Embracing Creativity at Barnard
When I was little, my mom had an Etsy shop, where she sold hand-made masks. I used to sit at the kitchen table with her, watching as she added embellishments, making each mask unique. Eventually, she let me join her. At first, it was just a way to spend time with her, but slowly, I developed a love for it. I felt accomplished creating something with my own hands from start to finish and having something no one else had.
When I was searching for colleges, I knew that I wanted to be in an environment where my creativity could flourish. By this point I had started sewing, embroidering, jewelry making — I was doing everything I could get my hands on. Before I arrived at Barnard I heard about resources like the Design Center and hoped it would be a place where creative students could thrive. It wasn’t until I arrived on campus that I realized the depth of creative energy across the college, from clubs to the classroom and everywhere in between.
I may be a little biased because I work there, but the Design Center has become my favorite spot on campus. Both as a student and a staff member, I get to learn new crafts through our workshops with the guidance of a professional; I am constantly amazed by how accessible crafts can be when you have the proper support. For example, I was able to work with stained glass pieces and a soldering kit to make my own stained glass jewelry! I appreciate the space to bring my visions to life with the guidance of seasoned professionals.
Clubs have been a wonderful opportunity for me to connect with other people to create something bigger than myself. I did makeup for two Hoot Magazine photoshoots, a student-run fashion magazine, for the Sincerely edition. Both photoshoots were experimenting with the idea of authenticity, but they went in completely different directions. The first one was very mod, so we played a lot with silhouettes and texture. The second had a 1950s surrealist uniformity aesthetic, so we ended up gluing feathers to all the models faces to play into a delicate femininity. It was a little stressful to pull everything together by the timeline, but I loved working with other people on a common goal. Seeing everything come together was very rewarding.
Several of my classes worked to combine academics and crafting. I had two group projects in separate classes that required me to make a zine as the final, where I used the skills I was developing in the class to communicate a theme of my choosing. For Elementary Spanish II, I made a Y2K zine in Spanish, and after struggling with some of the content, I was very happy to work with a medium that I understood well. For Intersectional Feminisms, I made a zine about clothing, where we examined each group member’s closet using paper dolls to demonstrate how our clothes represented different aspects of our identities. These zines allowed me to combine my academic and creative interests to develop my language, collaboration, and critical thinking skills.
Additionally, as a Barnard student, I have access to New York City resources as well! One of my favorite spots in Brooklyn is FAB Scrap, a space dedicated to lessening commercial clothing waste. People can volunteer to sort clothing waste so it can be recycled and receive 5lbs of fabric in return. I’ve done it twice, and I was able to meet new people who were also passionate about sewing and sustainability.
I love the creative community that Barnard has fostered. I love seeing other people test the limits because it motivates me to work harder, to try new things, and I get to do it all with the creative support from Barnard College.