I always felt like I had something to prove to myself,
That a young woman who had never set foot in an art museum until a year ago can still excel in art history.
I was 18 when I visited the art museum on campus, and I was shocked.
These things that had always been on projectors and in books were now tangible and I could walk up to something and feel the history of it.
I had never realized that in a single work of art, you can find influences of science, gender, politics, literature, philosophy.
I come from a small town in Idaho. I'm the first in my family to go to college. Pursuing a career in fine arts didn't seem like an option.
Through my first year, I felt like I wasn't succeeding in any way.
I kept thinking, I don't need to soar. I just need to float.
But at the end of my junior year, I was nominated for a scholarship and it totally transformed how I approached this field because it was so validating and that scholarship funded my visit to London.
There I discovered the art of John Singer Sargent.
I stood in front of Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth and I wanted to cry it was so beautiful.
I want to do research that discovers something new about a piece of art. Because that makes us reconsider how we see everything.
Like the professors did for me, I want to expand art experience to a wider audience.
And for everyone to be involved with the museum space means that everyone's voice is heard.
The benefits are universal. We all need a chance in this busy world to slow down and be reflective.
The slowness of gazing at art...It gets you thinking.
