Graduation!!!!

It's official!! In August, I finally finished my last class at BYU and satisfied all the requirements for graduation. A few weeks later, in September I opened up my mailbox to find a nice big envelope with my Diploma in it! YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! It feels great to finally be done with this goal of getting a Bachelor's degree that I started 4 years ago! I can't believe it took me so long to finish, but I have learned a lot of valuable lessons that I wouldn't trade for anything.

My degree in Humanities with an emphasis in Art History has been a very fulfilling and rewarding field of study. I was able to travel to Europe to study the works of the masters in person, and get college credit for it! Who could frown at that? I have improved my reading, writing, and critical thinking skills and have learned to appreciate the beauty that is all around me. I have also become much more open to different schools of thought, and have learned to appreciate differing opinions that allow me to see the world from a new perspective.

My favorite teacher at BYU was Carl Sederholm. He taught several of my American Humanities classes and one of my capstone courses. He is a very humorous, caring and thoughtful instructor. Some of the works of art and literature that I now consider some of my favorites were ones that I studied in his classes. We read a book called "The Coquette" which was very entertaining and helped me to look at my own dating habits from a more cautious point of view. We studied paintings by Joseph William Mallord Turner, which exposed me to what is now one of my favorite paintings, "Dido Building Carthage."

I like this painting not necessarily because of its visual appeal, but because of the story behind it. Dido was a widow who was able to overcome many obstacles to build a great city. I guess I like it because I can identify with her character and hope that I can also do great things with my life despite my challenges. We also studied Thomas Cole and his "Course of Empire" series which I also really enjoy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Course_of_Empire.

In one of my other classes, we were assigned to write a formal analysis of a work of art chosen from the "Beholding Salvation: Images of Christ" exhibit that was then on display at the BYU museum of art. http://monet.byu.edu/emuseum/code/emuseum.asp?style=single&currentrecord=5&page=seealso&profile=objects&searchdesc=Related%20to%20RON%20RICHMOND&newvalues=1&rawsearch=Exhibition/,/is/,/Beholding%20Salvation:%20Images%20of%20Christ/,/false/,/true&newstyle=browse&newprofile=objects&newsearchdesc=Exhibition%20is%20Beholding%20Salvation:%20Images%20of%20Christ&newcurrentrecord=1&module=objects

I really enjoyed this exhibit because it was interesting to see the development of different artistic styles and movements and how the Savior has been a common theme as a subject of art through all these changes. I was really struck by some of the paintings by Ron Richmond, and I chose to write about Exchange No. 8. I liked the representational idea behind this painting, how it represents Christ without showing an actual image of him. It calls to mind the verse in Isaiah 1:18- "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow." I would post excerpts from my paper here, but I can't seem to find the file. If anyone has actually read through this post long enough to reach this point, 10 points for not getting bored out of your mind. If you care enough to read what I actually wrote for this assignment, send me an email and I'll find the copy. :p

So basically what I am saying is that my major totally ROCKED and I loved the opportunities I had to study amazing works of art by amazing people.

The End. :)