Art History; I know for a fact that “fun” isn’t the word that first comes to mind when you read that. Lets just say that I was pretty much shoved into taking this class, I don’t like it, and it sure does not like me. I have never been an artist, or a historian, so this course has been a challenge for me, to say the least.
So why am I writing about a class that I dread you ask? Well, Art History has given me a challenge, one that I have yet to face in my 18 years. It has not only thrown me into the obstacle of memorizing the countless portraits, buildings, and sculptures of our past, it has provided me an even greater task. This course challenges my knowledge on a truly intellectual level.
I am used to being given a list of things to memorize, then doing it, but I have never been given something, which I have never seen before, and have been asked not only what it is, but also why it is. My art class makes you go beyond memorization to a deeper thinking, one in which you must go beyond what a work of art is, and examine why it is, what makes it a Greek Vase, or a Roman sculpture, or a Byzantine painting.
It seems simple from an outside perspective, but it has taken me time to develop into that critical thinker in which my art professor strives for us to be. I feel that though I am not entirely interested in the course that I am gaining knowledge that extends beyond a piece of artwork. Thank you, Art History, for being both the greatest and worst thing that has happened to me this semester.
**portait above: Laocoon and His Two Sons (Greek Hellenistic Period 1st Century CE)
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