When Bell Diaz ‘22 was younger, she was left alone a lot. This gave her plenty of free time to do whatever she wanted. During this time, she gravitated towards art.

Diaz never liked drawing stick figures—drawing full body persons was more her style. Her reasoning, “I thought they were really cool and I thought that if you draw a stick figure, you were basic.” Since then, Diaz has been creating art—not just because drawing was fun, but because it helped her with her mental slumps. Creating art has become a way for Diaz to escape from reality for a minute.

Though not all of Diaz’s artwork comes from the need for comfort but from her admirations. “My art style is very humanesque but also very gory and strange. Very detailed, very shaded but I also like the whole mythical creature aspect of it but I do enjoy drawing women.” Diaz’s outlook on female potential inspires her to capture their essences. “I draw women because I think they are art themselves; because they are creators…For many years women have been degraded as house people or people that are meant to serve. I believe women are so much more and so much more capable than that.” 

Using one of her go-to art mediums, Diaz creates portraits with pencils

Diaz believes in female “rights and the fact that they need to be more respected.” Although there has been progress, to Diaz, equal rights are still not equal. Women have created humans that help people grow and make differences in the world and in life. In her opinion, women need to be treated properly. “They are art. They make art. That’s what they are. You can appreciate an art piece, you can look at something and think ‘Wow, it’s really pretty. The person who did this is really intricate and strange’ and I like thinking about that with women.”

As an artist, Diaz is faced with many others who lack the confidence to create art. Her advice to fellow artists is simple: “You should practice, if it’s something you really want to pursue and do, then do it. If you want to get better, get better. Draw everyday or practice on paper when the teacher’s giving a really boring monologue. Draw on the side of the paper. There’s so many different options for how to practice your art and eventually grow and get better at it…You can draw a cat or something really basic but if you’re bad at art and if you genuinely want to get better, you need to chuck that behind and get it yourself.”