Have you even been so exhausted that nothing else seems to matter? It starts with a plane ride from your hometown to a small airport in Georgia, then a long bus ride to an island. This starts the most unconventional all-expense paid 13-week vacation. If you want to call it that. The yelling starts as…
Author: Public Submission
A Moms’ Perspective by Veronica Hook
My expectations looking forward to becoming a new mom were unrealistic and unhealthy. My original, unprepared thoughts were: “This is going to be great! I get to dress them up in adorable little clothes, cuddle, have snacks, and live happily ever after! Easy Peasy!” Isn’t this what the movies and books portrayed for my generation?…
Personal Essay by Valerie Hartgenbush
“My 30th birthday is coming up. What do you think about skydiving with me?” my younger brother, Richard asked me and our two sisters. “No way!” my oldest sister, Ann, said. “I won’t jump but I will watch you do it,” my second sister, Cher, said. “I’m totally in! Tell me what I need to…
Swimming Upstream by Shannon Foster
I have spent most of my life focusing on what I cannot do. Being neurodivergent in a world designed for neurotypical people has been exhausting and discouraging. I am like a fish out of water, gasping for breath, waiting to be placed back into my natural habitat. I have been caught on the hook of…
Important Pieces by Shannon Foster
Important pieces of me have been hidden or even extinguished by my own mind. Having severe depression for most of my life has left many paths untrodden, many opportunities untaken. I did not have the chance to develop some of the gifts I have been given, or test the waters of untapped potential to find…
Giants Above by Gabriel Herberer
Biography: Hello, I’m Gabriel Heberer. I can’t say I am at AIMS for one particular reason, and that’s exactly why I’ve found it helpful. Right now I am about get a LAA degree. Photography is something I have recently become involved in and it has been incredibly fun for me. So much so that I…
As the Aspen Grove Sways by Gabriel Heberer
Biography: Hello, I’m Gabriel Heberer. I can’t say I am at AIMS for one particular reason, and that’s exactly why I’ve found it helpful. Right now I am about get a LAA degree. Photography is something I have recently become involved in and it has been incredibly fun for me. So much so that I…
Portrait of My Grandma by Saw Say
Biography: My name is Saw, and I am pursuing a major in studio art at Aims. My passion for art has been a driving force in my life, but it wasn’t until I enrolled in a drawing class at Aims that I truly solidified my career path. I enjoy working across various media and exploring…
Ruiz by Saw Say
Biography: My name is Saw, and I am pursuing a major in studio art at Aims. My passion for art has been a driving force in my life, but it wasn’t until I enrolled in a drawing class at Aims that I truly solidified my career path. I enjoy working across various media and exploring…
Sisyphus by Saw Say
Biography: My name is Saw, and I am pursuing a major in studio art at Aims. My passion for art has been a driving force in my life, but it wasn’t until I enrolled in a drawing class at Aims that I truly solidified my career path. I enjoy working across various media and exploring…
Legend of Gilgamesh by Saw Say
Biography: My name is Saw, and I am pursuing a major in studio art at Aims. My passion for art has been a driving force in my life, but it wasn’t until I enrolled in a drawing class at Aims that I truly solidified my career path. I enjoy working across various media and…
Karen (Myanmar) by Saw Say
Biography: My name is Saw, and I am pursuing a major in studio art at Aims. My passion for art has been a driving force in my life, but it wasn’t until I enrolled in a drawing class at Aims that I truly solidified my career path. I enjoy working across various media and exploring…
Space Invaders by Marian Hesse
Biography: Marian Hesse is a professional musician actively involved in writing and photography. Marian began taking classes at Aims when it was only a few small cowering in the shadow of the water tower in the 1970’s. The classes covered liberal arts core requirements at the University of Northern Colorado where she majored in…
Water Tower Reflection by Marian Hesse
‘ Biography: Marian Hesse is a professional musician actively involved in writing and photography. Marian began taking classes at Aims when it was only a few small cowering in the shadow of the water tower in the 1970’s. The classes covered liberal arts core requirements at the University of Northern Colorado where she majored in…
Master Copy by Bruce Barrie
Biography: To observe, to see, and to do are the everyday ways of experiencing my life. I began a journey filled with music when I started to learn the trumpet at age nine. The pursuit of music has been a strong adventure for many years. It has taken me everywhere- 50 states and 14 foreign…
Sunflower, Sunset by Phillip Lara
Biography: My name is Phillip Lara, I usually go by Phil. I currently work in food services at Aims Community College. I graduated from Aims in the spring of 2023 with a video editing and television production degree. My goal as a landscape photographer is to bring my stories to life in hopes to inspire…
Found In Far Away Places by Phillip Lara
