Students at Leisure: Gianna Marie Bates '25MSOT, Clay and Ceramics

There were times when Gianna Maria Bates ‘25MSOT wanted to apply to graduate school for clay and ceramics. She had graduated from Arcadia University in 2023 with a double major in psychology and ceramics, and was looking for a profession where she could combine her love of art with something in the medical field.

So how did she settle on pursuing a career in Occupational Therapy at Salus University?

“I realized that I can always be an artist while having a career and I don’t necessarily have to make that my only career,” she said. “I can’t be a full-time artist and an OT on the side. But I can be a full-time OT and always be an artist.”

And so far, she’s happy with her choice. Originally from Southampton, Pennsylvania, in Bucks County, Salus was close to home and after interviewing at the University, it seemed like the best fit.

Bates became interested in ceramics in high school, crafting functional pieces such as vases. She started out building her pieces large because she said that was the only way she knew how to build them.

But her pieces kept getting bigger and bigger — some didn’t even fit into the kiln.

“My teacher encouraged me to make them smaller, but I just couldn’t,” said Bates. It kind of evolved into making large sculptural pieces.”

Her senior thesis was based on the human connection to clay and how the analogy between life and clay is the same.

“All my pieces have a touch of me in them, whether it’s by body impression, my teeth marks, hair — a part of me has gone into each piece,” said Bates. "Some are shaped from certain parts of my body. My fingerprints, my footprints. Pieces that are the size of me, my whole body.”

OT serves a similar experience for her in that context. She was trying to find a profession that was a mix of everything she loves. OT is medical and hands-on, a combination of everything that she is passionate about.

“If it wasn’t for art, I don’t think I would be doing OT. I don’t think I would be doing anything,” she said. “It completely transformed my brain to be OK with happy accidents and failing and succeeding sometimes, letting things be flexible. Art taught me to move on, and I feel like in grad school, that’s a very useful tool. I’m not very far into it yet, but with grad school, I assume there are going to be times that I fail in knowledge or action. My mindset now is that failing is OK. You can slip without sliding.”

She believes her art will also help her deal with the stresses that are inherent in graduate school.

“Having something that’s outside of school to be passionate about is really important because it gives you a purpose besides just education. Everybody is more than just a student,” said Bates.

The biggest thing her art has taught her, she said, was that not everything is black and white. Ceramics, she added, showed her that seeing the grey in life and school is the pre-requisite to succeeding.

“I take that belief wherever I go in life,” she said. “And with grad school, having that mindset is the only way you’re going to succeed.”