It was 30 hours of intense sessions and non-stop lessons and hands on activities. We explored lines, figures, colors, dimensions, composition, collage, and many other art terms and techniques that I'm sure will stick with me for all of my college years and all the rest of my artist life. I met incredible people and had the luck to work with them and learn from them. I realized the huge difference there is with working with people who have no interest at all of what they're doing vs working with people who are passionate about what they're doing; there is no comparison between working in an environment as my art class in school full of people who were there with no interest rather than their grade, and working in an environment like the art class I-27 in La Catolica which was overcrowded of passionate people full of ideas and interest in what they were doing. The will and genuineness of each student and each teacher was incredible; I'm not sure if I learned more from the teachers or from the students.
Honestly, I entered this workshop with the sole purpose of getting admitted into the art faculty and believing I had talent. Now that I finished the two weeks, I'm completely certain there is a lot I need to learn and work on. One thing is being talented in your art class in school, but another is being talented in your university class. I was impressed by all the talent there is out there, the competition I had during the 10 days was something I had never experienced in my life. My peers were able to create spectacular and amazing things with the exact same resources and time I had. Their level really surprised me and filled me with healthy jealousy and jitters. It was incredible to work with such talented people and I'm excited to continue being challenged by them.
In the end, I don't know what amazed me and fascinated me the most of these two weeks. Was it the techniques and knowledge I gained? Or the amazing people I got to know and work with? Or the campus? Or the style of teaching and the non-stop hands-on activities? Or the dedication of every teacher, student and individual in there? I could not decide.
I learned much more in these 10 sessions than I ever learned in my whole high school art education. If this was just a very petit preview of what's coming up next, I can't even imagine everything I'll learn and how much I will love it. A little of the anxiety I had about the university and the art faculty was already calmed by this experience, but the thrill I have is still inexplicable.