My art feels very personal. I like to think of it as an extension of myself, so sharing it isn’t always the easiest task. Because you know, god forbid, what if someone doesn’t like it? That would kind of hurt I guess, but recently I’ve had some art liberation. By art liberation I mean someone bought my work. From this, I gained so much confidence that I started a fucking art Instagram page. Can you believe that! (Follow me @_____kart (that’s five underscores)) Money talks man and I’m listening. Someone bought another piece after I started it!

The power of social media is something else. No, but seriously, someone buying my work was probably the best thing that could have happened. Now I feel like people are interested in my thoughts, which is a pretty nice feeling. It inspires me to create more, do more original work. Sometimes I like to get on Pinterest for ideas and just kind of replicate what I like. That’s okay, but I think really pure art originates directly from my head and is more meaningful. Then, I feel really proud of it.

Shit, I’ve turned this into a blog post. Ugh, how Carrie Bradshaw of me. But anyway, when I’m creating, I like to try to paint an idea versus a picture. I want my art to speak to people in ways that I can’t. Ways too personal, ways too explicit. My mind is a weird place but when you look at my art, I’m welcoming you into a piece of my mind. So let’s get weird.

The painting of the clouded head created in a time of doubt in my life. It felt like everything that was happening to me made resulted in my head being in a constant state of motion. Portraying this through art was therapeutic for me at the time. Looking back on it, I think it helps to relieve some emotions that there just simply aren’t words for. But that’s why we have art – to say the things we cannot put into words.

The painting of the nude body is significant to me because it was created in a time where becoming comfortable with my own body meant becoming comfortable with the bodies of others. This isn’t said in a perverted way at all. These days the way the media critically claims what ‘a woman’ should look like makes it common for young women to be envious of how other women look. The painting was created to demonstrate that bodies are simply bodies. They too are art, crafted in particular just for the soul living in them.

I’ve accepted that message in a way I couldn’t seem to before. God this became kind of sad I swore it was supposed to be funny. All-in-all I think that art is such a fantastic way to express yourself and even if you don’t sell your work, the act of art making is therapeutic enough.

Kathryn Cassidy is a junior English Literature major.