“Art is not a thing; it is a way.”
Kathryn Campbell, a junior art major with a focus in painting, has truly made art her way. I’ve seen it in the past two years, as I’ve watched her lose sleep to create the perfect piece and beam with humble pride in her finished work, inspiring me to both do what I love and do it with excellence.
Kathryn fell in love with art at a very early age, spending her time as a child not only writing her own books, but illustrating them as well. Her craft, however, didn’t develop fully until she began high school, where she met the teacher who would inspire her to become both an artist and a teacher.
After Kathryn graduated from high school, she toured Union, and was drawn to their support of artists and creators. “There’s this wall in the ceramics department where every student who tours the art department signs, and they pray over that list,” Kathryn said. “[Mr. Benson, the department chair] told me, ‘Kathryn, I want you to know that I’m praying for you. Not for you to come to Union, but that you’d go where God is going to do the most work in your life.’ That spoke volumes to me.”
Now having been in the department for over two years, Kathryn has a found a deep sense of community within her department, having fostered a family atmosphere with them, which she believes sets Union’s art department apart.
Kathryn has always had a unique and exciting style in her art. One of her favorite pieces she’s created was for a project in which she was required to paint over a texture. While the other students were choosing textures such as papier-mâché, Kathryn decided to use human hair. She walked into a local salon and asked if they had any hair that they could use for her art project. Kathryn walked out with a trash bag full. “I have [the painting] up in my room,” she said. “I fell in love with it.”
Currently, Kathryn is working on a series of eight paintings, each of which will represent people hiding from their emotions. I followed her up to the second floor of the department to see the two paintings that she has finished so far. Both were detailed and masterfully painted, the first of a woman with a bag over her head, representing embarrassment, and the second of a woman with a beehive on her head, representing stress.
“I really enjoy things that may not be entirely realistic,” Kathryn said. She told me about a class she took last year, a portrait class. When everyone else was painting ordinary people, Kathryn decided to paint a portrait of a man with a donkey’s head.
“There’s this really great quote: ‘Art is not a thing; it is a way,’” Kathryn said. “It’s something you do, how you do it, and how you think. My high school art teacher told me that.” To this day, Kathryn’s goal is to graduate and go back to the school where she first fell in love with art, teaching at the high school where her mentor first taught her.
I’m always impressed by Kathryn, not just in her paintings, but in her demeanor, as I’ve seen her firsthand balance a more-than-full plate while loving well and to no end. Kathryn still loses sleep for her craft. She still beams in the feeling of finishing well. And she still pours every ounce of her being into her passion: creating excellent art.
