Hi and welcome to my art blog Wording Art! I decided to start this blog because I’m always eager to talk about artworks that interest me, but it’s hard to launch art talk at people. I also hope to share my love for art, because I feel that the general view of art and the art world is that it is inaccessible to many. I was definitely one of those who thought so before.

It’s funny how I fell into the world of art. Everyone of course starts out drawing cute kiddy pictures with stick figures and smiley faces, but I continued to pursue art, dabbling in some painting, ink painting, Chinese calligraphy, and cartoon sketching. They weren’t necessarily good, mind you. It never came to anything, and school work started to creep up on me, and my childhood art venture was then forgotten, dreams of being an artist cancelled. I think the biggest problem though, was the fact that I never knew what to draw.

I didn’t hold much interest for art, and I didn’t actively look for art to see. I love to read, and I got into Ally Condie’s Matched series, which is itself an amazing series and a melting pot of topics. Reached, the third book in the series, had a scene where two characters were studying a painting and talking about what it meant to them. I looked up the painting after I was done with the book, but I was sadly unimpressed. That’s how it looks like? Really?

When I saw the suggestion for Cath Crowley’s Graffiti Moon on my goodreads, with a graffiti artist and a glass artist as its protagonists, I was excited to try a book that was full-out based around art. Story wise, it was not bad but the art works (both real and fictional) mentioned sounded great. The same process followed: I loved the writing but didn’t like the art works so much. Well, that’s that, I thought.

I read those books in the holiday before I started university. In the first two weeks of every semester, we have an Add/Drop period when we can check out any class we want. Being an eager first-year student (and I still do this every time), I filled up my schedule with many classes to see how they were like, even though I knew I wasn’t going to take them. The Fine Arts department was offering the course “Introduction to Western Art History” then, and I thought, that sounds interesting, why not check it out for kicks?

I don’t know what weird magic was going on in the lecture room, but I fell in love with the class 15 minutes in. As the professor continued to run through the syllabus, I was just thinking: I want to take this class. Wait, do I really want to take this?! I was in a sorry dilemma all on my own.

I decided to try the class again in the second week to make sure I really wanted it. I ended up enrolling in it, though I was half-doubting my decision the whole time. It took a year and another class before I was completely convinced that I was really going to go for a Fine Arts major.

A lot of secondary school students, during the university’s Information Day, often ask if they need to know how to draw when you study Fine Arts. I remember myself asking that very same question to seniors earlier. The great thing is: you don’t! I still have no idea what or how to draw or sculpt or whatever if you asked me to, but I love learning about artworks created in centuries past and seeing new contemporary pieces by artists today. I don’t have to like everything I see, but I’ve learnt to be patient and think about what I have to say about it. Of course, there are times when I have nothing to say, i.e. I don’t like it, but that’s fair enough.

I hope that by sharing my personal take on various artworks that caught my eye, you will be more open to the art and beauty around you. To all other art lovers, it will be great to hear your opinions and views too! I would like to think that more people can take a chance and step into a Fine Arts class, gallery, museum or exhibition. You never know what magic is awaiting you. ;)