Hello, my name is Calliope-Grace Sweet, and I am studying to become a psychologist who uses art to help my patients heal, learn, and grow. Art has always been an outlet for me since I was a little kid. Now that i am a currently attending 1st year college student, sometimes it gets stressful, and l still need to whip out those colored markers and draw. I’ve always thought that if sketching helps me heal, how could I use the talent I’ve been given to help my peers and others. Growing up I struggled with mental health issues and racism. My family, fellow classmates and even teachers didn’t approve of the fact that I was worth more than my color. Due to traumatic memories of my early childhood; anxiety, panic attacks, and depression ate at me as a teen. Wanting to discover why I was the way I was; I looked up how to ‘fix’ myself, but what I needed to do was understand myself. Psychology has always been a fascination of mine, and id regularly stay up late at night watching videos on how the brain works. How one memory can bring one emotion. How your brain chooses to panic or shuts down to some emotions and feelings. And why art was what helped me feel better. As a late teen I worked as a caregiver to mentally and physically disabled people. They were some of the sweetest people and kids I’ve ever met, and they loved doing art. I would sit with them and ask them how their day was going; we would draw pictures and color together. Sometimes my clients would get mad and confused, not knowing how to express the way they felt. I remember giving them paper and a crayon and asking them to “show me”. As my clients spread that paint across their papers, I could see how it was connecting them to the more peaceful parts of their minds, and those moments were when I realized that I wanted to spend the rest of my life learning how to bring, and illuminate, the idea of Art Psychology to the medical field. Learning about my own brain was one thing, but my fascination with people and what makes each individual the quirky, unique, masterpiece that they are, has caused me to want to pursue a bachelors or master’s degree in Psychology. Art therapy teaches people how to learn and heal whilst using art as a coping mechanism. Art Psychology is studying the cognitive and emotional processes the brain goes through when it sees different versions of art. How and why people are different. The psychology of how each artistic style affects a person, how it influences their thoughts and perceptions. I did an experiment on my clients where I showed them both a scary, and a floral drawing. One client took the floral one saying he loved it, and the girl took the skeleton saying she liked bones and connected with it. The human brain is so interesting and beautiful to understand. This scholarship will help me to study more things like this and make a career out of it. A career where I can combine art and psychology to show the world to look past the skin color and the outside appearance of a person, because our brains, and the way we love, learn, and grow are all that truly matters.

One of the most difficult, yet amazing, aspects of being an artist is when you walk past something or see someone and the first thing your brain thinks about is how to draw it. How do I shade this shadow? How would I paint this object? How would I make this object my own and draw it how I see it? One of the most inspiring things about nature is that it’s already art; living art, that we get the blessing of recreating, to connect with ourselves and others. The world outside the studio is just bursting with colors, smells, and sounds that help plein air artists, like me, to feel connected with the drawings and paintings as they create. Nature can be seen the same by different people yet be created and reimagined very differently. Each artist puts their own magic and mindset into their art, creating unique pieces that can connect with many different people. Nature consists of land, air, and sea. It consists of animals, trees, oceans, and sunsets. The wonder that most inspires me is people. Whenever I see a unique and beautiful face, I’ll get out my sketchpad. One of my favorite things is to go to a restaurant or park and draw the first person that speaks to my artist eye. Many different people, cultures, and styles exist in this world, and I find absolute joy in capturing that on paper. Ever since I’ve discovered how amazing this gift is to see the nature of the world and be able to draw it how I see it, I’ve been studying to become an art teacher. This scholarship will help my passion for capturing the reality of life spread to my peers and future generations, so they can connect with themselves, and nature through art.

All my life I’ve used art to cope with both the intense emotions of being a foster/adopted child, as well as average life issues and hardships. This scholarship will help me to pursue my dream of becoming a high school art teacher who can help students learn to use art to cope with their emotions in a healthy way, like I learned to do. Since a very young age I’ve dealt with all my emotions by drawing pictures. Anytime something entered my mind that was difficult and hard, I would find a pencil and paper and sit down and draw out my inner pain. I learned to use art to cope instead of hurting myself. As I did this, I wished that my peers would be inspired to do the same. I wanted them to understand how helpful and wonderful creating art could be for them. I was adopted as a baby by a single mother. We moved a lot during my childhood, so it was very hard for me to find and keep friends. Growing up I would start to question why my birth family gave me up and would often be left with confusion and pain. I started to talk with a therapist, and he helped me learn to use my God-given talent and put my emotions back into a sketchbook. With the dream to help people struggling like me, I chose to do the two things that I am most passionate about: art and helping people. Seeing people smile and be at peace with themselves feeds my soul. I believe that art can help people to find themselves. Becoming an art teacher will allow me to meet my students where they are and teach them to use art for healing, as well as a creative outlet. Instead of ruining their futures with drugs, or other unhealthy coping mechanisms. I want to be a part of how they learn to grow with themselves by expressing who they are and what their identities are in art, whether it be spreading black paint on a canvas, or a bunch of flowers taped to a tear-stained piece of paper. This scholarship will support my dream in teaching people, like me, how to cope and connect with their emotions through art. I want to see a generation change for the better, and to make the world a brighter, healthier place through art.

