Feature: Emily Mims, expressing artistic visions
Artistic expression can be tricky to share with the world, but senior studio and digital art major Emily Mims has found multiple avenues for expressing her individualized ideas and aesthetics.
Dance has always been a big part of Mims's life as she began her journey at 3 years old. Devoting so much passion and effort into one artform can be draining enough, but Mims balances not only her passion for dance, but her passion for art as well.
“When I started to study dance in college, I felt like I was starting to lose my artistic passion for it. I still wanted to be in the arts, but I wanted to do something I wasn’t doing all the time,” Mims said.
This change of pace led Mims to visual art, which would then culminate into a desire to teach art. Mims plans to obtain a teaching certificate and become an elementary art teacher after her time at USC Aiken.
Art by Emily Mims
Mims began her studio art journey after exploring digital art and enjoying the wide variety of ways to express herself. She later found that studio art is where she felt the most passionate, saying she “feel(s) like there’s more room for creativity in drawing and painting that allows you to develop your own style with studio art.”
Art by Emily Mims
Outside of pursuing her degree, Mims is also a member of the USC Aiken Spirit Squad dance team and teaches dance at Tip Toes and Taps in North Augusta where she instructs dancers from 3 to 18 years old. Mims also sells her art and some of her works can be seen in local restaurants such as Mellow Mushroom and New Moon Café.
Aside from her expressive canvases, Mims garners her inspiration and visual aesthetics from music from the 1960s and 1970s, especially the psychedelia movement from that time.
Art by Emily Mims
Balancing two art mediums certainly has its challenges, but Mims found a way to use her busy schedule to her benefit: “A lot of times I’ll use one as a release from the other. If I feel overworked with dance and I can’t find the desire to make something new, I’ll use my art as a way to channel my creative energy, and vice versa. Working on a dance routine can sometimes give me clarity about what I want to do with a painting.”
Art by Emily Mims
Mims stands tall as an example of the dedication pursuing art can require as well as the benefits it can reap. Her determination shines as an exemplar of the necessity for art and artists and her unique talent proves that art should never be ignored.
