watercolor, ink, colored pencil, marker; 16×20″
“Through my research I learned that drug addiction does truly influence your mental health, people with Depression, anxiety, and personality disorders are more likely to fall into addiction. Mental health issues are more likely to fall into addiction due to the dopamine the drugs can provide to People with mental health issues. My social justice piece is one of those old box TVs that were always super staticky, I had split the screen into two sections to show the symbolism of being on drugs and not being on drugs. The symbolism I used was a bright almost psychedelic side and then a side with just static, my piece is mixed media I used watercolor, marker, and color pencil. I used a lot of fine line detail to show all the details on the TV. I also used the wet-on-wet watercolor technique and the sponge technique. A lot of people don’t realize the severity of this issue and I truly wanted to portray that with my art to try and raise some awareness on the topic. I truly want people to understand what stuff like that can do to a person and you can’t treat them bad just because they have a problem you never know what’s on their mind.”
ARTIST BIO: Katelyn Colwell is a grade 11 student at Butler Tech School of Art studying art under art teacher Mary Catherine Ruby.