In a world full of chaos, academic pressure and a pandemic, filling your space with art has never been more important. Over the past year of online school, we all spent more time than ever in our rooms, suddenly leading us to analyze how our backgrounds appeared on Zoom. We didn’t really have the opportunity to be on campus surrounded by other students and NC State’s aesthetic brick architecture and modern decor. This made me realize how important it is to mindfully decorate your home, room and study space even if there isn’t a pandemic. 

Think of the way different locations make you feel: coffee shops, doctor’s offices, airports, museums. You can easily imagine a certain look to each of these places and even the artwork that may hang on the walls. The artwork and specific design decisions are what makes these places unique and often sets an intentional ambience that affects our mood.

If you had to decide whether to study for a test in a themed room full of color or a grayish-toned doctors office with uncomfortable chairs from the ‘90s, the majority of students would choose the first option. The reason for this is because art does in fact impact our mental health and can promote overall well-being. It’s not hard to imagine that it can impact our academic performance as well. 

According to an article from Frontiers in Psychology, the aesthetic experience — the appreciation of aesthetic objects and the resulting pleasure — in school settings can lead to significantly enhanced learning. The authors also researched the effect of incorporating the aesthetic experience into lessons for students, by including movie or art analysis, which resulted in a positive cognitive impact as they were more inclined to learn. 

The aesthetic experience encompasses more than visual art. It also includes music, poetry, the act of making art and more. This effectively means that all of this visual and audible artwork impacts our mental health, whether that be positively or negatively. With this information in mind, why not create the best aesthetic experience for ourselves in our own rooms?

This does not mean you have to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on high quality art pieces for your space. You can achieve this project by finding cheap artwork to purchase online from artists, searching through the artwork at thrift stores or simply making your own to match your intended aesthetic. 

The advantages of cultivating your ideal artful room goes far beyond academics. Art therapy has also become a popular form of professional and personal self care over the last few years, and can be incorporated into or used alongside traditional therapy techniques.

Personally, I took on redecorating my room this past spring semester and found myself much more motivated to study when surrounded by art that inspired me. I enjoyed reimagining my space and actually putting some of my art history knowledge to use. It also provided me with a refreshing change of scenery, which is always beneficial when creating an aesthetic experience.

As we move forward to an in-person fall semester, I encourage all students to take the time to intentionally decorate their room with whatever makes them feel their absolute best. By doing so, we can only further improve our mental health and grades while navigating the stresses of being a college student.