I used to get caught up in rules and regulations and exact replication. I never used to consider the world of interpretation—my perceptions fueled by creativity. Ms. Kulpowich teaches more than the basic techniques of paint application in her painting class; she teaches freethinking.
I’ll never forget my first sketchbook assignment in that class. It was written on the board as I entered the room. In big bold letters it read: Sketchbook Assignment 1: Metamorphosis. I had taken painting as a free elective my senior year hoping to have one easy class amidst all my stressful AP courses. I thought to myself as I walked in the room, “Geeze, she doesn’t waste any time getting into it”. I couldn’t be more right. From the first minute I stepped inside the classroom she had us thinking—about anything.
She is tiny. She’s 5’1” and weighs about 110 lbs. She stood there waiting for us to file in, lost in the sea of kilts and wool sweaters. She told us she had taught in public schools for 4 years and was anxious to teach at an all-girls school like the one she had attended. And right away she said: “And I know you can get lost in the uniformity, but here we’ll be bold and out of uniform”. We all smiled and looked around; for once we could be ourselves. She went over the syllabus and explained the first assignment that had already peaked so many of our interests. She told us she wanted a metamorphosis, and that didn’t mean a butterfly. She wanted us to draw whatever it was that we saw in the assignment. She was forcing us from that first day to think outside the box and to create with those thoughts.
The next week of class I went to class eager to share my metamorphosis. I had drawn a pinecone closed at the top and opening slowly as it came to the bottom. I was proud of this transition and I think she was proud too. I couldn’t help but notice the subtle smile that crept onto her face as she saw my pinecone amidst a pile of cocoons and caterpillars—the exact depiction she didn’t want. I couldn’t wait for the next assignment; my next chance to be original and creative. The next assignment was “The road less traveled” and again, she stressed how she didn’t want a road on our paper. I left that class thinking of the last “road” I hadn’t taken, and the “roads” I was afraid of. Ms. Kulpowich had got me thinking.
As the class progressed I started to love painting. I felt as though I had free range with my brush and unlike my other classes there were no boundaries. I was so accustomed to having specific guidelines, and in painting the only guidelines were a broad subject matter and medium, the rest were up to me to make. I felt like I was playing an active role in my education, and best of all, I felt like my teacher noticed me changing and progressing in her class. I began to love Mondays and Thursdays for painting and sketchbook assignments for an excuse to really think.
The Mondays and Thursdays passed as quickly as my senior year and I started to realize something. I had been using my Mondays and Thursdays and assignments as scheduled times to be creative. What I hadn’t realized then is that the freethinking and creativity that had blossomed during Ms. Kulpowich’s painting class was surfacing everywhere in my life. My papers were better and my other teachers had noticed. The freshman I taught a seminar to had noticed the more free-spirited, unique Jacky that was teaching them the last quarter. I was more confident and more aware of my gift of creativity.
Ms. Kulpowich taught me to respond to an assignment based on my interpretation of the question. She pushed me to view my education more subjectively, and I have gotten more out of it since. And as I left her on my graduation day I saw the same subtle smile that was there when I showed her my metamorphosis. I felt like she had something to say, but we just said good byes and good lucks.
It was about a week before I left for American that summer that I received a package from her. Inside the brown box was a set of acrylic paints, brushes, and a card. It read, “I hope you carry a paintbrush in hand as you head down the road less traveled, Good Luck.” I knew that a huge part of where I was headed was because of her push toward freethinking.
-- Jacky Sawyer, American University