Earlier this summer, the Lancaster Chamber published an article by BLAC, PCA&D’s Black Led Art Coalition, as part of its Words That Activate Change series. The article’s three authors — Delaina Jolley ’22, Illustration; CamRyn Mickens ’23, Animation & Game Art; and Kendall White ’23, Illustration — addressed “How Art Students Respond to the Unprecedented Events.” They talked to fellow art students of color about the challenges brought about by being a college student during the pandemic, adding that “being a Black student during so much racial adversity added another layer of difficulty and challenge.”

Here is the full Chamber article by Jolly, White, and Mickens, reprinted with permission: 

How Art Students Respond to the Unprecedented Events

Being a college student during the pandemic was overwhelming, as we faced restrictions and constant uncertainty. Being a Black student during so much racial adversity added another layer of difficulty and challenge.

As artists, and as students, our sense of normal was uprooted. As creatives, we thrive on collaboration and critiques with our peers. As students, we missed so many aspects of being together in a community — living, studying, and creating together.

Personally, we found the best way to communicate our emotions of the past year’s events was through art.

So, we asked our classmates, How has the pandemic affected you as an artist, student, and person of color? We’ve collected their responses, and their artwork, to help illustrate what this past year felt like to us.

Alex Eggleston ’23, Photography & Video

Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs
Instagram: @alosersphotos

Going home didn’t seem so bad at first. I was homesick and would go home every weekend anyways, so why not? However, in the coming days we would all realize the severity of the coronavirus, including me. Within the span of three weeks, I lost my aunt to Covid-19, I went through a messy breakup, and my mental health was overall suffering because I felt so alone. When I was at my lowest, Kayla came into my life and without knowingly doing anything, she saved me. During the beginning stages of our relationship, the murder of George Floyd happened. Seeing people of color, people that look like me, become victims of senseless acts of violence made me want to focus on the topics of identity, race, sexuality and other political topics that are important to me. I realized that this was the only way that I could communicate clearly what I was feeling and why.

 

Head to Head is conflict, it’s getting beaten to a pulp and having the guts to get back up, it’s going through a pandemic and losing things that meant a lot to you. As I enter my junior year I do so with the Mary Colleen Heil Presidential Scholarship given to me by my school, and happiness I never would have discovered without going through that conflict. I got back up. So, although the pandemic tried to pull me back, it also pushed me forward into becoming the artist I’ve always aspired to be.

Jasmyn Stokes ’23, Illustration

Pronouns: She/They

Instagram: @jasmynstokesart

It’s been a hard year, and I would say that I cried more times about things that were in my control, and things that were completely out of my control. From 2020 to 2021, I had a lot of losses, and I had a few gains. I juggled being a full-time student and also working two jobs. Now, you could say that’s not very hard, but it is when you’re also trying to juggle your mental health. My mental health during this time was not the best. I struggled to make art, to find motivation and struggled with focusing on the tasks right in front of me. I struggled to watch the news as more and more people of color were being killed and struggled to find myself in a time of isolation. I still struggle but, not as much as I did before. Being a full-time art student in a pandemic is/was probably one of the hardest challenges I faced. I stayed home the entire year and had school virtually every day. I found myself at times up until 3 a.m. working on homework trying to find the motivation I needed to complete them. I found myself even staying up until 6 a.m. and not realizing the sun is coming up. It takes a lot of focus and hard work to do school virtually. I could not seem to throw myself into my work like I used to, and the result of my pieces I did not like. 

 

Within the entire year, I would say I was okay with two pieces I made. I felt no connection with my work. Even the work I made outside of school ended up in a trash bin. Everything I made I heavily disliked and threw away. Nothing, including the work I love to do, did matter to me anymore. After a while, I knew that my mental health played a big part in this. It was declining, and halfway through the year, I started full-time therapy which has been a big help. Being a black artist during a time where all connections to family and friends were cut off, and a time where a lot of losses occurred has been a hurdle that I could not jump. The biggest hurdle I faced was my brain and my self-identity.

 I have used this feeling for my work. I found that when multiple things are going on in my head at once, I take some of them and turn them into pieces of work that speak louder than my words can. Art during this time you could say has been my therapy in taking care of my mental health.

Dzifa Charity Lassey’ 24, Graphic Design 

Pronouns: She/Her

Instagram: Gees.tea 

https://dzifalasseyart.weebly.com

Locked down, locked in! I had a greater sense of focus on my artwork and my health. No more outings and no more shopping at the mall! Stuck inside most of the time changed my outlook on socializing, daily routines, art making, and self-care. Being inside all the time caused me to travel to floating islands or to undiscovered planets where people walk upside down in my imagination. Online art school was fantastic! I found online school to be convenient and beneficial. I enjoyed going to school from any location. Sometimes I went to school at a local coffee shop or at a park. Online school taught me how to form long-distance relationships and how to network. My old computer that frustrated me became my source of confidence. I felt free to talk about my pet cactus and my abstract artwork behind a computer screen. The best part of the online school situation was exploring an empty campus. My art making during the pandemic looked like using my mask as chamois for my charcoal portrait, gluing wood blocks together, creating illustrations about the Black Lives Matter movement, and creating a gigantic self-portrait out of paper plates.

 

 

Dominique Bryson ‘24, Illustration 

Pronouns: She/Her

Instagram: @dummysterdoesart

Being an art student while a global pandemic is affecting your schoolwork and how you learn is extremely hard. It is mentally, physically, and emotionally draining when you cannot go up to your fellow classmates or professors in person and ask them a question or for help. It is the same for when you are struggling in a class. Personally, starting college through the laptop was a huge downside. I wanted to be in the classes, yet I was scared of the pandemic. With most classes being online, I went back home. Through time, I would doubt myself as a person and an artist. It would take a lot of time to even try to recover from how I felt.

During this time, the facts hitting me was how the pandemic and being a black woman hit me. From my time off, I would discuss the unfair advantages black women have. It became a part of me that I wanted to express through drawing. From reaching out to how people viewed me when growing up and scribbling on a paper helped me cope. It taught me how to love myself, for who I am, and what color I am. I have always wanted to show the views of what I personally went through. Thankfully, being an art student makes the message come across through these pieces.

 

Note from the Lancaster Chamber

The Lancaster Chamber strives to provide opportunities for local business and community leaders to share their insight and perspective on a variety of current topics.

This Words That Activate Change series is focused on uplifting voices in our community that encourage dialogue, cultivate transformation, offer thought-provoking ideas, and challenge all of us to be better, be stronger, and, most importantly, be advocates for systemic change within both our community and our workforce.

Our seventeenth article is by Delaina Jolley, Kendall White, and CamRyn Mickens, members of BLAC at the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design. The BLAC student organization was founded June 2020 by a group of students who wanted to create a safe space and opportunities for students of color during the height of the Black Lives Matter. PCA&D is a community of makers and dreamers, designers, and entrepreneurs, where students of all ages discover how to make creativity a career. Located in the heart of Lancaster’s thriving arts community, a hallmark of this micro-college is the personal attention and guidance from the faculty of working artists, coupled with meaningful internships and hands-on experiences.