A Quick Introduction!

 Welcome!

Eakins, Thomas. Cowboy Singing. ca. 1892

Hello!

 My name is Damien Newlin, and welcome to the start of what I hope will be an interesting blog! I’d like to introduce myself first so you can get a feel for the person behind the screen. To start, I live in North Pole, Alaska, and I’ve lived here in the Interior for the better part of 8 years (plus or minus a year and a half when I lived in Germany!). I recently turned 21 and started attending the University of Alaska Fairbanks this summer, working towards my BA in Anthropology. I grew up as an Army brat, so I moved around a ton when I was a kid. All that moving around meant I was constantly exposed to new forms of art and different elements of it from a very young age. 

Being exposed to so many different forms of art and expression as a child meant I could always express myself in a way that accurately reflected my subconsciousness. In elementary school, I started playing a musical instrument, the euphonium. Throughout the rest of my primary schooling, the music I played and the pieces I listened to and learned were some of the most heartfelt and emotional moments I can recall. Music is just one form of art that has a resounding impact on me. In general, art is the most primal and human form of expression we can utilize. To think about it, remember back to your history classes. Cave paintings and bone flutes were some of the oldest artifacts and evidence of human impact we have ever found. Art has been and will continue to be the most impactful way to express ourselves. More modernly, look at children. Babies, toddlers, and little kids all have limited vocabulary and processing power to reflect their emotions accurately. Drawing is one of the first things we as humans learn to do to express ourselves, and even child psychologists and therapists utilize art as a form of communication. Children on playgrounds will make little pots from wild clay and water; toddlers will draw the monster under the bed that scares them. Art is more than just something that looks pretty or sounds pretty. Art is the most human philosophy that has ever existed. It’s what makes us human. Below, I added a fascinating video from NAFA Singapore, showing what they believe a world without art could look like.