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Maria Soboleva
Arts Scholar
Pentathlon Semester 2
During my last semester as an Art Scholar I attended five more virtual art events. These experiences sparked discussion among my peers and made me reflect on the significance of the arts.
For my first pentathlon event, I attended the Arts Scholars Online Game Night at 3 PM on Saturday, February 6, 2021.
Arts Scholars Amy and Vicki hosted a game of DrawPhone on the site rocketcrab. DrawPhone is like the game Telephone but with drawing! Being in Arts Scholars there were some amazing artists in our group who created some masterpieces. However, some of the participants would take a long time to draw so the game lasted an hour. I also noticed often times the worse quality drawings were more entertaining to describe than the perfect drawings. This game revealed how sometimes the quality of art does not matter to be able to fully communicate a message. Some simpler prompts like 'apple' and 'snowman' never changed drastically because everyone had a universal image of those words which was recognizable for everyone. Some prompts however changed drastically and it was hilarious to see the transition. One prompt started as 'Super Bowl Sunday' and ended as 'blood'. This game highlighted the subjectivity of art and how consumers of art can take away so many different meanings from the same artwork. As an artist myself I can often get caught up in tiny imperfections and feel frustrated by my own artwork not being good enough. This game reminded me that the execution doesn't have to be perfect for my art to be meaningful and appreciated by others. When I am working on art projects for my two sculpture classes this semester, I need to remind myself perfection in art is not as necessary as I think it is. The hosts did a great job making the event fun and entertaining! #presentation #artsscholars
On February 28, 2021 at 5:30 PM Tiffany and I hosted a breakout room for the 2-in-1 Pentathlon event! In Room 2 the participants played scribbl.io together. The game is similar to Pictionary where one person draws while the others use the chat function to guess the subject of the drawing. In our first round we had a few technical difficulties because setting up the game took a long time to load and there was a long ad. More people were familiar with the game in the first round and there were some fun drawings. We realized there was a max of 12 people who could play so Tiffany didn't play the second round so someone else could join. In the second round things ran more smoothly and we were able to play twice with five minutes to spare! During the game a few people got kicked because "connection was lost", including myself! So I had to figure out how to rejoin and continue sharing my screen. Tiffany also had the good idea to play background music because the call was mostly quiet while people played. Each round had a winner and we were successfully able to get their contact information. This was one of the first times I was co-host on a zoom call and I learned how to admit people from the waiting room, how to create breakout rooms, and how to screen-share a portion of my screen. I will be able to use these new skills in future zoom meetings, specifically for tutoring online which I have been doing to get experience for my education major. This was my first time being a leader in an online event and it was a positive learning experience! #presentation #artscholars
On April 6, 2021 at 7:30 PM I attended an AAB poetry slam over zoom! First the group broke into three break out rooms. Each room did a mad libs game for a poem. Then we came back together as a group and the leaders shared the nonsensical poetry. Some of it was pretty funny. After that individuals could read aloud poems they wrote or liked. I debated sharing but in the end I decided not to because I was nervous. I debated sharing a poem I wrote in my poetry workshop. I hope the next time I get the chance to share my poetry I do it because I regret not sharing. Some people wrote amazing poetry that got very personal and it was a very safe space to share. It was interesting how everyone had their own styles and flows, it was very individualized work. A lot of presenters were from my poetry workshop, connecting this event directly to poem concepts I learned. Everyone was extremely supportive and kind during the event. People threw love into the chat after every poem. I felt a great sense of community even over zoom. From this event I learned the importance of creating a safe space and I was reminded how much I love poetry as an outlet. I hope to keep reading beautiful poetry that inspires me. I want to keep writing poetry to express myself and then share it with others. As an art education major I would like to teach art someday. With art comes writing about art and I think I could apply poetry to things such as artists statements, labels, and wall texts. I think good, relevant poetry can inspire creative ideas and very successfully support artwork. Having students write a poem with their art could be a good future interdisciplinary project. In conclusion, this event was an exciting way to hear some good poems and left me thinking about poetry. #literature
