Erie native Lauren Dietrich first attended Edinboro Art Day in the fall of 2018. Then a junior at Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy, she joined hundreds of other local high schoolers on the PennWest Edinboro campus for hands-on workshops and demonstrations led by Edinboro students and faculty.

Grateful for the experience and looking to further explore her interest in art, she opted to attend again the following year. While carving spoons as part of a wood workshop with faculty member Karen Ernst, Dietrich felt at home among Edinboro’s tight-knit art community.

“Karen Ernst was very kind and so compassionate towards people,” said the Erie, Pennsylvania, native. “I thought, ‘Alright. This is the kind of place that I want to be.’”

Now a senior at PennWest Edinboro pursuing dual majors in psychology and ceramics, Dietrich is looking forward to sharing her expertise alongside her fellow students and faculty mentors as part of Edinboro Art Day 2024 on Friday, Oct. 18.

From 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., more than 200 high school students from 17 high schools in Erie and Crawford counties and the Pittsburgh region will learn techniques and methods from each of the art concentrations at PennWest Edinboro.

Demonstrations in animation, digital film and photography, graphic design, ceramics, drawing and painting, illustration, jewelry and metals, sculpture, printmaking and wood/furniture design will take place in Doucette Hall, East Hall, Loveland Hall and Hamilton Hall.

“Thinking about how I was sitting in the seats watching college students talk about late nights in the studio and running to Taco Bell or Sheetz – I thought it sounded so fun. Now I’m the one pulling all-nighters in the studio,” she said. “I fell in love with ceramics and the community. Everybody is always so welcoming, and it truly is a beautiful experience.”

While art has always appealed to her, a life-altering diagnosis at age 17 opened Dietrich’s eyes to the therapeutic power of creativity. In June 2019, she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and spent several days in UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh learning to manage the disease.

“The environment was so nice and compassionate. It sounds weird saying a hospital is a wonderful place, but it really was,” she said. “I saw that they had a new art therapy department there, and I immediately knew that's what I wanted to do. I want to help kids feel comfortable and help their families, too. It's not just the child experiencing an illness. It's a whole family.”

Art therapy programs are designed to help individuals reduce and manage stress and cope with the challenges of a diagnosis, treatment and/or hospital stay by engaging in the creative process.

Dietrich draws inspiration for her pieces from lived experiences and hopes her work motivates others to stretch their creative muscles and find comfort in the process.

“There's no one definition for creativity. Everyone can be good at art,” Dietrich said. “By studying psychology, I want to figure out how I can empower people to find creativity in themselves.”