It’s a hard and fast fall going from graduating high school senior to incoming college freshman. But so much of life ebbs and flows.
I was a scared university newbie in the summer of 1977. The first in my family to pursue higher ed, I was nervous about my capabilities and uncertain of my major.
I thought perhaps I’d study education since I seemed to know more about that than I knew about myself. But I also knew that choice was more intellectual than heartfelt and I’d hoped, soon, I’d be able to reconcile the two.
Because upperclassmen had already gobbled up many of the electives and nearly all of the late morning/early afternoon classes, I was left with a handful of choices, almost all of them “8 o’clocks.”
Ugh.
Among the openings, Art Appreciation 101 at the crack of dawn on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
I didn’t have a lick of artistic talent and didn’t know a thing about art or its impact on the world. Sure, I’d taken an art class in high school, making collages and learning a bit about the color wheel, but what did I know about neoclassicism or arts-and-crafts or the influence of the Medici family?
It all seemed so foreign and it made me nervous the way unfamiliarity tends to do. But it fulfilled a university study requirement and got me to 18 hours, so I signed on.
And my life has never been the same.
I came to love those early morning forays into history’s creative side. I learned about impressionism, art deco, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh.
I learned about ancient architecture and the differences between ionic, corinthian and doric columns. I was introduced to Notre-Dame Cathedral and its flying buttresses and gargoyles.
It was fascinating how wealth, religion and law have influenced art and how art has influenced power throughout history. I learned how humans have used art as a means to control, communicate, comfort and express themselves since time began.
Even in the absence of money and power and hope, art somehow continues to tell its story.
That autumn, Art Appreciation taught me a lot about humanity and even more about myself. I realized I liked wandering beyond my comfort zone. I liked learning new things.
I realized then that I wanted a career that would enable me to be more of a student than a teacher. I chose journalism, a profession that would let me question and explore new things almost daily, and one that enabled me to cross paths with art on many occasions.
The purpose of education is to enable you to think and appreciate your ability to think, and then to take that realization and run with it. Whether you’re a fast learner or a slow one, whether you have a knack for numbers or words, the breadth of your world will always be determined by your willingness to think.
Yes, the early years of school are filled with lots of memorization but once you have the tools to reason and calculate and expand, you can venture into any discipline, enriching your mind, honing skills you never knew you had and enabling yourself to become the person you are destined to become.
That early morning class my first semester as a college student has not earned me a dime in recompense. But it has made me rich beyond years. It has broadened my world, piqued so many interests and taught me the real value of knowledge.
Because of that introduction, I have delved on my own into all kinds of art adventures. I have studied artistic styles, read artist biographies and visited famous artists’ homes.
I still don’t have a lick of talent when it comes to producing art and I’m a million years away from being any kind of an expert but that’s OK. My love for art is just for me.
It has prompted me to visit museums in Chicago and around the world, just to pass the afternoon admiring the works of others, always trying to picture what their world was like when they were sharing their vision.
Ten years ago, I spent a lovely afternoon daydreaming at Claude Monet’s home in Giverny, France. Last year, I was moved to tears when I finally saw Van Gogh’s original “The Starry Night” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Much of my home is decorated with the original works of soon-to-be discovered artists I have met on the streets of Italy, Spain and Morocco.
Chasing art has become my thing, much the way some people make music or sports their passion. You don’t have to be a musician or an athlete to appreciate those disciplines. Same for art.
Art Appreciation 101 counted toward my bachelor of arts degree requirements. But more than that, it gifted me with a lifelong love.
I like to think that fate once handed me a canvas and I have spent a lifetime lovingly completing the assignment.
Donna Vickroy is an award-winning reporter, editor and columnist who worked for the Daily Southtown for 38 years. She can be reached at donnavickroy4@gmail.com.