On April 12, 2021 I watched an hour-long lecture by Marilyn Minter at the Hirshhorn Museum on November 21, 2019 discussing her artwork and process. Minter went in semi-chronological order, discussing different paintings, photographs, videos and exhibitions she has created since college. She began her lecture by talking about a series of photos she took of her drug-addict mother who really inspired many of her ideas about the ugliness in beauty. Minter explained how she developed her skills in school to become a photorealist artist, painting “boring” floors, photos, and spills of coffee. Out of school she began working with enamel paint, and fell in love with its ability to layer. Her body of work shifted to focus on glamor and fashion, but the ugly and realistic underbelly that is often avoided. She painted and shot photos and videos of models in heels splashing through mud. She explored models with freckles and imperfect skin. She painted a series of pubic hair and wanted to make it beautiful. The lecture was a wonderful summary of Marilyn Minter’s artwork over the years and showed how she built upon past ideas and transitioned into more complex ideas and thought, which translated into more complex artwork. Her main theme of exploration was the female body and its relationship to beauty. Her work was called “the pathology of glamour” because of how Minter explored distortion, dirtiness and ugliness in beauty. These ideas tied back to her mother, a beautiful woman who slowly decayed from drugs. This lecture gave me insight on how to give engaging presentations. Minter spoke in a semi-professional, casual manner. She was relaxed and made ironic jokes when appropriate, which made the audience laugh and made her more personable and interesting to listen to. She had good pacing and didn’t spend too long explaining any one project. She also showed abbreviated versions of video projects and nothing longer than two minutes, which is a great choice during a lecture for the attention span of listeners. None of the slides were labelled but Minter would mention the name of the exhibition or series, as well as the year during which she worked on it. This choice communicated her intimate knowledge with the artwork being presented in the slides and conveyed her expertise at public speaking. I will use these techniques in the future when I present my artwork, such as my capstone project. #film
Pentathlon: News
Pentathlon Semester 1
As an experiential component of College Park Arts Scholars, I attended a selection of five art events during my first semester. These events ranged in art mediums and each sparked dialogue among my peers.
For my first pentathlon event, I explored a new online exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum called Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960-1985. One of my favorite works featured was Gloria Camiruaga’s Popsicles (1982), where girls licked popsicles until they revealed plastic soldiers inside. This piece was very thought-provoking and commented on the sexualization of young girls, and the lasting effects of the militarized Chilean dictatorship. I hope to see more exhibitions focused on women artists, specifically women of color, in the future. #visualart
For my second pentathlon event I watched one of my favorite movies of all time! Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a masterpiece. It is gorgeously animated to make the viewer immersed in a comics world. Furthermore, Miles Morales is the first hispanic and black Spiderman, and that representation is so important!
#film
For my third pentathlon event I read The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I received the book as a Christmas present from a family friend. The story is captivating but quite sad. Early in the book the main character, 12-year-old Theo, loses his mother and this tragedy follows him for the rest of his life. This book pushed my limits as a reader since it is quite long and Tartt's writing style is detail-oriented. I would like to read more often for fun because recently everything I read is for school. #literature
For my fourth pentathlon event, my friend Paulina and I went to a Zumba Dance Class! On Halloween Day we went to an outdoor, socially distant Zumba class at the One Life gym in Rockville. I learned some new footwork and dance moves and I realized Zumba is kind of hard. There was a costume contest so we dressed up as 80's fitness ladies. I wore orange tights and pink leg warmers!
#dance
On November 17, 2020 at 7:30 PM I went to Chill With a Quill Arthouse hosted by the AAB. We read three poems and I wrote a letter to myself which I will open in 2025. This is a picture of the last poem of the night. I enjoyed writing since I've been typing everything recently. My hand cramped! Writing out my honest feelings for my future self to read was very therapeutic.
#presentation
Pentathlon: News
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