Id like to start with offering my deepest condolences to you and your family. Losing a loved one, especially such a beautiful daughter, is a very hard thing. We lost someone in our family the same way. I pray that you will find peace, my heart truly goes out to you. Art is an outlet for me; a way to express how I feel and how I see the world around and inside of me. I feel my most creative when I'm studying other peoples creations. A lot of my art inspiration is from the different cultures that I experience, and the different people that I have the blessing of meeting. Last year I took two separate trips to two separate countries, Mexico and Taiwan. While in these countries I took a lot of inspiration from their art and styles. While living in Taiwan I took much inspiration from their beautiful mountains, and their absolutely stunning night markets. I was so inspired by the artists and temples there as well. While on night walks with my group I would take pictures of the people and temples around the cities we went to, adding them as drawings in my sketchbook later. I drew a portrait of the couple we were staying with, a pastor and his wife, and they hung it up in their church. The smiles they had on their faces every time they passed my drawing healed my soul. When in Taiwan I went out to eat with my group and in my sketchbook I drew a picture of a man for him. I walked over to him and handed it to him. A big smile grew on his face and he took a picture of it. He took my drawing and wrote his name in Chinese behind my portrait. His friend came over, and though neither of us could understand what the other was saying, it was such a healing, and connecting moment. Later that same year I went on a missions trip to Mexico to build a house for a homeless family of 5. When the house was finished the family blasted music while we ran paintbrushes over their walls, painting their home in vibrant colors. Mexico showed me how to incorporate music and the way it makes a person feel, into my drawings and paintings. I drew a picture for one of the younger kids of the family we built the house for. He was so excited to have it and showed all his family and neighbors. When we said our goodbyes, I saw that the family had framed the picture and nailed it near the doorway. I couldn’t control the happiness that I felt by that. This scholarship is going to help me bring that same joy, that I felt and that the family felt, to more people. I would love to have the blessing of being able to bring that same joy to the students on my college campus, to strangers in the street, and to the beautiful souls around the world if I get a chance to travel.

All my life I’ve used art to cope with both the intense emotions of being a foster/adopted child, as well as average life issues and hardships. This scholarship will help me to pursue my dream of becoming an inspiring artist to others. Since a very young age I’ve dealt with all my emotions by drawing pictures. Anytime something entered my mind that was difficult and hard, I would find a pencil and paper and sit down and draw. Drawing out my emotions kept me from doing other things; I took out my inner pain on paper instead of myself. As I did this, I wished that my peers would be inspired to do the same. I wanted them to understand how helpful creating art could be for them. I was adopted as a baby by a wonderful single mother. We moved a lot during my childhood, so it was hard for me to find friends. I would often feel lonely and be found talking to my toys or drawing out my feelings. Growing up I would start to question why my birth family gave me up, and I am currently struggling with depression and anxiety attacks. Often left with confusion and pain, I would try to cope by hurting myself. I started to talk with a therapist, and he helped me learn to use my God-given talent and put my emotions back into a sketchbook. Art has become the way that I cope with intense feelings, difficult circumstances, and loneliness. Id like my art to be a light to those who are in the dark; a way for them to find themselves in my paintings. For college I chose to do the two things that I am most passionate about: art and helping people. When people stop to look at my art i can see them thinking about the inspiration behind the drawings. Those inspired smiles heal my soul, and it fills me with happiness to know that my art is helping a person connect with themselves. I believe that art can help people like it helped me. This scholarship will help me bring those same smiles to people around the world. Art can be healing in so many ways and can be extremely rewarding for a person. I have helped many people, from my family and friends to strangers develop their art skills. Everyone can do art in some capacity, even when they don’t think they have talent or skills to create. When i show my art to people the inspired smiles on their faces heal my soul. One of my favorite things is to teach others to draw something and they hold it up and show everyone. The pride on their face gives me a spark of happiness and that is what this scholarship will help me bring to the future people that I meet. I want to be a part of how others learn to grow with themselves by expressing who they are and what their identities are in art, whether it be spreading black paint on a canvas, or a bunch of flowers taped to a tear-stained piece of paper. This scholarship will support my dream in making art pieces that will help people learn how to cope and connect with their emotions through art. I want to see a generation change for the better, and to make the world a brighter, healthier place through fine and studio art.