Elizabeth D. Stark Art Scholarship

Name: Janine Olshefski Age: 21 School: Pratt Institute of Art (BFA) (emphasis in drawing) Art has always been my own form of personal therapy, although when I was younger, I did not understand it that way. I just knew that when I was drawing, painting or creating, I felt calmer. When I had a hard time with anything, whether it was a school project, an emotional situation or anxiety, using my “words” in the form of art helped me through. Art helped me with my academic work. When I struggled at school, I was better able to absorb and retain the information if I could draw while the teacher was talking. I was finally diagnosed with dyslexia in seventh grade which is why writing book reports or papers would cause great frustration and anxiety, but when I was allowed to submit part of the project in art form, I was able to express my knowledge of the content. Having an art component with any writing project made me more excited about the subject matter and improved my grades. I was willing to do the reading so that I could express my conclusions in art form in addition to the written words. Art helped with my self-confidence. I was never an athletic girl, although I tried many sports, and academics were difficult, but with art, I felt confident. I knew I was more skilled than the average student and had been since an early age. I received national recognition for a picture I drew when I was six years old. When I started to get noticed by my peers and teachers, I knew I had found my passion. Several teachers asked to keep my academic art projects to use as examples for their future classes. I also realized that drawing pet portrait commissions for friends and family provided me with some income. Art gave me a path forward to college. I graduated from high school during the pandemic, so visiting colleges was not possible. I finally had the academic grades to attend a liberal arts college, but I knew that listening to lectures and writing term papers for another four years was not for me, so I chose to go to an art college. Although liberal arts classes are still required, they are taught with an art focus and typically require an art component in addition to written content and I knew I could do that. I was not sure of my career path when I started college, but for the past two summers I worked as a counselor at an art camp and discovered that I enjoy teaching elementary school age children. Teaching young artists allows me to share my passion. I love to see the excitement when a camper creates a piece they are proud to show off or works with a medium they have never used before. Art education is what I was meant to do and higher education is required. I am planning to take my passion and what I have learned in art school and supplement it with teaching credentials. I know this means I will have to take additional courses which will require more tuition, but I am ready for it because teaching will bring me fulfillment. At camp I saw many children who remind me of myself at that age … not too athletic, lacking confidence or feeling anxious. If having an artistic outlet during the school day can help them to bring some inner calm or a sense of accomplishment, that will be my reward.

I began taking art lessons at the age of five from my mother, and by around age 6, I was taking art classes at the Virginia Museum fine Arts (VMFA) with her. Not the exact same classes of course, but it felt serendipitous just the same. As I continued my education I ventured into the biological field to satisfy the expectations and wants of others, only realizing in my first year of my undergraduate studies that it was not what I wanted to pursue. This led me to follow the field that has been with me my whole life, and to seek knowledge and a career in Art History, specifically working in collections management and curatorial departments. Throughout my undergraduate and now graduate study of art history at Virginia Commonwealth University, School of the Arts, I've come to understand just how nuanced the field of art history is, particularly when contemplating the role of the museum in its development. Museum spaces have the opportunity to present new methods to change the canon and progress art history into a transcultural, transnational field that provides an example for a manner in which society can come to learn and understand the world. However, the importance of acknowledging local histories and uplifting local artists is essential to this understanding as well. As it allows the museum to establish a particular positionality within the art world and the community, while also permitting a fluidity that facilitates ways of knowing that are constantly evolving. Moreover, the evolution of the museum is essential for creating archives and curating exhibits that break out of the cycles of western hegemony. Hence, my main learning objective in my graduate education is to assist in building new methodologies and archives, which underpin the curation of exhibits in the museum. For that reason, the main departments/offices I’d like to develop my education in are collections management, curatorial departments, and development. Experience in collections management would allow me to work with many processes and departments, while also teaching me how the archive is/can be organized. Understanding how works of art are classified, and categorized would provide insight into not only the systemic structure of the museum, but the art historical field as a whole. Furthermore, gaining this understanding is necessary to fully grasp the underpinnings of curatorial research and facilitating impactful exhibitions. The benefits of a well organized archive on a practical, methodological, and conceptual level, lies in its ability to prime other departments such as curatorial, in putting together exhibitions and programming. On a developmental level, fostering relationships with local communities, administration, and organizations allows the museum to grow a relationship with the public and maintains the museum's status as an educational institution by discerning what the public is interested in and what they want to know. Furthermore, roles in development assist in creating partnerships within and across communities via providing funds, while simultaneously ensuring that any funding the museum receives itself is put towards progressing the space in the interest of public service. Through my studies I’d be able to develop into a curator, researcher, or director, that I believe the field needs. This would allow me to assist in putting together exhibitions or building programming that inspires another 5 or 6 year old, or another 45 or 46 year old, and open their eyes to the power and prevalence of art in their life, and how it connects them to the lives of other people around the world.

