By AMEARA DITSCHE
Arts Editor
Last March, when we all were forced to have to navigate an isolated lifestyle, people were scrambling for ways to fill the time. Some people took a fitness journey, some making bread, and everything in between. I admittedly fell into a depressive state where my only hobbies were media consumption and self destruction. I used the world shutting down as an excuse to shut down, and I’m still having a hard time finding my way back. As life remains a stagnant routine longer and longer, I find myself spiraling more and more, my thoughts becoming more intense and heavier. I went through my bare necessities like a zombie. There was no time for hobbies when you spent 24 hours a day convincing yourself to stay alive.
But time passed and I started to grow used to this existence and learned to cope and be alone with my thoughts. Then, one random night in February I saw a TikTok, it was a montage of a girl sculpting tiny frogs out of air dry clay. I was brought back to senior year of high school when I was short an art elective and the counselor put me in a ceramics class. Initially, I was annoyed at my lack of choice and being forced to take a class full of underclassmen and taught by a rumored neurotic teacher. But, I quickly enjoyed the creative freedom and found working with my hands to create something tangible incredibly soothing. I had the class first period, and it was such a nice way to ease into my day. Fueled by the aforementioned TikTok, a need for a new hyperfixation, and realization that a bucket of clay is only $12.99, I got to work.
After spending a chunk of my weekly paycheck at Michael’s, I fiddled around with the air-dry clay and acrylic paints, figuring out how to mix my colors to get the right shade of floral pink or sky blue or river blue, and sealed my work in modge podge. My first piece was an ashtray painted in homage to my favorite movie, “Midsommar.” Due to their simple structure I’ve mainly been sticking to ash/trinket trays as I get down the techniques. Once the piece is sculpted and dried, I can play around with the design and color when I paint it.
I try to recall different techniques and even pick up on new ones. Every day it seems I follow 10 more fellow sculptors on Instagram. I look at bright colors and faces scultped on bowls, gaining inspiration. Artistically, there is so much you can do with clay and paint. You can create literally anything. You can bring your imaginations wildest creatures to your hands, or model a tiny ceramic after your favorite bug. The options are an endless road of color and opportunity.
Like I said before, the process of using my hands to turn a lump of clay into something I can use is cathartic. I can get lost in clay and paint for hours, then come out of the other end with a piece of art I made and can enjoy. Not only does it allow me to have a therapeutic couple of hours where my brain goes from internal screaming to gentle hums, but I find myself smiling when I glance around my apartment and spot something I made. I still can’t quite contain the childlike sense of pride when I say “yeah, I made that!” when asked about a piece.
So far my greatest pride would have to be a little sculpture of two mushrooms with a snake slithering by. The little knick knack sits proudly on a table in my living room. My roommate Brendan broke it but making it was so healing I didn’t even care!
According to Harvard Medical School, Art Therapy is especially prevalent in hospices, or retirement homes. “Research has also shown that creating visual art can reduce stress and promote relaxation in people who are hospitalized or homebound due to illness,” they say on their health publishing website.
The outlet helps with cognitive decline and gives a sense of freedom to people confined to these places. While being quarantined during the pandemic is much different than a certain end of life living situation, those feelings of isolation and hopelessness remain. And art helps you release them in a healthy manner. If nothing else, you have the chance to shut your brain off and enjoy some peace without your anxieties rattling you.
