Patricia Woody has landed in the Windy City. Look out, Chicago.

Woody chose the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to further her education. The institute is a private art school of the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. Her current major is art education, but she said she is planning on switching majors to art therapy.

Going to Chicago wasn’t always her plan, Woody told O’odham Action News.

“I like to say it was a gift,” said Woody.

She was always set on going to a community college, but portfolio day at school changed everything. On portfolio day, students displayed a collection of their work to different schools. Woody booked an appointment with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

3 Takeaways:

• SRPMIC member Patricia Woody is going to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to focus on her art therapy education.
• Woody reflects on her time in high school and how her busy schedule, service work and personal experiences inspired her to further her education.
• Classes have begun! Learn about what classes she’ll be diving into next.

“They were in awe of my artwork and how my voice was,” said Woody. “They could see my voice in this artwork.”

The school encouraged her to apply, and after talking with her family, she sent the application. “Let’s just see where this takes us,” her family agreed. Two weeks later, she was accepted with an $84,000 scholarship for all four years.

Before the Second City

Woody is O’odham, Piipaash and Diné. She is the proud daughter of Elmerson Woody and Laina Easchief. Her paternal grandparents are Elmer Woody and the late Bessie Roanhorse. Her maternal grandparents are Joni Andreas and the late Patrick Easchief. Her great-grandparents are the late Ahenabah Teller Lady Standing Rock and the late Ford Teller Tall School Boy.

Fresh out of the New School for the Arts & Academics in Tempe, Woody is used to staying busy. At NSAA, she wore many hats. Besides being heavily involved in the National Honor Society for all four years, she engaged with many different clubs and was the first to start a Native American/culture club, after some encouragement from her principal.

“I wanted to show off my culture and what it’s like to be a Native girl,” said Woody.

At least once a month, Woody would participate in service work at Feed My Starving Children Foundation, where she and others would help make prepackaged food for people in need. She would also go to nursing and retirement homes to spend time with the elders. The list could go on and on, but doing good deeds like that inside and outside of her community warms her heart, Woody said.

Art Therapy Is Personal

These healing experiences of service without a doubt contribute to Woody’s interest in art therapy. She said she wants to come back from school as an art therapist and advocate for mental health for the Community.

“Growing up, I struggled with mental health on my own. I was very scared to reach out to anyone to talk about my feelings,” said Woody.

“But over the years at my high school, I slowly found comfort in a safe space in the art world.”

Woody said that growing up seeing family members who were struggling with mental health started a growing passion within her to have a more open, broader conversation about mental health.

“I’m one of those people who don’t really like talking about how I feel most of the time, but I can express my emotions through art. And if I’m someone in this Community who expresses in that way, I know there’s many people out there in our Community who might feel the same,” said Woody.

“As O’odham, we are very creative. We’re very artsy people.”

Woody is getting settled in at her new school after the first couple of weeks. She has art history on Mondays and a six-hour printmaking class on Tuesdays. Other classes include an English class and introductory art topics like research studios and core studio practice.

But Woody is particularly looking forward to the printmaking class.

“It’s a nice, relaxing craft. It just takes a lot of patience and is time-consuming,” said Woody.