Brianna Powell
Art Six Feet Apart is a six-week-long event hosted by the Art Relaxation Club and Campus Recreation and Wellness. The event provides an open space for students to engage in different forms of art. Encouraging relaxation and personal wellness. It is scheduled to last until the end of the semester in order to give students a means to relax through creativity. The last weeks of the academic year can be stressful and this event is meant to offset those trying times for everyone.
Art Six Feet Apart allows students a safe space to express their creativity by creating whatever art they want to. Art supplies and ample time are provided to encourage originality. Lilly Miller, head of the event, explained, “We have guides if people want to use them for the Art Six Feet Apart event, but mostly, we let people paint whatever they want, and I have a QR code that sends them to a link tree of art guides to make art that represents themselves and their feelings, but most of the time people don’t use those. They just do whatever they feel and it’s fun.”
Art Six Feet Apart encourages different art forms so that students will not get bored throughout the semester.
Over the course of the six-week span, different art supplies will be provided for different forms of expression. So far, they have incorporated clay molding and painting. Many students had never worked with clay before, but it allows for a messier, hands-on approach that can serve as a distraction for students. According to peer wellness educator, Jameelah Lockhart, “There’s a lot of stencils you can use as well as a book that guides you but mainly it’s based on your own creativity.” Having multiple forms of art allows for a broader sense of creativity that lets more people create art no matter their artistic talent. Stencils can be especially useful in this environment. Even with different forms of art to choose from the atmosphere is very calming. Everyone is quiet and focused yet every once in a while you can hear students discussing their art and sharing their progress.
Campus Recreation and Wellness sponsored this event for the Art Relaxation club because they support all aspects of student well-being. Campus Wellness promotes overall wellness whether that be physically, emotionally or mentally. Art Six Feet Apart serves as an emotional, mental, and artistic break from the stress of school as well as any other personal stressors one may have. Many students agree with Emily Brown: “It’s a nice way to just not do school.”
Art Six Feet Apart meets in the Quad every Thursday from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. In the event of rain, it will be held in Frazier Hall.