For many WKU students, art is more than a future profession or even just a hobby. Art can be an emotional, mental and spiritual release.

Student art can be found in various forms across campus. Everything from traditional sketching to unconventional design helps students find fulfillment and explore parts of themselves they otherwise wouldn’t be able to.

“Art is a means of expression for me, as it is for most people,” senior Christina Scott said. “When I was younger, it served for simply expressive purposes, and as I progressed, became more of an exploratory questioning.”

Scott does figurative art and portraits in the form of drawings and canvas paintings. She said for her art began as a form of self-expression but developed into a way for exploratory questioning. She said she recognizes art isn’t the most financially stable field and that’s why most people shy away from it as a profession, but she believes art is about passion.

“If art is something that you are passionate about and it is something that drives you, then by all means dive in head first,” Scott said.

Freshman Coleton Wood said his art is less conventional than what can be put on a canvas. Wood’s his passion is theatrical lighting design and he works behind the scenes at performances and creates the lighting displays. This means working with different shades and textures to find the best design.

Wood said this is a way for him to explore new aspects of theatre, something he’s participated in since middle school.

“I get a really strong sense of pride from this art,” Wood said. “The set is designed and the costumes are designed and the actors are ready. And then we use the lights to tie the composition of the show together.”

Wood believes his art form is unique and a beautiful form of self-expression.

Senior Perri Kostecki said she has found enjoyment in all traditional forms of art, such as painting, drawing and sculpture, and installation art has become her new challenge and passion. She said for her, art has been about finding a sense of self from creating something.

“There is an authenticity that is demanded from any type of creation or destruction,” Kostecki said. “It’s a choice, and it inevitably affects who we are afterwards. I create because I have to; it is a type of spiritual purging.”

Freshman Madison Rose said she takes a different approach to her art. While she does painting for theatrical purposes, she is also an avid sketcher. However, her sketches are for herself and herself only.

“It’s so much more than just a pen and paper,” Rose said.

Rose said the art she shares and what she keeps to herself is a form of self-discovery and expression. Rose says of course art is considered self-expression, but to many artists, it holds so much more meaning.

“My sketches … those are all mine,” Rose said. “I sketch because it helps me work through things mentally and emotionally. It’s also how I remember things. Instead of writing down dreams or parts of memories, I draw them.”

Features reporter Julie Sisler can be reached at 270-745-6291 and [email protected]. Follow Julie on Twitter or Instagram at @julie_sisler.