Art can be seen all around the Augustana campus, whether it be in Centennial Hall, the Tredway Library, art classes or several other places on campus. Some might even argue that the natural setting and buildings that make up Augustana are art as well.
Although many forms of artistic expression are seen all over campus, the art that is not often seen resides in the dorms. This is where students have the freedom to express themselves through art.
Even though it is often difficult to figure out how to hang art and decorations in a dorm without getting charged for damages at the end of the year, Augustana students seem to find solutions to any problem, such as displaying art in their rooms.
Students often use art as a means of expression or to make their dorm room feel more like home. No matter what the reason, artwork in the dorms can showcase student diversity.
I asked friends and classmates to share some of the artwork and decorations they had in their dorm rooms and found that there was a wide variety of arts in the students rooms.
While some art decorations were very common—posters, string lights and Augustana spirit gear to name a few—there were still unique crafts in some of the dorms.
Some students decorated their rooms extensively, and others had little to no art in their rooms. Surprisingly, there were still several decorations that remained special in students’ hearts.
One friend I visited had a wooden letter “J” on her door. It was painted black and had red flowers on the top and bottom. This particular piece was a DIY project that added a personal  touch to her dorm room.
DIY projects were a typical form of decoration that several students had, because they can convey some of the personal characteristics of the student.
Another student I visited had a plethora of art and decorations evenly spread throughout the room. The first item that drew my attention was a life-size cardboard cutout of Ironman, which seemed to take up a lot of space considering that the dorms are barely big enough to hold two students, let alone two students and Iron Man.
A graffiti project that had been made for an art class hung in the corner along with several other posters that showed the many different interests that the student has. Among these decorations were photos of family and friends, which was a common theme throughout a majority of the dorm rooms.
In the same dorm room were three works of string art that the student enjoyed making in her free time. Along with the string art was a showcase of vintage-like paintings of flowers and natural landscapes surrounded by intricate frameworks.
The paintings were special to the student, because she had been collecting them over time, so they had sentimental value.
The various art and decorations that were seen within the dorm rooms show how different personalities are at Augustana.
Many students used their artwork in the dorms to express their personality or to make the dorms feel more like home, although Augustana College already makes campus feel like a  second home.
There is a wide variety of art that can be seen on campus, but the dorm art is more personal. Special art and decorations allow for creative expression on campus.