My self-designed honors experience was focused on art and its many different facets, including studying its history, creating it myself, and exploring it as a method of reflection. I studied art during numerous periods of history, practiced with some of the more unconventional art mediums, and kept a journal detailing each experience and my thoughts about it. My grade school art teachers even welcomed me back to help with the summer art camp at the school for a week, and I got to share some of the tips that I learned both on my own and in school.

Over the course of this experience, reflecting on my art turned into personal reflection. As an engineering student, I had expected to enjoy the art mediums that required a lot of precision and focus but found myself surprised when I enjoyed the less controlled resin pouring. My resin geode turned out beautifully, and I learned that not everything in life has to work out the way it was planned. Spontaneity can be just as great.

Art is a reflection of the people who create it, and by continuing to study and practice art I hope to better understand people who come from different backgrounds. It is my belief that art can bring people of all kinds together, and that appreciating art brings with it an appreciation of the world around us.

Below is a gallery of the artwork that I created throughout the experience, including mediums of wood, paint, resin, glass, clay, pencil, and plastic beads.