I plan to make a positive impact on the world through my art by inspiring social change. This includes addressing inequity within the Black and Queer community and how to address self growth. Growing up, I never felt I properly verbalized what troubled me. I used my artistic gift to address and confront the struggles that lingered around me since I was little. This includes racial prejudice, queer visibility, and the curse of generational trauma. With this in mind, I want to use my art to inspire a desire to combat social injustice. As a Black artist, I want to make a positive impact on showing younger Black artists that it’s possible to succeed in a creativity driven field. Most of my life, I have been told by other older Black individuals that I would have to find a “real career”. With this in mind, I was to shift the perspective of that. I want my art to positively impact younger generations in Black communities by inspiring them to create things that can both benefit their well-being and spark social change like I hope for my art. As a Queer artist, I want to give back to the queer community by giving them pieces they can discuss and develop alongside. A Black queer man in Southern America, I currently can relate to the anxieties and fears that others in my community feel. With my art, I want to motivate other queer people like me to be open and present about who they art. I want my art to positively impact Queer people like myself by giving them the courage to live their true identity. I want my art to inspire a level of revolution and self introspection for my peers. This Includes being able to discuss and tackle issues of race relations, self evaluation, and interpersonal relationships. I greatly want my art to provoke the verbalization and action in individuals that are similar to me. Within my art, I want to give others the voice that I am currently learning to use within my visual art.

I have chosen to pursue art because it has given me an open chance to express myself. Growing up, I always felt ostracized in any community I was in. With this being a hurdle I’ve faced, art has given me the chance to strike conversation and let others have a better understanding of me. Art has given me strength to address hardships and traumas I’ve experienced that without it, I would have never had the courage to speak up or combat it head on. I view art so passionately because it is the most open form of expression I use to communicate. Another reason I have chosen to pursue art is because it allows me to share the stories of others around me. Seeing the unique lifestyles and behaviors of other individuals has inspired me to consistently document it by visual means. This documentation could be captured within a simple sketch of friends having dinner conversation, or by emotional display of metal fabrication on a sculpture. Within pursuing art, being able to analyze people's interactions and way of life has been an integral part of my artistic practice. I am artistically inspired by social change and tackling unique perspectives. This includes topics of Black identity, Queer culture, and the portrayal of Black American leisure and fantasy. All of these topics are in consistent rotation within all of my works. These topics inspire me because it gives me an opportunity to give another person a new outlook on a specific subject or marginalization. A key factor in my art is inspired by social change because it gives an opportunity to address the hardships plagued by me and my respective communities. This includes themes of combating hate against both the Black and Queer community, self love and reflection of the Ego, and inner relations with family and community. Growing up, I never felt I properly verbalized what troubled me. With this in mind, I used my artistic gift to address and confront the struggles that lingered around me since I was little. Unique perspectives have also shaped my art by giving me a better way to empathize with others. Relating others' experiences with my art has allowed me to have an “out-of-body” experience when channeling the perspectives of others. With this ability, I’ve been given the chance to understand different perspectives of other individuals around me. This has broadened my understanding of the world and community around me.

To me, art means the expression of oneself through alternative means. Instead of using basic means such as verbal dialogue or physical gestures, art broadens the methods of expression widely. This expression is explored through means of craft, display, and installation. Instead of discussing a subject, two people could silently comprhend an idea through a composition. In contrast to telling someone how to feel, a simple shift within a sculpture could convey that emotion. Having people interact with an installed piece could spark more community verses having organized meetings. Within art, expression plays a key factor on what makes it possible. Art is my passion because it gives me an open chance to express myself. Growing up, I always felt ostracized in any community I was in. With this being a hurdle I’ve faced, art has given me the chance to strike conversation and let others have a better understanding of me. Art has given me strength to address hardships and traumas I’ve experienced that without it, I would have never had the courage to speak up or combat it head on. I view art so passionately because it is the most open form of expression I use to communicate. The challenges that I’ve faced that this scholarship would help me with are being able to afford resources. As a printmaking and metal sculptor, the cost of materials play a major role in my creative practice. This includes being able to afford such materials as etching tools and scrap metal for my works. With this scholarship, I believe that I would be able to expand my creative practice, both in scale and experimentation.

