When entering your academic career, the decision not to major in art can be a really tough one if it’s one of your passions. Whatever the reason may be as to why you decided not to follow that specific path, it can feel like a great personal loss. Personally, I struggled a lot with that decision-making process as someone who has always loved art in its various forms. Don’t get me wrong – I love my current areas of study, but I can’t help occasionally feeling some sadness and longing to create art. I, alongside many other students in my position, have had moments where I worry about whether I chose the right path and getting hung up on “what-if” thoughts. But for most college students, there just aren’t enough hours in the day to fulfill all of our desired endeavors. However – the good news is that art is not gone from your life forever just because you chose not to pursue it academically! There is still an abundance of ways in which you can integrate it into your daily life. Even if you can’t relate to the problems above, these tips can still work for anybody who simply wants a sprinkle of creativity in their day-to-day life! Let’s delve into it.
Transform Normal Homework Into Artwork
Let’s be honest. How boring isn’t it to spend several hours of your week just typing up work for your classes? And does it fuel your creativity at all? If your answer is no, you could do as I did and try a more artistic approach for your next assignment. The image above is a project I made for one of my Psychology classes about the bodily senses. Creativity wasn’t a requirement for the assignment, but I found that I enjoyed it so much more when I used my artistic side! So, regardless of the subject, try to make your work as visually striking as possible. There really aren’t any guidelines or rules for this – just let your creativity take over! Although it may look slightly ridiculous to create something beautiful out of a completely unrelated subject, it might actually help you recall the information better as you spend more time absorbing the information when you draw and plan it out.
Find Creative Positions in Clubs Relating to Your Major
Joining clubs or organizations is a great way to get involved and build your resume outside of class. Although there are plenty of art-focused clubs on campus, a lot of students don’t have time to join one that isn’t specific to their area of study. This doesn’t mean you can’t get creative in your extracurriculars, though! Regardless of the type, almost every club or organization on campus needs a member in charge of more artistic aspects, such as graphics for social media outreach. Look for open positions that require some sort of creativity or ask board members for info about what each position entails so you can find what’ll work best for you. This is a great way to enrich your main academic area of focus while simultaneously stimulating your artistic brain!
Drawing During Lectures
Ok, I know a few of you might be thinking “Huh? I can’t draw during lecture, I need to take notes!,” but hear me out for a sec! Psychological studies have shown that drawing while listening appears to impact memory in a positive way. For example, a study was conducted where 40 people listened to a 2.5-minute monotonous voicemail and were then asked to recall the information. Results showed that participants who doodled while listening recalled 29% more information than participants who didn’t. This memory boost may be due to the fact that drawing as a mnemonic technique is proposed to promote integration of various parts of your brain, such as elaborative, pictorial, and motor codes, creating a context-rich processing of information. So, if your professor is okay with it, bring a sketchbook to class and doodle away!
I hope you’ve found some tips that’ll help you bring art into your life despite not pursuing it academically! Remember that everything is what you make it, and nothing is lost forever. From a non-art major art-lover: you can do it! :)
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