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Despite being the daughter of a painter and a woodworker, Kim McCoy had never taken much interest in the visual arts. But leaving a yoga class in 2017, she felt an unexpected urge to purchase an easel.

She began drawing with oil pastel and quickly discovered it as a way to externalize her emotions and confront feelings she’d unknowingly been suppressing. She knew instantly that she wanted to use this medium to help others, so at the age of 44, she paused her long-time work in fundraising to pursue a new career as an art therapist.

McCoy is now on track to earn her Master of Science in Art Therapy and Counseling from EVMS in 2025. But first, she needed prerequisite courses to complement her bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Colorado.

She chose ���Ϲ�, and those courses led to McCoy’s newfound love of art making and her installation “Patterns of Love” in the Perry Library Learning Commons on the ���Ϲ� campus.

The installation’s seven miles of brightly colored thread, metal chair springs, steel, manila rope, reclaimed acrylic and cotton textiles are meant to explore the different types of love humans experience. McCoy shared her vision for the project during an artist’s talk on April 11 in Perry Library.

“I wanted to explore our community as students, as humans, how we interact with love,” she says. “I wanted to celebrate everyone who can identify with a rainbow regardless of who they are. Whether they found connection with the rainbow through childhood experiences like me, or connect with the rainbow through sexuality, gender, or other cultural connections, I want anyone regardless of cultural background to be able to relate to the piece. And love isn't just about the rainbow. The piece needed to have different elements that could speak to love in different ways through color, space and shapes.”

The piece is part of a campus-wide initiative supporting public art in collaboration with Arts@���Ϲ�, the Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries, and ���Ϲ� Facilities Management & Construction. It will be on display in Perry Library through July.

Back at EVMS, McCoy is immersed in her master’s studies, working toward becoming a licensed professional counselor and registered art therapist. The 60.5-credit program has her engaged in a collaborative, experiential curriculum, and she will soon apply those lessons to internships and clinical work. She’s enjoying the work and learning more about the science of it.

“[Clients are] connecting neurological activity with art making,” she says, “so if someone is completely intellectualized, then we might prescribe painting to help find emotionality and connect with that in a session. The art skill is really looking more in therapeutic ways as to how to access what needs to be accessed, so things can be opened up to be healed.”

Though she’s not yet sure which demographic she’d like to serve, community is important to McCoy, so her plans will include a focus on group work.

“Allowing people to be seen and show their voices to themselves and then allow it to be seen by others, that is such a powerful opportunity and such a sacred opportunity,” she says.

about the EVMS Art Therapy and Counseling, MS program and .

Photo courtesy ���Ϲ�, by Chuck Thomas.