The Sky's the Limit: Dubai as a Laboratory for Creativity
This trip was everything I thought it'd be times the height of the Burj Khalifa. Originally I wanted to hold off on taking an honors seminar until my later years in UC, but after looking at the various travel opportunities available and finding "The Sky's the Limit: Dubai as a Laboratory for Creativity", I realized I had to take advantage and sign up before the opportunity was gone. On the first day of the class, all 16 of us sat in a circle and said our name and our college major. Right off the bat two of my classmates said "Neuroscience". I HAD MORE OF MY KIND. Here I was, sitting next to guys with beards and big framed glasses and girls with floral print dresses and handmade headbands, thinking everyone was going to say "Ceramics" or "Graphic Design" or something else artsy. In fact, only a few actually had such a major; half of us were pre-meds, business majors and engineers. As a result, our class discussions became just as diverse as our student base. Our arguments resulted from differing perspectives of situations which wouldn't have been brought about if we all studied the same subject.
From March 15 to March 23 2014, I had the most incredible time of my life. I went on top of a building FARTHER than the eye can see. I ate a camel burger and octopus salad. I woke up late, found that my class left the hotel and had to find the building we were scheduled to be at for the day with my roommate. (We found our destination not by taxi, not by train, but by a "Luxury Transport Service" which was basically a guy driving his sedan around taking people places). I went to a Cartier jewelry exhibit and saw a necklace with a leopard hugging a sapphire gem. The rest of the experiences can be documented by pictures, but what can't be shown through images are my feelings at the time. Walking through art galleries where Audi was presenting cars, where Cartier was presenting jewelry, where up-and-coming artists were having their first exhibition and veterans were selling pieces for $150,000+, I felt humbled. These people worked in a way I've never understood, a way I mocked for ages. I thought the production of art was so easy and unintensive. My view of art suffered with this thought, I never attended art galleries beforehand because I had this predetermined stereotype of artists and artwork. After talking to long time artists like Hassan Sharif and Ebtissam Abdul-Aziz, I saw my loves displayed in their art pieces. I saw math, I saw science, I saw numbers, I saw letters, all while adding color and vibrancy. I witnessed the incredibly vast range of the true realm of art and what it encompasses. When we returned from our trip, our class opened our own exhibition at the Niehoff Studio on Short Vine where each student created his/her own art piece displaying their experience in Dubai. I had a harder time thinking of an idea for this art piece than I have ever thought for any Calculus or Chemistry test ever. The problem, and sometimes the amazing, aspect of art is that you need inspiration, there is no step by step process used to create anything. You need to reflect upon yourself and show your experiences and new knowledge in a piece in a way that people who have never gone on the trip with you, can learn just from looking at your piece.
My inspiration came from staring into the open distance on our desert safari. As you can imagine, there was sand everywhere. I thought to myself, "This is what this city was just 60 years ago: sand everywhere. They have the tallest building and fastest roller coasters which all rose from this sand." I found a water bottle laying in the sand and scooped up as much sand as I could to take with me. When creating my piece, I drew the iconic skyline of Dubai onto canvas with pencil and filled in the white buildings with glue. I sprinkled the sand from Dubai onto the piece so that the sand stuck onto the canvas into the shapes of the buildings. After a brief painting lesson from my younger brother, a Visual Art major at SCPA, I painted the sky blue and added dabs of white clouds. After much struggle I ended with this:
From March 15 to March 23 2014, I had the most incredible time of my life. I went on top of a building FARTHER than the eye can see. I ate a camel burger and octopus salad. I woke up late, found that my class left the hotel and had to find the building we were scheduled to be at for the day with my roommate. (We found our destination not by taxi, not by train, but by a "Luxury Transport Service" which was basically a guy driving his sedan around taking people places). I went to a Cartier jewelry exhibit and saw a necklace with a leopard hugging a sapphire gem. The rest of the experiences can be documented by pictures, but what can't be shown through images are my feelings at the time. Walking through art galleries where Audi was presenting cars, where Cartier was presenting jewelry, where up-and-coming artists were having their first exhibition and veterans were selling pieces for $150,000+, I felt humbled. These people worked in a way I've never understood, a way I mocked for ages. I thought the production of art was so easy and unintensive. My view of art suffered with this thought, I never attended art galleries beforehand because I had this predetermined stereotype of artists and artwork. After talking to long time artists like Hassan Sharif and Ebtissam Abdul-Aziz, I saw my loves displayed in their art pieces. I saw math, I saw science, I saw numbers, I saw letters, all while adding color and vibrancy. I witnessed the incredibly vast range of the true realm of art and what it encompasses. When we returned from our trip, our class opened our own exhibition at the Niehoff Studio on Short Vine where each student created his/her own art piece displaying their experience in Dubai. I had a harder time thinking of an idea for this art piece than I have ever thought for any Calculus or Chemistry test ever. The problem, and sometimes the amazing, aspect of art is that you need inspiration, there is no step by step process used to create anything. You need to reflect upon yourself and show your experiences and new knowledge in a piece in a way that people who have never gone on the trip with you, can learn just from looking at your piece.
My inspiration came from staring into the open distance on our desert safari. As you can imagine, there was sand everywhere. I thought to myself, "This is what this city was just 60 years ago: sand everywhere. They have the tallest building and fastest roller coasters which all rose from this sand." I found a water bottle laying in the sand and scooped up as much sand as I could to take with me. When creating my piece, I drew the iconic skyline of Dubai onto canvas with pencil and filled in the white buildings with glue. I sprinkled the sand from Dubai onto the piece so that the sand stuck onto the canvas into the shapes of the buildings. After a brief painting lesson from my younger brother, a Visual Art major at SCPA, I painted the sky blue and added dabs of white clouds. After much struggle I ended with this:
It may not seem like much, but to me it is the greatest piece in the world because in a way other than with words, I was able to share an experience with strangers. I am extremely thankful to my professors Joe Girandola and Vincent Sansalone as well as all my classmates, because after this amazing trip I was able to create and truly enjoy others' creations.