A time that I demonstrated exceptional leadership in my academic journey was when I was helping set up a campus art vendors event. I was in charge of organizing and making sure that myself and other arts were comfortable and well set up to sell their items. This event partook from Eleven in the morning to Four in the Afternoon, taking up a good chunk of the day. While being a fun experience, this event gave me a lot of leadership insight. The challenges I faced through this were mainly experienced through the other vendors. While they were nice, keeping in contact with them for the event was a daunting task. Due to us having different lives and schedules, organizing meetings was a nerve-wracking task. Another struggle that I faced were some vendors not showing up and accommodating for their absence when it came to set up and the breaking down of the separate stations. While it seemed like a struggle to come to fruition, there were a good amount of positive skills that I’ve adapted from this experience. The skills that I obtained from this experience were compassion, team-building, and an overall nuance towards planning. My compassion was better developed by working with others and getting to know more about my peers by the way they worked and the items they sold. This in return let me strengthen my team-building skills by getting to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the people I worked with, helping me plan ahead better. With the new experiences of marketplace setup and vending, this broadened my mind towards a more nuanced approach to how I personally plan. The overall impact I gained from this event was gaining an understanding of community and well-being. Before this experience, I was very narrow minded when it came to working within a community. I held myself to a sense of individualism, while it can help sometimes, it would not always be a great mindset to approach things on. Having been a part of this community activity, I now approach things with a more community based mindset, while tackling objectives within groups or collectives. This also helped my well being by knowing I don’t have to face certain tasks alone. I plan to apply my skills to my future career to make a positive difference by applying the compassion and understanding that I’ve gained from this experience. Instead of avoiding complex tasks I face alone, I will now gather individuals that can take on the task with me. Instead of not working with someone I have differences with, I will now learn to apply a middle ground for both of us to work together with. Instead of non-confrontational action being accepted, I will now approach things with a more head-strong mindset. Overall, this art vendor event impacted me into becoming a better leader.

Having a single, working parent can provide challenges at times, particularly in the educational environment. Unlike most two-parent households, one parent fulfills both duties. Rather than having two people to help along the way, like helping with homework or coming to school events together, the responsibility of handling everything is placed upon one parent. For this reason, I am incredibly appreciative of the single parent who has supported me in achieving my educational goals. The person that has supported me the most in reaching my educational goals is my mother. Growing up without a stable father figure in my life, my mother has always been there to guide my curious thirst for knowledge in the right direction. She has been strong, enduring, and ever present within my educational career. Whether it be staying up late nights to help me with a problem or teaching me alternative methods, my mom has been a great help towards my educational goals. A unique way my mother has helped my education is by being a teacher herself. She has taught me and others from Preschool up until High School. Her perseverance to help teach children has always influenced my education. This led to me wanting to put my best foot forward in my education, eventually leading to me finishing high school with a few college course credits. Her aid in helping myself and others learn will forever impact the way I pursue my educational goals. Another way my mom has supported my goals is by going back to university the same time I started. I found this inspirational by her showing if she can do it, I was able to as well. We would spend time discussing how classwork could be handled, to her helping both of us financially plan for our semesters. These bonding moments towards a shared educational goal really helped me in times of trouble throughout my college semesters. I found it very empowering for my mother to go back and finish her degree and show me that it was attainable. All things considered, I felt that these techniques had an influence because they raised my desire to study and advance in my studies. Her willingness to pursue an education and become an educator is evidence of this. In addition to pushing her studies, my mother has inspired me and shown me what is achievable. She has helped me in my educational goals for enlightenment and knowledge. I am very thankful for my mother and her aid upon my academic journey.

I have been helping others with their mental health by assisting them within their struggles and being a willing listener to their troubles. This includes methods of providing words of encouragement, tackling the issue alongside them, and providing them a safe space to voice their concerns. I believe by giving these opportunities, I hope to boost the morale and well being of the people around me. I also believe that my career in the arts can assist in aiding others' mental health. By sharing the experiences and hardships of my peers via my artwork, I hope to use my career and studies in art to provide emotional support to those around me. I think that by doing this, I would show them that they are not the only ones going through difficult times. This could also be used as a learning experience for me, being able to approach different viewpoints and hardships within myself as a person and artist. I think that by using art to communicate and visualize others' challenges, mental health can be made more approachable and understandable. The expression of art has been used throughout time to assist with mental health. Whether boosting the wellness of the creatives involved or the viewers experiencing it, art has been a historical aid when it comes to mental health. This has been exemplified in art such as “The Scream”, by Edvard Munch and the paintings of Francis Bacon. In this series of works, Munch exemplifies his experience with a panic attack in public, allowing his audience a sense of vulnerability with his mental health. With Francis Bacon’s work, he expressed the struggles of the subconscious mind, exemplifying the facets of understanding mental health issues. Overall by using my studies art, I am helping the others around me by telling their stories within a visual medium. This is aidful to my peers by it being a learning vessel not only for myself, but others who are struggling with similar issues. Along with this, I plan to assist my peers' mental health by giving them a safe space to express themselves.

