Shaylyn Hubbell, a sophomore from Manhattan, Kansas loves dogs more than anything in the world.
We sat together at Aimee’s coffee shop on Mass St. so I could ask her a few questions about herself. The location was convienient for her as it’s right next to a pet store where you can almost always find a dog.
I asked her why she came to KU since her native town is home to K-State where both her parents work. She responded, “the art program.”
She told me she first got into art in middle school when she took a painting and drawing class. At first her draw to the art world was her teacher who inspired her with kindness. But as she went on she found she derived serious satisfaction from “finding out you’re capable of making something truly beautiful.”
The most frustrating part of art, she said, “is when you feel like you can’t get it right and you’re embarassed about it and embarrassed about being in the studio because you don’t want anyone to see it.” She told me about feelings of disappointment in herself that derived, she believes, from being a gymnast from the age of three.
“There was serious competion with gymnastics and it really forced me to push myself, it also coincidentlally made me feel inadequate in some ways. Now that feeling carrys into my art- it’s like I always try to push myself like I did back then.”
Her one piece of advice for anyone seeking a degree in art: “Really try to make connections with your professors….and put your work out there!
For now she’s just doing art, trying to get a degree so she can teach one day. Ten years from now she sees herself with a Masters degree living on some coast with one beautiful Burnese Mountain dog taking long walks on the beach.