Biography: My name is Phillip Lara, I usually go by Phil. I currently work in food services at Aims Community College. I graduated from Aims in the spring of 2023 with a video editing and television production degree. My goal as a landscape photographer is to bring my stories to life in hopes to…
Shadow of the Day by Phillip Lara
Biography: My name is Phillip Lara, I usually go by Phil. I currently work in food services at Aims Community College. I graduated from Aims in the spring of 2023 with a video editing and television production degree. My goal as a landscape photographer is to bring my stories to life in hopes to inspire…
Embracing Holidays, Even In Turmoil by Joshua Molina
Biography: I was inspired to take this picture while strolling around Downtown Greeley and taking in the recently upgraded holiday light installation. I stopped to notice that the American Flag was at half-staff, something that’s only seem during times of national mourning. I was astounded by the contrast between the sadness being projected by the…
Target by Lynn Cornelius
Hand-woven tapestry; dyed silk, rayon, cotton; 10″ x 10″. Biography: I found my way to Aims by way of the arts. With a BA in Art History and an MFA in Fine Arts in Fibers, I’ve taught various art disciplines at the college level for over fifteen years. My career has been driven by my…
Between Black and White by Lynn Cornelius
Hand-woven tapestry; dyed silk, cotton, rayon; 10″ x 10″. Biography: I found my way to Aims by way of the arts. With a BA in Art History and an MFA in Fine Arts in Fibers, I’ve taught various art disciplines at the college level for over fifteen years. My career has been driven by my…
Squaring the Circle by Lynn Cornelius
Hand-woven tapestry, hand-dyed cotton, silk, rayon; 10″ x 10″. Biography: I found my way to Aims by way of the arts. With a BA in Art History and an MFA in Fine Arts in Fibers, I’ve taught various art disciplines at the college level for over fifteen years. My career has been driven by my…
1. Emergence by Dave Sordi
Biography: In January 2022, I moved here from New Hampshire to join the Aims Industrial Technologies and Oil & Gas programs. My career has been spent in industry and engineering, in which my creative side was not always of particular importance. Writing poetry and developing my photography allows me to explore my creative side. In…
Lonely by Dave Sordi
Biography: In January 2022, I moved here from New Hampshire to join the Aims Industrial Technologies and Oil & Gas programs. My career has been spent in industry and engineering, in which my creative side was not always of particular importance. Writing poetry and developing my photography allows me to explore my creative side. In…
For a Moment, I thought She Could See Me by Edgar Harding
When she first moved in, I quickly became enamored with her. My purgatory in this house was halted when her boxes and bags began to fill the slightly aged and worn down looking hallways and rooms of the old building. When I first noticed her appearance here, I only watched her. I was slightly peeved…
Echoes of Myself Along the Walls by Edgar Harding
When I first made the decision to leave everything behind, I was in my old place of work, hiding in the bathroom and counting to ten in my head in order to calm myself down. My already over-bitten lips tasted of blood and my hands shook in place as I gripped…
Bravo by J. Q. Thompson
The air was rather chilly— it wasn’t unusual during autumn months, but it was prevalent enough to take notice. It swayed trees and took their leaves, puppeteering them to dance and twirl as silhouettes in the nighttime sky. Above, the stars were incredible. The sky was so vast and clear that one could not help…
Somewhere Far, Someplace Near by Wyatt Hester
Outside, birds were chirping, but I couldn’t hear them. The open window only allowed inside the noise of urban nightmares and machinery hard at work. Weeks, or maybe even months, of unopened mail and dirty dishes had found themselves accumulating around my apartment, giving me the feeling as though the gray walls were closing in…
Artichoke Heart by Carla Newberry
The air in the grocery store hums with a medley of sounds—self checkout machines beep beep beeping with each scan, the rhythmic clatter of shopping carts, and the occasional whine of a bored child, followed by the groan of a mother as she navigates the labyrinth of fresh produce, just trying to hurry out of…
Run by Emily Lopez
I wake up to the smell of flowers blooming around me. Endless blue skies with birds chirping a tune and hearing faint laughter. I look around to figure out where the laughter is coming from, then I see my family chasing one another through the fields of wildflowers and our dogs barking with joy. I…
Seen 9:43 PM by Jesse Ramirez
Nick checked his phone again. He had three bars and a strong signal. But his home screen was still empty. He opened it looking back at his messages. There were three from him in a row. They were all seen last night at 9:43 PM. Nick sighed, clicked the phone off, and put it back…
The First Batling by Emily Clemmons
Long ago, okay, or maybe not so long ago lies a small town called Moonlight. On the surface, it appears like any other sort of town with a general store, a gas station, a mayor’s office, oh and don’t forget the church. A quaint little town. In the center of this town, however, is a…
The Clown by Annessah Ramsey
Biography: I like digging into the creepier side of things sometimes when drawing digitally. I made this piece using Adobe Photoshop and am very proud of how it turned out.
