Stress in University Students Expressed Through Music and Visual Art

Author: Natalie Peters

Field of Study: Undeclared

Program Affiliation: Source Project Research Program

Faculty Mentors: Christopher Robbins

Easel: 65

Timeslot: Afternoon

Abstract: University students often experience high levels of stress and anxiety (Asif et al., 2020). Using music or art to help manage and alleviate that stress can be beneficial to students’ mental health (Liu, 2022; Labbé et al., 2007). Utilizing artwork to portray stress has been used by artists like Louise Bourgeoise and Yayoi Kusama as coping mechanisms. While Kusama created immersive and repetitive artwork to work through her hallucinations, traumas, and anxiety, Bourgeoise created repetitive artwork that was more chaotic and surrealist to work through her pain and stress. In this project, students create their own immersive experience through engaging in guided artwork, utilizing music as a way of setting a state of mind. Different techniques, from art forms, like paint or charcoal, to methods, such as cubism to realism, will be employed to help the students understand the effects of the techniques and the art created based on stress.