Drawing my way to a failing grade

“Gracen, your grades aren’t so good.”

Oh the shame that washed over me in that moment! Bad grades were the cherry on top of my melted ice cream cone of a life. It wasn’t even a good flavor of ice cream. Pistachio or something nasty like that. (No offense to the crazys out there that like pistachio ice cream.)

I was attending college 890 miles away from home, already unhappy in my major, working two stressful jobs, with a fish that was accidentally murdered the day before. My roommate thought Fintastic Mr. Fish looked thirsty so she gave him fun water AKA tequila… She might have also had a bit of tequila… Anyway…

When my cellular biology teacher gave me the news that she too had noticed my subpar academic performance, I finally conceded that a science heavy field of study was not going to work out well. My teacher quickly followed up with a positive addition to her statement as the dark cloud of despair undoubtedly began to hover over my head.

“But your drawings are amazing!”

My spiral, laying limp on the desk, was full of labeled anatomy sketches- the only way I had found to remember the class material. They were detailed, colorful, unique, and carefully crafted by yours truly. She encouraged me to pursue this labor of love that I had honed through my struggles in CBIO. The recognition of failure in one area lead to a shift that was ultimately life changing! At 20 years old I attended my first art class since the age of 14

And never looked back.