Into the Deep Blue by Kat Smith
Biography: My name is Kat Smith and I’m an artist aiming to be a tattoo artist. Art is a huge aspect of my life and I have my grandma Susan to thank for it. She got me into painting and drawing as soon as I could hold a pencil and now I’m here. She helped…
Ogreific and Crowltastic by Kat Smith
Biography: My name is Kat Smith and I’m an artist aiming to be a tattoo artist. Art is a huge aspect of my life and I have my grandma Susan to thank for it. She got me into painting and drawing as soon as I could hold a pencil and now I’m here. She helped…
I’m not one to air my dirty laundry in public. by Charis Fleshner
Biography: Being an art professor has always been my dream job and Aims gave me that opportunity. Art is how I process life with all of its highs, lows, complexities, and contradictions. Art means everything to me. Although I am a conceptual artist and work in many different mediums, I truly enjoy the technical challenges…
Lúthien by Amelie Banks
Biography: I started my first semester at Aims last fall and I plan to continue taking art and English classes here. This piece was one of my projects for Jewelry and Metalworking 1. Working with metal as a medium instead of paint or paper collage was a bit out of my comfort zone because of…
Trixie Mattel by Ashlen Livingston
Biography: I’ve been attending Aims since 2022 and have greatly enjoyed my classes and professors. The drawing Trixie Mattel was done in my Drawing 1 class with Mr. Luna. My inspiration for this piece came from the art form of drag, and more specifically, RuPual’s Drag Race. I think drag is a beautiful expressive outlet…
Crimson Gaze by Kat Smith
Biography: My name is Kat Smith and I’m an artist aiming to be a tattoo artist. Art is a huge aspect of my life and I have my grandma Susan to thank for it. She got me into painting and drawing as soon as I could hold a pencil and now I’m here. She helped…
Vortex by Angela Dunn
Biography: Hello, My name is Angela Dunn I am a part-time student. Below is one of my paintings. This is my largest painting and is about 3ft in diameter. It is acrylic paint on what is essentially plastic. Most of the paintings I do are on recycled drum heads which is useful and provides a…
The Truth Of A Burning World by Kyleston J Bran
People try hard To see the true card But life is just a prison That goes down rea far Another one’s tale Is another one’s gain But when the tail ends So does other people’s game Emotion impacts all But not all that are good People don’t see the true curse Of the world being…
Loss by Marian Hesse
Trapped in a body I cannot flee My mind yearning to be free The teeth of age ingest the remaining fragments of my mind The loss I cannot feel The joys that pass me by Biography: Marian Hesse is a professional musician actively involved in writing and photography. Marian began taking classes at Aims…
Silken Strokes by Gabriel Heberer
Biography: Hello, I’m Gabriel Heberer. I can’t say I am at AIMS for one particular reason, and that’s exactly why I’ve found it helpful. Right now I am about get a LAA degree. Photography is something I have recently become involved in and it has been incredibly fun for me. So much so that…
The Hungry Dog by Kylie Krise
The dog lays and listens As the people walk by Wondering when some food would drop To fill his empty body.
Ageless Beauty by Dave Sordi
At birth, life is full of joy, hope, whimsy, As we embark on a wonderous journey of the spirit. But years bring challenges to the soul, Transforming our body and psyche, testing our resolve. But with maturity comes wisdom, brightening the horizon, And laughter and smiles burnish our heart. Leading to a breathtaking metamorphosis, As…