Showcase Artifact 1
Hello there and welcome to my page dedicated to my H496 Artifacts and showcase! This is a compilation of all of my personal reflections, statements, and artifacts throughout this course and introspectively looking into myself and how I have become since I started this Honors Journey two years ago.
Reflection on H200 'I am" Statement
When I first started the Honors Program here at IUI I was already a sophmore in college here and felt that I was already behind all my classmates as most of them were freshmen in my Intro H200 class. I wanted to gain all of the benefits of the Honors College, especially the study abroad trip in Italy I was really wanting to take with the Honors Stipend. With the Honors college, I have been able to develop a much better work ethic in my discipline of Fine Arts with extra work and practice in the arts to improve my skills as well as study abroad which genuinely was a once in a lifetime experience I will never forget. This study abroad and additional contracts through the fine arts has drastically improved my skills in the arts and even gave me the opportunities in my career which has led me to my Arts and Humanities Internship here at IUI that I have been a part of for the past two years now.
Artifact 1- Reflection on H200 'I am' Statements
'I AM STATEMENT"- I am a person who highly values the art that I practice and dedicate my life to and seek a fulfilling and rewarding career in the arts. I can be very detail oriented and sometimes it can become hard to distance myself from things, especially if things begin to feel overwhelming; but despite this I try my best to be well organized and prepared in my artistic and academic studies. As an art student my education is very non-traditional which is something that I very much value as many of things about me are very non-traditional to a lot of people. As I was raised by a family that very much valued hard work, honesty, the arts, as well as progressive ideals and how far they can get you through life has always been a very important pillar in my values. Especially with the way I express myself with my art, it all very much comes from my lived experiences with my family, personal identities, social events and how these all can intertwine. In my life, I also value social tolerance and understanding, especially in such a divisive climate. I have always strived for all peoples to have equal and or equitable treatment regardless of background and actively try to educate myself and others further to help with evolving social changes and issues. I am for one devoted to educating and trying to change the unjust systems present in today's society and mainly through education and positive action.
Sophomore Honors Reflection
Senior Honors Reflection
My name is Tristan Reed and I am a currently practicing concept artist, graphic designer, illustrator, audio engineer and so much more. Through many of my experiences here at IUI I have been able to achieve so many incredible things, showcasing my work in galleries and shows, doing a fashion show my sophomore year, even studied in Italy for a month that led me to my current position at the Indiana Arts and Humanities Institute.
My experience at the IAHI and my study abroad have genuinely been life changing to me as a young professional, a student, and a person especially due to the help of Dr. Jason Kelly and Dr.Findley who recommended me for this opportunity in the first place. I have been able to gain incredibly valuable experience in Graphic Design by creating advertising material for the IAHI as well as event poster design, even now while I work on the IAHI podcast. Recording and interviewing working professionals and artists in Indianapolis as well as working with professional audio devices, processing and editing recording and making them available to the public through all podcast networks.
In my future, I am really looking to take this valuable work experience I have been collecting with my job so far to really gain a foothold in the Artist Community here in Indianapolis and gain even more professional design experience to give to the Indy community where I have been the last four years.
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Artifact 1- Reflection on H200 'I am' Statements
My Progress
I will say that over the course of my career here at IUI I have changed so drastically in these last four years and all for the better. I came into this school very insecure of myself, not confident in my own artistic capabilities, networking skills, and general confidence that impacted me in my first two years of school with a lack of experience in leadership roles and experiences at Herron. I began to realize that this way of going through school was not going to give me the success that I want so I enrolled in the Honors Program in hopes of gaining better networking and social skills combined with increased artistic practice and improvement. I am more than grateful to all of the incredibly influential professors, internships, friends, and many more people who have always been around to support me and always push me to do more and be excellent in every way that I can.
I have been able to improve my artistic abilities ten fold and am now becoming much more confident in my artwork mainly in my capstone and gaining valuable feedback from my professors in helping develop my thesis and concept art portfolio to go with it. If I was able to look back at my Freshman year self I would definitely tell myself to get out of my comfort space more and really take chances on events, galleries, and student organizations because I am sure I would have been able to find even more amazing people and opportunities if I started looking a little bit earlier. But, there is nothing to be done about that now, I have now grown dramatically into a professional speaker through my podcasting, gaining networking skills by working in IAHI events, and am developing my artistic senses even further to truly blossom into a working professional as soon as I graduate. I am still very much scared for the future ahead and how uncertain things are nowadays, but I have to take advantage of my youth, ability to adapt, and development of professional skills will assuredly help me to feel much more secure and even more excited for wherever the future is going to take me as a soon to be graduate.
Introduction
When I first came here to the Honors College I was in incoming Sophomore looking forward to the opportunities that the Honors College would provide for me in terms of Study Abroad Grants, funding, and continued Academic Support. I was especially keen on being in a study abroad program in the upcoming Summer as Herron was conducting a study abroad program in Italy that Summer for a month and I was really looking forward to being in the program but I needed more financial assistance. In the H200 Course, we were able to create Journey Maps about where we want to be in the future and the steps we can take to get there. I was incredibly unsure of myself and my future and this Journey Map really highlighted this with the minimal text I wrote originally and just saying my future was to become a concept artist for video games but no actionable steps to get there yet. This was the Journey Map of someone so unsure of how they were going to achieve their goals, but as I evolve and my experiences evolve, this steps begin to grow and change throughout my Honors Journey.
My 'Original' Honors Journey
My 'Real' Honors Journey
Reflection
Reflecting on my journey as an honors student, I initially framed my path with broad, minimal aspirations honestly, there was not much I wanted to really pursue other than becoming a Video Game Concept Artist while working through my Drawing and Illustration Major. My first journey map captured the vital steps of my Honors Journey leading up to my joining of the Honors College all the way up to graduating. One of the points I wrote out was when I first started High School and met my first art teacher who truly nurtured my love for art and illustration and really pushed me to go to art school as I originally planned to become a nurse for job security, but it was never my true passion. At that stage, my focus was on the destination of simply graduating and entering the video game concept art industry as a designer. This early map represents a younger version of myself who saw the honors experience as a linear track toward a creative career, guided by inspiration and structured by academic milestones. I viewed opportunities through the lens of skill-building and portfolio development, imagining a straightforward progression from student to professional.
Juxtaposing that initial vision with my current, more detailed honors journey map reveals an apparent evolution in both my planning and my understanding of the honors experience over my years being here at the Honors College. The second map is a graphic design I created to show the creative evolution I have undergone throughout my time here at IU Indianapolis as well as how my method of art making have changed from traditional drawings with pen and paper to digital programs and tools to create my art. This journey map is now densely populated with concrete actions, internships, study abroad commitments, and contract work such as the Herron study abroad in Italy, my IAHI internship which lead to the creation of the IAHI Podcast that I now play a leading role in, and intentionally focused and accomplished map. The shift from "becoming a concept artist" as a general blanket statement to executing specific tasks like "Complete more Horrors Contracts" or "Apply to IAHI Internship" underscores a maturation from dreaming to doing. My goals have become more integrated, directional, and responsive to real-world opportunities. The honors program has shaped me into a student who doesn’t just follow a path but actively designs it, balancing creative aspirations with tactical professional steps. Where I once saw a finish line, I now see a dynamic process of growth where each internship, course, and project is not just a checkpoint, but an experience that refines both my craft and my professional identity.
