Haley Capps
Haley Capps is a sophomore English and political science major and journalism minor in the Honors College and is from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In her free time, she loves baking, yoga and reading old books.
Even though Aidan Thomason devotes her coursework to studying international studies
and history, she does more than enough to stay in touch with her creative side. Now
a junior, she keeps busy by making artwork and working as the lead student curator
of the Honors College’s Cultural Connoisseurs Initiative.
As an artist, a lot of her artwork is made from a combination of different materials,
whether it be acrylic paint, watercolors, or even embroidery. According to Thomason,
nature is a big source of inspiration for her, which explains her specialization in
outdoor imagery, and she likes to focus her work on the human experience. In fact,
one of her past projects focuses on the way that young women experience anxiety, and
she says working on this project enabled her to facilitate “honest conversations with
other girls about their experiences and to communicate them evocatively.”
Art has always been an important outlet for Thomason. Besides acting as a creative
outlet, art has been a source of community for her, taught her how to think critically,
and encouraged her to make more emotional connections.
“Being in touch with that side of myself makes my brain think more creatively so I
feel like I'm having more ideas for artworks and more motivation to do things like
that just because I'm engaging with and seeing what cool things other people are doing,”
said Thomason.
But Thomason didn’t want to lose sight of her passion for art once she got to UofSC.
“It was just important to me, when I came to college and kind of realized that my
major was going to take me away from that, that I was engaging with it still like
keeping in touch with that part of myself so that's kind of why I wanted to join,”
said Thomason.
This led her to joining the Honors College’s Cultural Connoisseurs Initiative. As
the lead student curator, Thomason works on keeping Honors students engaged with the
arts and culture of Columbia. The goal of the Cultural Connoisseurs Initiative is
to make connections between students and local artists and to remind students of the
importance of the arts. Right now, they’re working on finding social justice-oriented
artists in the Columbia community, putting together a virtual exhibition of student
art, and making a series of spotlights to highlight creative students in the Honors
College.
“I think that the arts have a really important place in how we connect with the world
and how we respond to the world, so I think it’s really important that students during
their college careers are engaged with that and are interacting with other artists
and being in tune with their own creative sides. Plus, it’s a good way to destress,”
said Thomason.
According to Thomason, it’s easy for students that aren’t majoring in the arts to
think that they don’t have time for art, or that they can’t incorporate it into their
coursework. However, she believes that the Cultural Connoisseurs Initiative can change
that by showing students how to interact with art more in their daily lives.
In addition to her role as lead student curator, Thomason also devotes her time to
the Maxcy Global Scholars Program. There, she’s the producer and host of the Seeking
Refuge Podcast, which focuses on sharing the personal stories of refugees. Since Thomason
hopes to work on equity and access in education for refugees, this podcast is right
up her alley.
“I want to work on bridging those gaps to access because a lot of students will have
interrupted education or language barriers, and a lot of their needs aren’t being
met,” said Thomason.
Since art is such a central part of her life, it’s important to Thomason that she
finds a way to integrate art into her future career. Creating art about the experiences
she has in her future profession and making a documentary about the refugee crisis
are just some of the possibilities she’s been considering for the future.
Thomason says that, since the Honors College already does well with encouraging a
sense of community, she would love to see the Honors arts community expand even more.
Looking towards the future of the Cultural Connoisseurs Initiative, she’s eager for
more Honors students to join her in the effort to cultivate student engagement with
the arts within the Honors community. Most importantly for Thomason, the value that
she felt within Honors community pushed her to continue her involvement with the arts
and on campus.
“I think because of that, I've had a lot of opportunities to engage with Columbia,
and had a lot of support from people telling me things that I wouldn't have found
out about myself,” said Thomason.
Whether she’s bringing awareness to the refugee crisis or promoting cultural engagement,
Thomason’s love for art will always ensure that she’s finding new ways to get involved.