The artist who lives by Art
By: Raya Mustafa
October 18, 2023
“I don’t think I’d really have much of a personality without art.”, an idea that manifests in every aspect of Alonzo Gonzalez’ life. Alonzo was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in the Bronx, New York. Growing up he felt indifferent when it came to writing. Nothing about writing captured the interest of Gonzales. Finding a secret path to writing through art is what allowed him to check off writing as a personal development. Alonzo enjoys drawing. Unlike his peers, he was not gifted with the ability to draw on his own, he instead had to work his way up to have the ability he carries today.
Thank you, Alonzo Gonzales, for giving me the opportunity to provide a peer review for your language literacy journey. The narrative written by Alonzo focuses on his struggle with writing, being overcome with the help of his artistic abilities. The journey highlighted Alonzo impressively connecting his drawing progress, to his ability to story-tell/write.
In a brief conversation with Alonzo Gonzales, I learned that art has played a major role in different aspects of his life. “I went over how watching this video taught me how to take things step by step and I put that in my drawings and then I correlated it to a lot of other things in my life.” He revealed that art was used as a tool to mold out other abilities he lacked strength in. Alonzo starts off by acknowledging that writing was not the focus of his improvement, but drawing allowed him to improve by doing both simultaneously. Art was the means that allowed Alonzo to get better in both writing and storytelling.
Alonzo shares that his transformation, did not happen overnight but instead was a step-by-step process. He exemplified this by referring to a video that taught him how to draw a boy. Applying this technique to growth made Alonzo realize that this was the approach that was most effective in his learning journey. From precision to focus, Alonzo was able to achieve his goals through art. He shares a technique used in art, “lining in art actually made me a better writer when I want to be, not all the time. And it just made me more precise in my thinking and made me take my time with things”. Art did not stop at story telling with Alonzo. Art and the strategic approach Alonzo took to get better at art was affected by other aspects of his life, like video games. With his approach to art, Alonzo was able to plant a seed of patience that benefits him throughout the breadth of life. His strategic approach to improve in art captured other aspects of his life that he feels has been an accomplishment.
When Alonzo was asked about what he would be without art, he expressed that art was his personality and identity, and that he would not feel like a fulfilled person. “Without art, I don’t think I’d really be much of a person”, he says. Just as someone’s life can be filled with sleep, gaming and sporadic workouts, art fills a void in Alonzo’s life. Through this response, Alonzo emphasizes the importance of art in his life.
Alonzo underscores the influence of art in his approach to various life challenges, through personal development, precision, strategy, demonstrating the power of creativity and perseverance he can recognize himself through art.