The person that has played the biggest influence in my life is my grandmother. The reason why my grandmother is my biggest influence is due to her everstrong persistence throughout both of our lives. While not always understanding my artistic intent or goals, she would always go out of her way to engage in artistic and thoughtful conversation about my work or the work around me. Her nuanced opinion and suggestions, while claiming not to be an artist herself, would gear me to not only make the most important decisions in my artistic career, but the most important decisions in my life. I will use my artistic skills to be innovative after I graduate by showing the world more alternative and intriguing ways to make art. This will be done by broadening what most overtime has seen as “fad” or novelty art. This includes uses of glow in the dark, blacklight fluorescent, and light-reactive art. I feel that these movements of art have been overlooked by history, although the overall concept of light and pigmentation have been the key cornerpieces to the entire history of visual arts. Another way I will use my artistic skills to be innovative is to show other aspiring and upcoming black artists it’s okay to be an alternative individual. Whenever I was growing up, I was often ridiculed or ostracized for not liking stereotypically “black” things. This would include not being heavily interested in things like Basketball and Rap, while favoring more niche things like Art and Rock. I want to use my artistic skills to uplift and inspire other “weird” black artists, in a sense being the guide that I desired when I was younger. My artistic skill is different by the way I approach colors within composition. This can be included but not limited to experimenting with light reactive art. My experimentation is done with the process of shifting color or light properties with the use of either natural light, blacklight, or LED lights. These are also intertwined with the use of different glow and fluorescent paints. These properties can and have been used to make properties in my composition glow, disappear and reappear, and give prime focus to certain sections in a composition. Overall, I want the use of my art to not only enhance the mediums of art itself, but me as an alternative black individual. The art that I make will be innovative by challenging the notations and stereotypes of being a black man and artist. This will be done through the uses of different lights and fluorescents within my art. As an ever growing student and artist, I not only hope to keep pushing the limits for myself, but making my grandmother proud of the artist she helped greatly influence.

Hello, my name is Jalen Williams. I am an upcoming junior at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. I am a North Carolina based artist pursuing a bachelor’s in Fine Arts. I am ambitious in making a positive impact on the world by giving inspiration and creativity back towards the community that helped me grow. This will address the need for community engagement, individualism, and resource management. As an artist, developing community engagement is not only important in my career, but overall important to society. The use of community engagement has weakened overtime in society, showing a divide with people more than ever . I believe that my art could contribute to the issue of divided communities, emboldening and unifying groups and communities. Whether it is a local event to bring family together or a smaller event to certain areas, this would benefit the community by expanding positive interaction in a collaborative manner. This need would be achieved by gathering the resources aided by the community to do collaborative events. Resource management is another social issue that I would like to address in my career. Over the past century, a lot of art materials have been a draw back to the world. This has included toxic and dangerous materials like oil paints, paint thinner, and cadmium. With my resources, I plan to find alternatives for my art to both benefit my craft and the environment around me. This would lead to a movement in finding better materials to use for other things in the world. The last way I hope to make a positive impact as a visual artist is to broaden individualism and critical thinking for both myself and others. Visual art has been used to channel a reaction ever since its inception, both in a physical and mental sense. I hope my art would encourage people to go with their peculiar ideas and be proud of their individual characteristics, pushing them to not fit into bland and monotonous ideals. Overall as a growing black visual artist, I work on making a positive impact by challenging societal norms. Through my career, I’d address the social issues of community engagement, resource management, and individualism. My ambition is to make a difference through not only my art, but my voice as a black individual. This would not only help the need of arts in society, but benefit the community for the course of history.

Within my adapting life, video games have been an ever present entity in my life. Whether it be gaming with my older cousins as a child or gaming with friends as a young adult, games continue to impact my day to day life. Video Games have positively impacted my life by adapting what I do when gaming towards my real life skills. This includes sharpening my reflexes, broadening my critical thinking, and strengthening my social skills. When playing video games, attentiveness is a must when the controller is in your hand. Whether performing a quick time event in game or doing a collaborative combo attack with another player, gaming requires an alert response time. This has led to video games sharpening my reflexes in real world scenarios. From urgent movement in a workspace to basic actions such as coursework and driving, I am consistently ready for any adversity or alteration in my path thanks to video games, An integral part of gaming is choice. This can include grand journeys your character must decide on or a small tactic that can alter the rest of the game. With this in mind, gaming has helped me broaden my critical thinking. This has contributed to major decisions in my life such as maintaining my funds, learning new tasks, and deciding on college. My critical thinking has been assisted and strengthened thanks to gaming and the choices it brought me. Gaming is typically seen as an interactive activity to most. From casual gaming with family or friends to professional competitions with other players, gaming has predominantly included the use of social interaction. While most see it as a distraction or drawback from sociability, video games have helped me strengthen my social skills. The communication skills I’ve developed when gaming have transferred over to my day to day life. This includes discussing tasks with my peers and coworkers, having the ability to communicate my thoughts clearly, and understanding social cues from others around me. Overall, video games have given a positive impact on my life. This has been shown through video games sharpening my reflexes, broadening my critical thinking, and strengthening my social skills. These skills have shaped me to be a better person not only when gaming, but for society overall. From childhood to my current life as a young adult, video games have and will continue to benefit me as an individual and others around me

