What Kind Of Artist?

Since I was in the 9th grade I wanted to be an artist. I had been sketching for a few years but I mostly kept what I made to myself and I didn’t talk to anyone about it, but when I got to high school some friends helped me see that that was what I really wanted to do with my life. By the 10th grade I was looking in art schools and slacking on my more “academic” courses in favor of more creative ones, and as a result by the 11th grade I was in art classes, orchestra, after school theater and band, and cooking class (which turned out to be a waste of time). When I was in those classes, however, compared to when I was just sketching by myself, there was a much larger collaborative aspect to the classes. In orchestra band and theater we played as an ensemble, in cooking class we cooked as a team (although I didn’t end up doing much cooking) and even in art class those around you were expected to critic your work and help you develop, and I was much happier and I created my favorite pieces when I was in those settings. I think what all of that taught me was that I want to be the kind of artist who shares their work with everyone around them and even brings them into the piece. I want to collaborate with everyone, and I want their experiences to change the feeble concept of art I have in my mind. For a while I wanted to be a sculptor, and I even went to a studio program for this purpose, but now I think that rather than sculpting I want my art to be molded by others.