Emily Lasinsky visited the University on Nov. 7 to discuss art and how it helps her maintain a sense of wellness and meaning.

Her visit was part of an ongoing series of lectures on the subjects of art and wellness. The series is sponsored by the University’s Wolf-Kuhn Ethics Institute.

“I always jump at the opportunity to discuss the relationship between art and wellness,” said Lasinsky, a 2011 Saint Francis graduate who earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. “The two go hand-in-hand.”

Lasinsky is an Assistant Professor at Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska, where she teaches courses in counseling.

While pursuing her undergraduate degree in psychology at SFU, Lasinsky enrolled in several art classes, including an independent study course geared toward charcoal drawing.

Lasinsky said that art allows her to see the beauty in life and that it has taught her to celebrate imperfections.

“I was pretty perfectionistic when I first came to Saint Francis,” she said. “Art has helped me to let go and to realize that nothing is perfect.”

Lasinsky said it is very important for people to create art, particularly while living in times of uncertainty, such as a pandemic.

“The art process and the healing process go together,” she explained. “We have to create. There’s so much loss and devastation in the world right now.

“It’s important to make art. It’s important to create in order to remind us that there is still life, that there is still beauty in the world around us.”

Lasinsky said that seeing art affords others the opportunity to see something from a different perspective.

It is her belief that art is a language, one that allows people to see and empathize with others who might have a different point of view.

Lasinsky brought several of her own pieces of artwork to the event. The one she is holding in the picture with this story is called “Identity, Bone and Flesh.”

“This painting illustrates the idea of service, the idea of open hands reaching out, either to give or to receive,” she said.

“I think it really speaks to the values of Saint Francis.”

To see more of Lasinsky’s artwork, visit her Facebook page: Art Expressions by Emily Lasinsky.