Still Life Drawing

Journey to Success

Lauren Leonard

Indiana University South Bend (IUSB) has been an evolving establishment through the 20th and 21st century. Hundreds of thousands of students and facility have traveled through the doors and across the campus all leaving a lasting impression. For my representation of IUSB I chose I piece of student artwork from 2005 and a graduation tassel from the spring of 2007 commencement ceremony. These two pieces of art or artifacts belong to my older brother, Michal, who attended the school seven years ago. In my eyes these two things represented the route to a brighter future, I titled it “Journey to Success”.

The metal frame that held a hand drawn piece of paper depicting a still life made of charcoal and conté crayon had a chunk of red thread draping over the corner making up the graduation tassel. The still life is dated back to 2005 during my brothers’ sophomore year in college. When I look at this piece of art compared to his current work I can see the tremendous strides he has taken as an artist from almost a decade ago. I believe this raw still life created building blocks for him as does any piece of work a sophomore creates, whether it being a paper, an experiment etc. The charcoal and conté crayon drawing does not represent the best work he’s ever done because he had not finished his education and gained the proper skills to accomplish his goals.

The red threads held together by a tiny piece of metal make up the graduation tassel along with a gold medallion hanging from it reading “Two Thousand 07”. This tassel was the actual tassel that hung from my brother Michaels’ graduation cap at the spring commencement ceremony in 2007. I believe this represents all the hard work and effort he put forth into finishing his academic career. He obtained a Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts. This little bundle of thread would mean so much to any student or faculty member who has ever crossed the paths of IUSB because those people first hand understand the hard work and dedication that is necessary to receive the honor of having that tassel hang from a cap.

Together these two items correlate the journey to success. The still life is the ground level for reaching the end mark we all desire, the tassel. Between the year of 2005 when the artwork was dated and the year 2007, which hangs from the tassel the owner of these two pieces, my brother, endured growth as a student and ventured into adulthood all on IUSB soil. Like many past and present students he to overcame many obstacles such as long study hours and countless cram sessions, all to achieve the end goal of graduation. Having these two pieces hand and hand help represent the students of IUSB and their commitment to a brighter future through the years, creating the “Journey to Success”.