News

Psychology and Art

I always knew I wanted to help people and I I couldn’t live without making art. I knew I was going to major in Psychology and I had hopes in majoring in Art as well. During my short time here, I am blessed to say that the psychology department has impacted every part of who I have grown to be. I have been so put to ease when speaking with professors, so understood when real issues arise, and so loved by people I don’t really know.

The atmosphere in the psychology classrooms is stress-less and allows there to be a greater focus on learning versus a focus on being able to take a test. I might have learned the most in a class were I played with a virtual rat for hours on end. I also grew more as a person in one semester in a class where I never had to take a test. I was able to learn not only about psychology, but about its application. Being at a Christian school, we are encouraged to surpass the standard level of knowledge and apply our learning to faith. We are asked to notice, acknowledge, and consider how our study intermixes with Christianity. Honestly, there were times when I felt the application was far-fetched, but considering the application expanded my thinking beyond what is expected from most secular colleges. The amount of knowledge I gained from the knowledgeable psychology faculty inspired my other passion for art. As an artist you should pay close attention to a finished piece of work. This might be the reason I do not consciously call myself an artist. I make art to express myself and understand myself. The biggest critique I would give my work, would be its level of completeness.

For me, a piece of art can never be finished. I create art to understand the world. Exploring the psychology of human thinking and understanding is my main objective. I layer mediums and images as a way of representing the complexity of this psychology. The compositions change as they overlap, fragment as they piece together, erase as they reveal. The viewer is given opportunity to see the inner complexities of my hope, failing, and new understanding while confronting their own. I hope that my work challenges others to feel, experience, and confront the messy layers of life.

Ultimately, my artwork is a therapy session. You’ll see abstraction, resistance, insight, questions, extreme emotion, irrationality, rationality and understanding, to name a few, but there is never a real conclusion because even after a therapy session ends, the patient continues on experiencing.

I myself am so excited to end this chapter of my life at Roberts, not because I despised the experience, but because I feel well prepared to go out into the field of psychology and share my knowledge and continue to learn. College students are often worried about searching for a job, while I have my concerns; I have more confidence than most because I know what a strong education I received. I also know that my professors will always be a support to me, especially if I do end up struggling. I know I would not be as perceptive or confident as I am today if it were not for the psychology faculty, and not just the professors, the assistants as well!