I came up with the topic of discussing the artist community because I’m still in the process of completing the project that I referenced in the essay and it sparked a lot of questions for myself. While the guiding questions for the essay were extremely helpful, I was also overwhelmed about the idea of trying to fit all my thoughts in such a short word count. 

I wrote the essay over the course of several days, the first writing sessions being shorter as I jotted ideas down in addition to direct responses to the guiding questions. Randomly throughout the week, I then tried incorporating notes on personal experiences and organizing them by what questions I felt they fit best. Writing out a brief timeline of my connection to the word “artist” and creating art was also helpful during this process. I tried writing my essay based on all these notes in a long sprint, but after a few paragraphs I felt the need to then reorganize my notes and outline the rest of the essay before completing it. This happened several times as I tried to keep writing and I would go back and revise the previous paragraphs, breaking down sentences before I even reached the end of my first draft. This process seems to be recurring when I write essays, more specifically if they are about topics I’m passionate about. 

What I enjoyed most about my essay was the point to make space in talking both about fine art and fan art from a place of admiration. I feel that very often these two groups are divided and spoken about very differently, but I made it a point to present them as equals even if I seem to sway between them. I really liked the last sentence I wrote, “In my mind, I like to think that fine artists are friends with those selling fan art at an anime convention.” which expresses a more hopeful outlook on the topic. Even after gaining more insight and experience in the fine art world, there are still so many things I disagree with both in museums and online. I just feel that simply complaining about things often leads to a dead end, and coming up with a solution such as a hopeful outlook could make things move forward.

If I had more time to improve the essay, I would have worked on deliberating what information, anecdotes, or points to include a lot more closely. I’m unsure if I chose the correct string of details that effectively get my idea across and would like to make my points clearer. I would also work on improving the incorporation of my experiences within the paragraphs. While writing it, I struggled with when to bring up certain experiences and create a piece that flows. To me, the placement of stories makes my essay a little “choppy” because I felt that I couldn’t fully go into as much detail without going over the word limit. I’m also unsure if my target audience was clear, making me also question how much context or background information to include. Being more clear about that, would help me fix my essay. With this, I would have liked to incorporate a little more personality or liveliness. I feel like I managed to do this to a certain extent, but again with the word count I felt that I struggled with deciding what to put emphasis on. 

Moving forward, I would like to improve on knowing how to condense my writing and incorporate less fluff. Sometimes editing my writing overwhelms me as I feel the need to obsess over every sentence I put down. I want to allow myself to see my drafts to the end, and be less of a perfectionist since it seems to do more harm than good at times. The topic I chose for this assignment specifically might have made this process more difficult since it was one I had only explored conversationally with my brother. Something I would like to keep and benefit from is the outlining and gathering of notes prior to writing. This approach is one I use for not only writing and helps me not only get excited about what I’m working on, but get a sense of accomplishment as I complete it. 

Media:

I chose Lady Gaga’s Artpop album cover because it presents ideas I was exploring within my Community Essay. For this era, she used it as a way to incorporate influences and references from contrasting hierarchies within the art world. She references both fine art and pop art, as well as exploring what it means to be commercial versus avant garde. As a pop star, she always managed to explore what that meant while also bring contrasting ideas that presented her love for all things creative and authentic.

“Instead of putting pop onto the canvas, we wanted to put the art onto the soup can”. – Lady Gaga

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