The restorative properties of art

Faculty from the Virginia Tech School of Visual Arts share the power of art. 

Art allows us to access our emotional core, whether through viewing it or creating it," said Robin Scully, Perspective Gallery and Student Engagement and Campus Life art program director. "The eye hand connection used in creating art can be likened to a 'stream-of-consciousness' conduit which can circumvent the running dialogue we often have in our heads, wearing us out."

"Art making and viewing are powerful cognitive practices that enable someone to think and act beyond the present," said Professor Eric Standley. "The meditative nature of a process is restorative to the human spirit by way of focusing, creating, and discovering."

"Creating is an act of detoxification," Standley said. "The process itself is an antibody to the potential helplessness when faced with an existential void."

"Art has always been a creative outlet for me," said Hannah Steincamp, a psychology and studio art major. "Being able to express myself through art gives me a nonverbal language to communicate with myself and the world. Interacting with art is what makes our lives so complicated and colorful, and I feel the most present and inspired when creating something unexplainable."