Art Show - Lauren Bacon

When I first walked in to the art show, I noticed the furniture [I think it was furniture?] made out of what appeared to be trash or household items. I love seeing art created from simple materials. It shows the beauty in things that would normally never catch your eye. I then walked around and was intrigued by the photography that were close ups of faces. I loved the how the painted faces portrayed different adjectives. I could see how the colors correlated to which word the artist chose, especially after my research of what different colors represent from our silhouette project. Plus, I am interested in photography in general. In high school, I took a few photojournalism courses and one of my biggest regrets is not continuing pursuing the hobby. Ironically, I recently was on stumbleupon.com and stumbled upon and it was a tumblr account of someone who posted pictures with a similar technique of painted faces with strategically chosen colors. This exhibit reminded me of the site. I would have definitely paid $10 for one of these snapshots.

To be completely honest, it was almost surreal to see my artwork displayed in the art show. I always doubt my creative ability, and I was actually incredibly proud of my work. But it was also shocking, especially when some friends who went to the show not knowing my work was going to be displayed sent me texts commenting on how they have no idea I have any artistic inclination. Their kind compliments boosted my confidence, and even helped me have to courage to tell some of my other friends to go check it out, not only to support me, but also all the other student artists. This is one reason why the art show is valuable to Butler students. I'm sure there are many other shy, not-so-confident individuals who want to be creative or already are inherently talented, but never get any recognition. Small compliments go a long way, and personally, I'm more confident in my creative skills and am sure that anyone could benefit from encouraging words. Who knows, perhaps the next Picasso hasn't been discovered because he doesn't have an outlet to display his work and hear the positive reinforcement.