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…
Tag: Student
Works submitted by Aims students
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…
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…
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…
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.
The Baby Tree by Shannon Foster
She stands in the sun Proudly displaying her branches and leaves But one of her branches is sick It has to be cut off so she can live We cut off the sick branch And as if by a miracle She has grown her remaining branches In the space the sick branch used to be…
Shaking, Hair, and Miscellaneous Thoughts On You by Analiz Plasencia
This list is ugly. This list is all my frustrations. I’m so frustrated I’m shaking. I’m shaking like I’m traumatized. I’m not. I think. Possibly. My hair is longer, I am smarter, and I’m more beautiful. Ever since I walked away from you it’s felt like my hair is growing faster. Maybe it’s because I…
Alone by Elliot Clamp
People talking, not to you People looking, not to you People laughing, not with you People hugging, not to you People hate you, to you People don’t care about you They already have enough friends You are always going to be alone Only talking to one person, all your life You want people talking to…
Life Continues by George Elliott Joyce III
There exists on Earth A hole deeper than Hell A hole carved by the masses Carved for the dead to dwell And so, Life continues And those who don’t Slip Slipping down a hill of People Sliding down the hole Falling to their hell And in hell lies torture A pain unknown to most A…
Too Busy to Cry by Brooklyn Capuano
Your thoughts flow like waves in the ocean New waves every second, every minute, every hour Rushing waters; rushing thoughts Rushing time that’s rarely still You told me you never cry And that made me cry for you I keep you in my dreams at night And in my thoughts during day You’re there at…
Fresh Birth by Brooklyn Capuano
Like the first fall of leaf Or the first drop of snow Cry deep into the sorrow of something that’s missing Mislead into a light that’s darker than a seed in soil ‘Sprout kinder than that’ as I’m told The world blooms against the tides The moon shifts the tides backwards Swallow the sun whole…
Mother Nature’s Tantrum by Brooklyn Capuano
The sky has fallen onto the porch And the world had begun its rampage Tears of something empty drop like sticks on drums And the somber sky now plays it’s melodies Flashes of silver cause cries of gold; The performance has now begun Shooshes of air drift over one’s lips And the unplayable harp causes…
Soul’s Vessel by Emma Kim
Having a body is such a strange thing, The moment you become aware- Of your soul’s vessel; There is much more to consider. In youth we move freely; As we’re older we contain the creativity, That yearns to burst free. As dancers our bodies are used to communicate, But so often we scold and reprimand,…
Late by Matthew Gagnon
Oh how I’ve waited for this day to come, no more crawling and mulling around for scraps! To have somewhere I can call home. Yes! A home! How that word fills me with joy. To have somewhere I can belong, where friends and family await with bated breath for my return. Each room filled with…
Grandma Kaye by Jeff Thatch
It’s not a lot, this house doesn’t need many decorations. just one strand of lights the big colorful glass bulbs (Red, blue, orange, yellow, green) glow in the plunging darkness of a cold Wyoming night the green cord, a yuletide snake, winds itself along the handrail illuminating a way to the big green door, a…