Graduating Art Student Lizzie Windsor Answers Questions About Her Time at BYU
Q: What piece of advice would you give to current students?
Windsor: My advice to current students is to think of school like the creative process and vice versa. In the middle of any project or semester, I worry that I’m not capable of finishing it, but then, inevitably, I make it through and think, “That wasn’t so bad.” And I do it all again. Every semester I doubt my ability to continue, but every semester I continue. Every piece of good art I produce has a period where I think about giving up, but when I push through it all comes together.
My second piece of advice is to do extracurricular things of your own accord. While in school I made it a goal to have an art show every semester. I was not required to, but because I made this goal, I learned a lot about myself and made really strong connections with my peers who I worked with to put on the shows. This gave me a lot of confidence moving forward. I was able to practice putting myself out there while still in the safe space of being a student.
Q: Did you have an experiential learning opportunity outside the classroom that inspired you?
Windsor: During summer term in 2023, I went with a group of students and two professors, Gary Barton and Brian Christianson, on an eleven-day road trip across the American southwest. We were able to visit both the Chinati Foundation and the Donald Judd Foundation. I really like Donald Judd’s work, but I also really loved being in a place where he was able to give artists space to realize their own work. I felt inspired and energized.
We also stopped at SITE SANTA FE and I saw a work that has stuck with me more than maybe any other artwork ever has — “Self Portrait at 80” by Bruce Nauman. It is a two-channel video split horizontally in the middle. Both the top and bottom are self portraits of himself walking in a straight line that goes toward and away from the camera. The videos are not in sync, so sometimes the bottom half of his body is walking towards you and the top is talking away. At other times they are synced up and it appears as one video. This work directly influenced some of my work, but more importantly, seeing this with fellow artists and these professors as a part of this trip deepened my confidence to push the boundaries of what I could attempt.
Q: How has art increased your capacity to serve others?
Windsor: Making art, thinking about art, reading about art and writing about art are all things that have helped me have a broader range of emotions. Art has helped me be more ok with ambiguity. Art can be really nuanced, and so it forces me to think about contradictions and ethical issues. It often brings up more questions for me than it answers and because of this I question judgments that I would have made previously. It has helped me understand the human condition a little bit more and realize that everyone needs help and is looking for connection. I have also learned that happiness does not come from being comfortable and serving people is often uncomfortable. There is a lot more to art than making cool stuff — the most meaningful parts come from being uncomfortable and stretching yourself.
Q: What aspect of art are you the most passionate about?
Windsor: Right now, what I feel the most passionate about is not necessarily in the making of art, but in talking about it. I think it is so important to be able to talk to like-minded people about art. My conversations with my peers and mentors about not only art, but also about life and about ideas, have been invaluable in the progression of my work.
More broadly speaking, I love processes in art making. I like doing technical work that requires a lot of detail and exactness. I really like sewing because of this, I like editing photos and I like printmaking for the process. I’ve discovered that I’m not a pounce-with-passion artist, but a meticulous step-by-step artist.
Q: What was your favorite class that you've taken at BYU?
Windsor: I have two favorite classes. The first is Art 210, New Genre and Interdisciplinary Projects, which is taught by Daniel Everett. A lot of what I learned in this class laid the foundation for the artwork I’m making now. Outside the art department I loved taking PWS 180, Climate Change: Science and Solutions, taught by Ben Abbott. He made this complicated topic more approachable and I left the class with a better understanding of what is going on with the climate and what I can do about it.
Q: What is your favorite BYU vending machine snack?
Windsor: Cheddar and Sour Cream Ruffles, Little Debbie's Swiss Rolls and BYU Chocolate Milk.