The everyday world inspires me as an artist by giving me a view into a life that isn’t mine. This leads to me painting figures and compositions that I never would’ve imagined on my own. The everyday world also inspires me to take bland and drab scenery and warp and distort them with surreal elements within my work. Another way that the world inspires me as an artist is by broadening my use of color and values. Whether it be a specific tethered brown on an animal or a lush green presented in the crevasse of a tree, I am consistently able to find new colors from the world and add them to my palette. Seeing how the Sun bounces color off of certain objects also inspires my use of light refraction on certain figures when painting.

To me, art means the expression of life and interaction. This can be attributed to art being used to document cultures and civilizations for centuries. This has been exemplified through structures such as the Egyptian Pyramids to local town murals, both showing elements of cultural activity and interaction. I am passionate about art because I believe it gives a chance for creative individuals to give back to their community.This can be done by means of giving a loved one a gift, making a piece for a local organization, or making a memorial for civilization. My passion stems from learning how art guides and influences others. With this in mind, I believe that it is my purpose in life to continue to be one of the many guiding artists to influence generations to come. The challenges that I have faced that this scholarship would help me overcome is to afford supplies for my studio arts works. I am a multimedia artist that works in both two dimensional works and three dimensional sculpture. There have been numerous times where I wanted to expand an artistic idea but wasn’t able to due to the lack of resources. With this scholarship, the problem of being able to get my materials would be less of a problem. Another challenge that this scholarship would help me overcome is engaging with my community. This would help by being able to have the resources for such events as exhibitions, gallery events, and sale events. I would greatly love to engage more with the arts, but whether it be for gas money towards an out of town exhibit or funds of tabling or published events has held me back. I believe that this scholarship would be the help I need to get to experience the surrounding art community.

I am passionate about the field of visual arts because I believe I’m giving inspiration and creativity back towards the community that helped me grow. This would not only benefit me as a learning individual, but the world around me for a broader understanding. Art within history has been used to document important events, bring comfort during difficult times, and guide civilizations. With this in mind, I believe that it is my purpose in life to continue to be one of the many guiding artists to influence generations to come. I plan on making a difference in my career by the way I use my respective materials and how I present them. I predominantly work with the use of light reactive art. Light reactive art entails the shifting of visual works with the use of lights such as ultraviolet black light and LED lights. This is a recent art form with few examples to have reference to currently. I am currently spending extensive research to be in the forefront of this growing contemporary art form. This will be done through gathering the materials needed to expand my career as a visual artist. This would require not only the use of me as an artist, but the community around me. This would require the use of community engagement, resource management, and broadening my individualism. As an artist, developing community engagement is a major effect given. Whether it is a city mural, an ancient civilization’s statue, or simple wall graffiti, art has managed to bring upon a sense of community gathering or discussion. I believe that my art could contribute to this for community engagement. Whether it is a local event to bring family together or a smaller event to certain areas, this would benefit the community by positive interaction in a collaborative manner. I would achieve this by gathering the resources aided by the community to do collaborative events. Resource management is another method I’d use to make a difference as an artist. Over the past century, a lot of art materials have been a draw back to the world. This has included material being made of toxic and dangerous materials like oil paints and paint thinner. With my resources, I plan to find alternatives for my art to both benefit my craft and the environment around me. ` The last thing I hope to accomplish as a visual artist is to broaden individualism and critical thinking for both myself and others. Visual art has been used to channel a reaction ever since its inception, both in a physical and mental sense. I hope my art would encourage people to go with their peculiar ideas and be proud of their individual characteristics, pushing them to not fit into bland and monotonous ideals. Overall, my passion in the field of visual arts stems from giving back to the community. This benefits both me and my community by use of community engagement, resource management, and broadening individualism. I feel by myself being a visual artist, I am continuing the legacy of other artists by continuing to give my creativity to the world around me. With this in mind, I gladly continue my purpose in life to be one of the many guiding artists to influence generations to come.