Basic Graphic Course Graduation Speech

Presented to the April 1995 graduating Basic Graphics Course class, the Defense Information School, Fort Meade, Maryland.

I would like to begin by thanking the Commandant, the faculty, Mr. Varisano and especially the graduating class for letting me share in this proud moment with you today.

I remember sitting where you're at 5 years ago reflecting on what I had just accomplished and wondering what was next. All of you should be proud of what you've accomplished here. Take a moment to think back to your first day here and think of how you felt that first day. How many here had doubts that you would ever draw and didn't think you could draw a stick figure when you arrived? A show of hands? Were you in over your head? Now look at what you can do. In the last 3 months all of you have went through a process of shifting your minds from the analytical left to the creative right mode of thinking. The mode of seeing.

As some of you may know, our minds are divided into two halves: the left and the right. The left is the rational, verbal, analytic, mathematic, symbolic, and logical mind. It is very serious and controlling and hates to be crossed or misguided by the right. It takes care of things like the checkbook, time, and the ordering of things. The right , on the other hand, is playful, open, honest, dreaming, and creative mind. It takes care of things like spacial relationships, dreams, creativity, and proportions. It loses track of time and daydreams a lot. During your time here, in class, had you felt that some days went by fast while drawing? It's been a fast 3 months! That's your right brain taking over and letting you lose track of time.

In order to create art you have to cause a shift from the left to the right side. All of you here who have young children know they love to draw. They doodle on everything from walls, to clothes, to each other! As soon as a child hits school, the drawing slows or stops. Teachers scold them for doodling on the edges of their papers and parents discourage them because they feel they should be learning something more valuable. The drawing stops and the creative right side of the brain gives way to the logical left side takes over. The right has an innocence to it and is easily overpowered by the overbearing left side who doesn't want to hear its nonsense. Creativity grind to a halt.

In addition to freeing your right brain, each and every one of you now has the ability to create something out of nothing. Take a moment to think about that. Think of the power in taking a pencil, pen, or paintbrush and creating a visual expression that is solely yours and no one elses. Think of the power that Michelangelo had when painting the Sistine chapel ceiling. Many of the people that saw that fresco during his lifetime couldn't read, let alone write, but they still felt the awesome power of God, the church, and life itself. All of this was created by one artist and his brush. You now have the ability and power to do the same. By completing this course, all of you have learned the basic skills in visual expression, the raw language in art and have a new power to communicate that is higher and more complex than reading and writing.

Now take a moment to project forward. Many of you are probably wondering what your next duty assignment will be like. Whatever you do, DON'T GET DISCOURAGED! Here at the graphics school you drew high-speed drawings and had a computer lab that looks like something out of Star Trek. Don't be disappointed if your next unit doesn't have the equipment or your not doing the same great things you were doing here. Instead of getting discouraged, look at it as an opportunity for you to better your unit and yourself. Start by talking to your chain of command on how to get the equipment and materials needed to draw and create. Show them what you're capable of.

Don't make the mistake I first made and get into what I call the "Day to Day" trap. After graduating from the graphics school and having my head full of all this new knowledge I arrived ready to paint and create at the Old Guard in Washington D.C. Upon arriving at the drafting shop wear I'd be working, I looked around to find no drawing tables, no pencils, no light tables, no computers, nothing. I asked what my job was and was shocked to find out that I'd be marking parade fields! That is no job for an illustartor! I was so frustrated and discouraged that instead of creating opportunities to better myself, my job, and the unit, I just fell into that day to day routine of getting up, doing physical training, going to work (without art), and coming home to the barracks. Now I look back at all the opportunities that I missed. My art could have made a difference. A word to the faculty, if the Old Guard recruiter comes around, don't let them have anybody! Actually things did change with time. I was able to get a computer in the shop and create some of the first advertising posters in house.

Another situation could be that you get sent to a unit where your job is nothing more than producing briefing charts. Rather than using the same old boring clip-art in the your slides, you could get creative with it and make up your own clip-art from what you learned here and paste them into your slides. Scan your own drawings. You could do things like painting murals for the battalion HQ. Once my First Sergeant found I could draw and paint, I was on special details to paint the barracks dayroom. The result was a company award for the best looking barracks and I recieved a person award for my work - not to mention my peers asked for my work as well. You won't know until you ask and they won't know what you're capable of until you show them. Let them know what you can do. Don't be quiet about it.

I looked up the word graduation in Webster's Dictionary and it said: Graduation - To confer a degree upon the close of a course of study. I have to disagree with Old Webster. Graduation is not the end or close of anything. I think of it, instead, as passing through to a higher level of thinking, ability, and awareness. What you've learned here is only the beginning. There is so much to learn out there about art. Don't let your learning stop here. When you get to your unit, find a library or bookstore and look up some of the books on the list that I handed out. Visit the Arts and Crafts center on post, just about every post has one and sign up for drawing, painting, or sculpting classes. Find a local community college or university and take classes on art or whatever you're interested in. The army will pay up to 75% in tuition assistance, don't miss the opportunity. Education is something that can't be taken away from you. By going to school, you're setting yourself up for promotion and success. There is no limit to what you can learn.

In closing I'd like to read a quote by the famous Post Impressionist, Vincent Van Gogh. He says, "The sign of a true artist is someone who is always searching but never finding."

He was right, once you stop learning or you think you know it all, the journey is over. Never stop searching. Good luck to you all. Thank You.

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