Undergraduate / (Love for drawing, passion for art) - Transfer Essay to Cornell Visual Art Program [5]

Hi there,

I really want to transfer to Cornell's Visual Arts Program because I have been kinda wandering around, not taking the majors that I knew I would enjoy--being Art and History. I am a very devoted artist and I love drawing the figure (I think I overstressed that, haha), and I am really attracted to their program because of how diverse it is (and I was inspired by the student art they had there). So here's my essay...I know it needs focus in some places, and definitely needs to be cut down some. I hope it's not too flowery. Here I go:

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You're calm. You breathe in, feeling the stroke of your hand move slowly down the page. As you reach the bottom, you sharply turn up, making a bold, black mark on the charcoal paper. You scribble, etch, grind. Your breathing becomes frantic. You feverishly clench the compressed charcoal in your hands, seized by the zeal of aesthetic passion; marks and motions wildly dance and convulse onto the page; turmoil swells and surges, until the climax is reached. You breathe out, exhaling and dropping your hands to your side. After observing the utter mess on the easel before you, you smile. It's a queer smile-a smile of utter passion and delight. You take two steps back, and fall into a stool, and look deeply into the grotesque madness your hands have created.

Did you feel what I felt? Then you know what I experience every time I pick up a piece of charcoal and draw. What is written is the utter euphoria I feel when I draw from life, more so, when drawing the figure.

I have always loved drawing; this passion has been inborn in me ever since I was in high school. I vividly remember the day when a friend of mine told me about the Huntington School of Fine Arts figure drawing program. I went on her recommendation, and from that day on I was changed. I became deeply involved in an affair with the figure and its forms, and I devoted myself to capturing not only the essence of the body, but expressing that essence in new ways-ways that affected the senses, ways that expressed character and movement. This passion is still with me today, and based on this love alone, I want to attend Cornell to major in Visual Art. Because of this fire in me that just never dies down-because of the passion in my heart, the passion with which I can say the things I say now-this is the reason why I want to major in Visual Arts at Cornell University.

I only recently rediscovered this passion for art, and for a time, I was disillusioned and distracted from my true goals and dreams. I spent a semester at New York University as a Studio Art major, and, for a time, I enjoyed it. In each class, I found a way to incorporate the figure in sculpture, pencil, and paint. I was happy to be able to express the figure in ways I wasn't able before. However, it wasn't too long before I decided that their art program was not a good fit for me-the busyness of the New York campus and the strain of being an independent student in the city put a strain on me. At Steinhardt, I found that I would be unable to major in other disciplines outside the school, and I found myself yearning for a place that could fulfill my other academic desires. Soon afterward, my family was hit with the brunt of the recession, and I could no longer afford to attend the school. Upon the urging of my mother, I decided to focus on one discipline and transfer to a cheaper school in the city. My parents had always dreamed of me becoming a lawyer, and since they were paying my tuition, they thought it best to major in Political Science, so I transferred to John Jay School of Political Science.

As I went through the school year at this new place, I felt slightly empty. I was taking this major because it would satisfy the desires of my parents. Little did I know that I was neglecting my own. I ended up going from class to class without feeling truly filled inside. The environment at the school sapped my spirit, and my passion for art was nearly forgotten. It was only when I decided to visit the Spring Studio in Soho for a life drawing session that my burning passion for figure drawing was rekindled. That night, as I sat among a crowd of eager artists, I found that missing piece. I didn't know how much I missed drawing the figure, abstracting forms, exaggerating features; I truly missed interpreting the fluidity of the human body. Today, I'm determined to be at a place where I can get a truly filling education-where I can major in both Art and History.

At Cornell, I hope to attend the School of Art, Architecture, and Planning as a Visual Arts major with a concentration in Painting. I'm attracted to the traditional and experimental approaches to painting, and I endeavor to make the figure my principal subject. I hope to experiment with the figure in all forms, and majoring in painting can only help me in my mission. I want to reach the highest point of aesthetic expression with the figure, to make points, to express opinions and show character. Also, along with majoring in History at the School of Arts and Sciences, my other academic interests would be satisfied. In going to Cornell, it is my prerogative to reach an artistic Nirvana, while making sure all other ground is covered. Cornell will help me in my dream to powerfully illustrate the figure in a way that will impact others.