I love getting students who don’t normally identify as artists to see themselves in the art world. I think especially for Duke students, if y’all don’t think you’re going to be good at something, you don’t do it. But you don’t have to be good at it. There’s no bad art. There’s offensive art and harmful art, but there’s no bad art. Everything we do in our lives is art, and sometimes we have to take little steps of re-rationalizing what art is. It’s the way people get up in the morning and create their outfit, that is art. The way you organize your closet is art. The way people do their makeup, that is art. Getting students to see that they’re already making little artistic choices everyday and reassuring them that even if what they create is not something they find physically appealing, the process of creating itself is still beneficial and beautiful. Even if you’re just painting on the lawn or tuning into a DukeCreate event. Bridging that gap and getting students to understand that is incredible. That’s why giving students the opportunity and resources to make art and having free art spaces on campus is so helpful.
