When the lockdown portion of the COVID-19 pandemic began, many looked to playwright William Shakespeare for inspiration, pointing out that he wrote Romeo and Juliet while quarantined during a plague. Though most of us will probably not achieve quite such lofty goals, many have set their sight on self-expression or even self-improvement through artistic endeavors, and Klein College of Media and Communication students are no exception.

Freshman communication studies student Kayla Winz is a painter by hobby, and even took extracurricular art classes while she was in high school. Although she had never painted a mural, it was something that had always been a goal of hers.

When the pandemic hit, Winz felt it was the perfect time to set this goal into motion. After taking down a fence between her family’s yard and a neighbor’s, she received permission to paint the side of her neighbor’s shed that faces Winz’s family’s yard. 

“I had never painted a mural before, but our neighbors were really excited about me painting it,” she says.

With the location secured, she began her hunt for inspiration. Winz said she scoured Pinterest for days, but kept coming up empty. Finally, inspiration struck when her mother held up a tissue box showing a simple, happy bouquet of sunflowers. Winz immediately knew it was perfect, and with a few simple changes to the design, had the project complete in about a month.

“I definitely feel like it was a good distraction,” she says. “It was something uplifting to do and think about during this time of loneliness and boredom.” 

Winz hopes to continue to grow as an artist at Temple University and at Klein, and is exploring her options as far as which student organizations and extracurriculars to join. While she is home, a reminder of her perseverance and passion will always be right outside her window.

Another student shared the same inspiration for using art to mitigate stress. Mary Wetherbee, a first-year transfer student who is undeclared but looking to major in graphic design in Tyler School of Art and Architecture and minor in journalism at Klein, used the time to explore the connections between visual art and writing. A multi-disciplinary artist whose interests range from writing to photography to digital art and graphic design, Wetherbee was in a unique position when she began to isolate.

After one year at Pratt Institute in New York City, Wetherbee took a gap year to travel to Rome. She planned on staying for six months, January to July 2020. Her plans changed with COVID-19, driving her to instead quarantine with her homestay family and then eventually find her own apartment for a couple of months. Still, the trip was cut short, and she once again had to reassess where she would go from there.

While stranded in Rome, she looked to her artistic outlets, but also had a hard time focusing. She said that she focused on her writing skills, writing for the now-defunct Fulfilled magazine and honing her craft while she explored the relationship between writing and art.

“Writing was definitely what helped me the most. If there was one thing that I developed, at least, it would have been my writing,” she says. She added that she devised a philosophy during her gap year that captures her work as an artist and writer: “Writing and art go hand in hand. I think writing really amplifies art, and then the same with art amplifying writing.”

With limited art supplies on hand and only an iPhone 6 to take photos, it was a fortunate coincidence that Wetherbee found her voice in writing. At Klein, she hopes to minor in journalism, and wants to take advantage of every opportunity available to her, especially studying away. Still, both Winz and Wetherbee, like many Klein students, are keeping their options open, allowing their many diverse interests and talents to grow and thrive.