Art is the most effective way I know to express myself. I have grown up in a community of artists, creative thinkers, and communicators. Being surrounded by creativity has allowed me to feel comfortable embracing my individuality and to use self-expression to form connections between seemingly unconnected things. Art has given me the power to create something from nothing and also something from everything. Art has guided me to take the less-traveled, but more unique and impactful path of communication. When something inspires me, I plummet into an energized mode of impassioned research, sketches, and brainstorms to connect my concepts with my materials through a multidisciplinary format. I’ve also always valued group performance as an important way to express myself, but when the COVID-19 pandemic began to rattle the world as we know it, it took away my voice and sense of self as part of my artistic community. I shifted towards visual expression because it was more accessible. I realized that most of what drew me into performance was the history behind telling a story and the visual aspects of it, such as costumes and makeup. With all this time by myself, I developed my skills and style as a solo artist and incorporated my roots in performance while adding other creative methods that were more accessible while I was in quarantine. To keep myself company, I listened to music and began exploring all sorts of genres. Inspired by these newfound tunes, I experimented with poetry and lyric writing, as a form of introspection and identity solidification. I shifted more towards visual art and experimented in producing self-directed forms of theater. I was reminded that creative self-expression endures all hardships. What I concluded was that when I create the message, performance, and visuals, I feel most like myself, and most like an artist. Because of the pandemic’s shift on my creative opportunities from social to singular, I’ve been able to prove to myself that my artistic voice is powerful, even when standing alone and no matter what the world sends my way. My professional creative involvement began in 2019, when I co-founded Generation Ratify, a youth-led gender equality organization that has grown to over 10,000 members across the country. In my experience working collaboratively as the National Creative Director, I’ve dedicated my skills in communicating as an artist to make fighting for equality as magnetic, engaging, and creative as possible. However, I’ve noticed there’s always a disconnect between how people think change can be made and the reality of creative possibilities. Through my work so far, I’ve shown that artists are as necessary in the process of change as anyone else. It’s our nature to look at the world differently and create new possibilities – to create an exchange of radical art, radical expression, and radical values. As an artist, I want to get the point not only across, but front and center. Through a creative education, I aim to connect further with my creative tenacity, while developing a range of technical skills and learning experiences. When I am able to synthesize these skills and advance my style as an artist, the impact of my creations can be even greater. I know I can develop my unique understanding and vision for the world even more and learn how to utilize it in the real world to take action. My artistic visions have had a long and winding journey to get to where they are today, and they will continue onwards on that path through pursuing an arts education and beyond.

I had never seriously considered a career in the arts until the day I came across the Pazyryk Rug while doing some research for a fashion design project. Consumed by a Wikipedia rabbithole I was on an hour long tangent looking at ancient pieces of Persian art, each one more stunning than the former. After a while I had drifted from the original topic of the architectural remains of Persepolis to achaemenid jewelry and coinage to edged weapons to rugs. I clicked on an image of a tattered old rug, the Pazyryk Rug, the oldest rug discovered. So shocked at the existence of the 2500 year old rug, I enlarged the image and began to inspect it as best I could, and, amazingly, the color and bulk of the rug had remained intact due to a combination of precipitation and low temperature conditions in the royal grave in which it was buried. Everything about this handwoven rug was astounding to me; the design was much more complex for a rug of that era than I thought possible. The anatomical renderings of the elks on the rug show the weavers’ mastery of the loom, and repetition of the elements along the border, maintaining even spacing, consistency, and symmetry, also reflect their artistic prowess. Reflecting on the advanced construction and complex imagery of this rug, questions started swirling around in my mind. How many hours went into each and every knot in the pile of that rug? How many hands touched this rug before its final form came to fruition? What were these artisans encountering in their daily lives that inspired their patterns? Suddenly I was brought back to the moment, sitting in my backyard thinking about how this artform had been passed down through generations and reached me. After studying the rug and understanding its unique story, I felt the overwhelming need to share this discovery with everyone who would listen. Days later I found myself coming back to this experience, the desire to curate spaces that give these works context and allow people to experience the same intensity of emotion I felt coming across that artifact. Art History as a study connects us through place and time by giving us insight into the values and priorities of specific cultures; by responding to the culture art acts as a commentary, either by validating or subverting the norms of a society. Months later as I think back to that rug I understand how it compelled me to appreciate the transcendent nature of art. The decision to pursue a life in the arts allows me to feel such a profound connection with people whom I will never meet, like the Pazyryk people who were nomadic and had contact with my ancestors. The arts remind me that I am part of something much bigger than myself -- and I want to give others the opportunity for that transcendent experience as well.