Everything on this post is stuff I made back in college, when I’d returned there. At the time, I already had a two-year degree in business, but worked as a journalist. As a reporter and producer in print, radio, and video, people often told me that higher education was my best shot for advancing my career.

Any degree would do, they said, so I picked something easy: art. Little did I know how challenging it would be! In most courses, there’s no arguing with multiple choice quizzes and single-answer tests. Art is subjective, though. Students must submit to the professor’s final opinion.

As rough as that was, it was mostly fun! Plus, I wound up with some original art that I enjoy.

These days, my art lies in fiction writing. Blogging entails visuals, so I still regard myself as a sometime graphic artist.

Around when I was studying art, I stumbled upon the joys of dancing. My father was a Spaniard who instilled in me an awe for flamenco, but it wasn’t until my Persian husband became inspired to learn flamenco that we began taking classes for it together.

Flamenco was a rough go, a beautiful thing that brought me as much happiness as it did frustration. Argentine tango has been kinder. Anything since flamenco seems easy by comparison.

I graduated college with a degree in fiber art. Fiber may sound concise, but I chose it because it was all over the place. Just like me, just like my blog, it refused to be pinned down to one niche. It entailed paper making, weaving, fabric dying, pattern making, painting, screen printing, sewing, book binding, sculpture, felting, and more. It even allowed me to incorporate design, writing, and videography.

An amazing collection of fine papers become a collage tribute to my Argentine grandmother. Her daughters and the two husbands she outlived surround her in it, as do references to her love of making music, folk dancing, and gossiping over yerba mate tea.

Akin to bohemian engineers, my classmates and I would envision our assignments, then problem solve our ways to what we aimed for. Rarely did it come mine come out  anything near what I expected, yet they were often the better for it. My culminating art show installation bore a flamenco theme. In a ruffled gold and red dress of my making, I performed a choreography I had spent months learning.

What sort of art do you indulge in?