INTRODUCTION

Hi, 

I am Alain Zoma. I am a student at Laguardia Community College and I study civil engineering. This is my fourth semester at the college, and I believe that Laguardia is a great college, even I have not experienced so far other colleges in New York or in other states. The education in my view is very qualitative and I have never complained about. Moreover the social integration of students is exemplary. As an immigrant from Burkina Faso, a country in West Africa, I have perceived Laguardia as my first interface of integration in the United States. I have met great teachers, good friends and great opportunities. Some students may have encountered difficulties at Laguardia and may disagree, but for me, this was definitely the best place I could have started.

As a student in the spring 2016 honor Art class, I have to say that this is not my first Art class. I have completed in 2010 a bachelor degree in Architecture from the International African School of Architecture and Urban planning (EAMAU). So I have taken some Art classes in the past. However, I still have lots of expectations from this class, because we never stop learning. One of the main questions I have always asked about Art is how one becomes a great artist. Nowadays, with the proliferation of Art as a subject taught in schools, many would say that we learn to become an artist. Nevertheless, I believe that there is a lot to do with natural abilities. I remember that in my Art class in EAMAU, honestly I was doing well, but I was struggling and giving so much effort. Moreover, I never felt that I have the insight of Arts. On the contrary I had some fellow students who I believed were born artist. They were genius. We may argue that they had worked it out during their younger age, but the different is that those students they had the insight of Arts, they were very talented, and they produced anything without almost any effort. I believe that for those people, there is something to do with natural gifts. About myself, even as a professional in Architecture, I have always consider myself more as a technician, a scientist, a mathematician, a physicist rather than an artist. This is even the reason why I have decided to study also Civil Engineering. My expectation from this class is the answer to the question how to become an artist. Will I have the belief at the end of this class that one can become a great artist just by learning in school or wherever?

I have worked in my country two years as a professional architect. If architecture can be considered somewhat as an artistic discipline, there are still a lot of constrains that restrain architects in their design process. They can be financial, environmental, legal restrictions, etc. The two pictures illustrate an example of a project I have designed, and that has evolved from a big and ambitious project to a much smaller project due to financial limitations. This is a hotel project. The first picture was the model of project desired by the costumer, but the final project was the second one due to the budget available to the costumer.