Lo-Fi beats and laughs swelled in the Wolfback Lounge in Farris Hall as residents participated in Bad Art Night.
“This event is really to get the freshman cohort together, but anybody’s invited,” Schedler Honors mentor Maegan Hall. “We have mentor events about once a week and I just decided to do this because it’s low stress.”
“There’s no expectation to be a great artist, you just want to be creative and that’s really the whole purpose of this event or mentor events in general,” Hall said.
Hall said all Honors mentor events are built around social and low stress activities to create community within the Honors students living in Farris and New hall.
Outside of the social interactions with peers, Hall said the event is also beneficial for student mental health.
“This is so low pressure, they can really just do what they feel,” Hall said. “I think it’s great for mental health to just be able to do something and not feel like you’re obligated for it to be great.”
Art certainly has its place as a form of therapy.
According to Psychiatry.org, art has a wide range of mental health benefits, as it allows people to express emotions and experiences that may not be easily put into words.
The final product is ultimately less important than the expression put forth to create it, the website reads.
Sam Carlisle, also an Honors mentor, said, “The hope for us is to do social events that build community.”
“It can be uncomfortable and there’s all sorts of social anxiety, but having an event with a medium like this can be a good way for people to knock down walls and face the uncomfortable in the middle of a busy school week,” Carlisle said. “It is really nice for people to socialize, whether they realize it or not, and having events that people can go to helps them do that.”
Each student went through a line, grabbing a small canvas and choosing from the selection of acrylic paints.
Participants scattered across the lounge, all forming their own social circles as they worked on their piece.
The artwork varied in styles and subjects.
Some students went with animals or flowers, while others went with more abstract designs featuring swirls of colors or flat line-based patterns.
Some simply went with stick figure families or smiley faces.
Whether seated around a table or on a couch, students didn’t bury their heads into their work for too long, always being sure to interact with those around them.
The music, meant to be calm and relaxing, filled in any gaps of silence between conversations, jokes and banter.
While some Bad Art events may select a winner, this one was simply for the fun of it.
The event simply rode itself out as students completed their pieces, shared a few laughs and headed out for the night.
The Honors college hosts mentor events and activities every week across both dorms with honors students – Farris and New Hall.
