My Intellectual Journey

I was born in Sanbornton, New Hampshire, which is a very quiet town. My elementary school class size was made up of 30 or so kids, and I graduated high school with 99. I believe this influenced me to inevitably pick a smaller University, out of comfort. In elementary, middle, and high school, I excelled in reading and writing above all else, thanks to my mom teaching me how to read very early. I was always encouraged to go to college, it was the sort of thing that wasn’t even a question I asked myself. I had no concrete idea about what my major would be, I was just supposed to, so I did.

I came to PSU undeclared but aware of the interdisciplinary studies program. I was so caught between my two disciplines that I decided to combine them, and I entered the program spring of my freshman year. Learning from an interdisciplinary perspective has been so important. I have found that critical thinking and an interdisciplinary approach is applicable to any situation. Also, the professors I’ve had have molded the path I have taken a great deal as well. I was lucky to have a wonderful painting professor who taught me a great deal and has advised me on career possibilities.

If I’m going to consider my intellectual path specifically in the context of art, I have to go back in time quite a bit. When I was young, I was lucky enough to have influences that pushed me towards the intellectual path I’m on today, my grandmother being one of them. She would babysit my sister and I at least two days a week until we were entered first grade. Almost every time she watched us we would color, paint, use chalk, bake and decorate cakes, design clothes for our dolls, and so on. She is one of the most creative people I know, and I owe my enjoyment of art to her.

Along the way there were so many moments of discouragement, some large, some small that kept me from fully pursuing art as a realistic path of learning. Old works of art are a great example of this discouragement. Something I have learned in my art education is reflection. If I am feeling pessimistic about a painting I am working on I look back. I pull out a horrible old painting and see what I have learned since then. The stigma associated with art careers culturally has been daunting as well, given that it isn’t a very respected path. I think this societal sentiment had a big impact on my intellectual journey. Hearing any negativity about something I was making would set me back and make me reconsider, which is hard because people love critiquing art, that’s half the point of it. At some point, when I was feeling uninterested and discouraged artistically, psychology caught my attention. I was always very observant of other people’s behaviors and the thought of studying that was interesting to me. I also have had amazing teachers and professors of psychology that really care about making education engaging.

Even though my intellectual journey is kind of a winding one, with steps backwards it was the best way for me to end up where I am today.