A Young Artist Inspired

I had just turned nine, sitting in my parent's minivan with a backpack full of pencils and a love for Star Wars. My imagination immersed, I doodled away, drawing Jedi with lightsabers and droids engaged in a fierce battle. I had been an artist for all of my young life, my passion being drawing science fiction, fantasy, and anything I had read or watched that week. But that sunny summer day, my little artist world was about to change.

Arriving to the Art Institute of Chicago, I didn’t know what to expect. I loved drawing, but didn’t know a thing about famous artists of history and their great works. If you had asked me who Rembrandt was, I would’ve thought he was the newest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. But I’ll never forget the moment where my dad, holding my hand, led me into a room where my whole view was immediately taken up by A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat. For those who don’t know, it’s the piece from the Art Institute scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. And I certainly had a Ferris Bueller moment - I remember being in awe at its size and the sheer number of dots to paint such a beautiful piece. I even put my face close enough to set off the security buzzer!

From that moment on, the day was a day of discovery. I excitedly went from exhibit to exhibit, soaking in the beautiful works by masters of their craft. I was no longer solely interesting in drawing clone troopers and knights. That was the moment I knew I wanted to learn how to depict the world around me, like the masters did. When someone asks me - when did you want to be an artist? I point to this moment. I drew before, but I wasn’t an artist. It was this revelation at the Art Institute that gave me a true passion.