“what is art?” Post #3 – The Art of Passing the Time Away

Lectures are tough. Interesting? Indeed! But still, tough. 

All Stamps students are required to take two art history courses, Art and Design History and Art and Design in Context(which is basically Part II of the first one). Don’t worry, I can assure you they are as “bleh” as they sound. Occasionally there will be exciting topics in lecture and discussion but for the most part, the class is filled with information I will not retain even if I tried. Last semester many students decided not to show up because they believed they could make better use of their time by working in the studios instead. Since so many people skipped, my professor eventually made it extra credit if you attended. lol.

The small “rebellion” towards our required course led us to this semester for Part II of Art and Design History where my professor(same one:)) has implemented a new strategy to reel us in and trap us for an hour. Her secret weapon… iclickers. These $40 little remotes are the devil. They allow my professor to smirk at us and say, “Lecture is not mandatory but it is welcomed.” To put the cherry on top, this semester’s lecture is at 5pm. Although it is not tooo late, everyone is dead by the time lecture rolls around and most people fall asleep during it. Honestly, very good lecture entertainment if I do say so myself. 

To make these one hour lectures on Monday and Wednesday go quicker, students chat and doodle. I mean it’s art school. What do you expect? Doodling is a pastime and makes the clock move faster than one can imagine. My “note-taking” pages in my sketchbook are filled with a bunch of random thoughts, weird monsters, the occasional note, and drawings of my professor. The other day I noticed it was not just my sketchbook filled with these things but everyone else’s as well. This brings me to my “argument” for this week…drum roll please…du.du.du.du.dudududud…doodles are art! I started to ask all of my friends to see what consumed their notebooks and was happy to see their pages dancing with doodles. I mean, a whole gallery could be dedicated to ARTDES150’s lecture doodles! Okay. That’s dramatic. A wall could be dedicated to ARTDES150’s lecture doodles!*

My favorite characteristic of doodles is that you don’t have to try to make them. You kind of just do it, it’s there, and nothing really happens besides simply bringing the one who drew it joy. (Although I must mention too, sometimes doodles can start a career. There is literally an artist named Mr. Doodle, who creates patterns with doodles. Granted, they are pretty amazing, but still, there is proof of a doodle career!)

Furthermore, another quality of doodles I enjoy is that literally, EVERYONE creates them. Going to the University of Michigan I have met numerous people with a variety of majors and they all have lil doodles in their notebooks too. Whether or not people believe they create art for enjoyment, there is proof it is inside all of us. Doodles are the evidence that everyone has creative energy and although they are usually small they can lead to big ideas. 

This week I encourage everyone to doodle there professor like the Stamps kids in ARTDES150. It is quite fun and again, passes the time. For inspiration and to end this post, here are a couple of snapshots of the doodles that fill the Stamps Lecture Hall. Enjoy!