Deep Pathway Reflection

As a studio art major in the Ohio Honors Program, I wanted to bridge the interdisciplinary gap and explore how the program could meaningfully contribute to my artistic practice and future career. The pathway I selected, research and creative activity, became one of the most meaningful aspects of my honors experience. Through both curricular and co-curricular experiences, I learned that research is not severed from creativity, but is rather deeply connected to it. The Ohio Honors Program has refined my understanding of creative activity, proving research can be collaborative, experimental, and rooted in lived experience. 

A few experiences felt especially impactful in relation to this pathway. The first was my co-curricular experience as Art & Tactile Skills Director at a scout camp during the summer of 2024. Prior to that experience, although I was entering my third year, I still understood my artistic practice as singular and fairly conventional. In that role, I taught merit badges outside my usual comfort zone, including metalworking, leatherworking, basketry, and papermaking. I encountered a unique method of learning while leading a workshop in a skill I was still developing, having the opportunity to lead as a creative collaborator rather than an instructor. The scouts and I were problem solving and experimenting together, which turned teaching into a shared form of research. Through basket weaving trials and scrap leather, I began to value collaboration and experimentation as essential parts of research and creative activity. That mindset has remained central to the early stages of each artwork I produce. 

Another especially meaningful experience was my independent study in Appalachian Studies with Dr. Tiffany Arnold during Spring 2025. Before this curricular experience, my connection to my own Appalachian identity was passionate, but my understanding of the region was scattered and largely personal. Dr. Arnold’s guidance helped me recognize the value of informed, intentional research when creating work founded upon Appalachian culture and placemaking. The readings she shared expanded my perspective on how scholarship can inform artistic practice and creative activity. I was especially moved to discover other artists and writers making work about being rural, Appalachian, and queer. That realization reaffirmed that research can drastically influence my artistic practice. 

I have found a rewarding experience making connections on how other Ohio Honors Program experiences have impacted my approach to research and creative activity. My community service work with True Pigments and John Sabraw introduced me to artistic materiality through their process of transforming waterway pollution into pigment. That experience changed how I consider about materiality in the artwork I produce, serving as identity markers of meaning and place. I later used this pigment in watercolor paintings for my BFA Thesis Exhibition, allowing the medium itself to connect to the region. My recent curricular experience at Mammoth Cave also informed my thesis by expanding my understanding of place-making and regional representation. Additionally, I have adopted reflective journaling as a regular part of my research process through my experience at Mammoth Cave. 

Overall, the Ohio Honors Program has shown me that research and creative activity are inseparable in my artistic practice. Whether through scholarship, collaboration, travel, service, or experimentation, each experience has contributed to refining my craft. This program has encouraged me to see creative activity not only as a means of expression, but as a form of research and cultural inquiry.