say what you don’t wanna say in artwork.” – R.
“You get to try out different personalities like you try on your clothes.” – Z.
“I wanted to mix the colors and seems like the hues are swimming together.” – S.
“Watercolor is still difficult for me, its like dancing on the paper.” – S.
“Anger and frustration help me make the best artwork.”  -Z.

“It’s important to inspire your students to want to do art.” – M.
“Advice I would give you is to make yourself available.” – S. 

 they brought in some of their artwork to show us.

1. Samantha's Self Portrait

Acrylic on Canvas board

2. Zahra's Portrait of a Celeb

Acrylic on Canvas Board

'Caravaggio'