Ty-Jack's Words to Live By...

Sometimes when I get down... I look at things friends have written or shared about me. It may be something as little as a post-it note or a whole blog post. Either way, it gives me a little bit of extra motivation at times when I need it. Below is a paper I have read and re-read multiple times since it was written a semester ago. My best friend Tyler wrote it for an art appreciation class he took at Point Park... and honestly, it's reasons like these that make me appreciate why I create art and have such amazing friends.

"When it comes to art, there are very few artists and artistic pieces that I would consider myself to enjoy; but the piece of art that I love the most comes from one of my favorite artists and my best friend, Jimmy Dunn. This piece of art is a portrait of me tht Jimmy drew for my birthday, using pencil and water color pencils. Firstly, this portrait amazes me, because not only does it look exactly like me, which most would expect it should, but it is also perfectly colored and amazingly well done. But my main reasons for loving this portrait lie outside its artistic qualities. One of the main reasons I love this portrait is because it was a gift, from one best friend to another, and one that I will probably keep the rest of my life. Jimmy has always been known for drawing of his friends for gifts, and for as long as I've been asking him to draw me one, I almost thought I wouldn't be lucky enough to receive one. But now I have an original, one that will probably never be reproduced, and that belongs soley to me; and I enjoy this; because it is a reminder that Jimmy appreciates me enough as a friend to personally take the time to create a piece for me and about me. But as a whole, this portrait will always remind me of the friendship we have, how much I appreciate that friendship, and how much I miss my best friend everyday while he's off making himself into the artist he's always dreamed of being."

-Tyler Jackson