Senior Spotlight: Naomi Doron makes citrus-colored connections

By Lily Harvey     1/21/25 10:42pm

Whether working on a piece for her senior studio class, putting together a zine or doodling with friends, Naomi Doron never stops being creative. For Doron, a Jones College senior studying visual art and cognitive sciences, art extends beyond the actual piece — it’s a way for her to connect with others, she said.

“I’ve been trying to put a lot of my time into finding third spaces and spaces of connection through art,” Doron said. “I think originally it was something I lacked as I came [to Rice] … But I’ve realized there are many ways that you can use art as a way to connect.”

With this in mind, Doron created an unconventional exhibit for her studio art class while studying abroad in Amsterdam. 

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“During that time period, a lot of the people that I loved … their way of showing love was taking an orange and peeling it and splitting it and handing me a half,” Doron said.

Taking inspiration from this experience, Doron paired oranges with her own drawings for her final exhibition.

“I did a series of drawings and I left a bowl of oranges out, and I wrote a sign that said, ‘Take an orange and split it with a stranger.’ And as people came into the space, they would peel the oranges and share it with the people around them,” Doron said. 

For Doron, an important aspect of this exhibit was its interactive nature.

“I really liked the idea of a gallery space being activated so it’s not just like a regular museum where you can’t touch the art, and it’s very clinical,” Doron said. “I like the idea of turning it into a space that people can exist and live in.”

Doron appreciates working with zines, or noncommercial magazines, for similar reasons. According to Doron, who is art and zine coordinator at the Rice Women’s Resource Center, zines are another outlet for unconventional connection through art.

“Zines are a form of literature and art that can be so easily slapped together and made and printed cheaply. And it’s democratizing art. It’s not this fancy painting that you have to walk into an institution [and] stand five feet away from it,” Doron said.

This year, Doron centered the RWRC’s zine on the theme “embodiment.” Doron said she often reflects on what it means to be comfortable in your own body.

“When I was little, I had no shame. I was so loud about everything,” Doron said. “I’ve been trying to return to that childhood sense of confidence surrounding body and what it means for your body to fill up space, especially when we’re in the state where your bodily autonomy is at stake and sometimes you don’t feel like you have control.”

Bodily themes have also informed Doron’s own artwork outside of the zine, she said. For Doron’s final critique, she created a piece centered around bodies – both in the creation process and the subject matter. 

“I’m working on a little bit of a bigger scale, which means that the process of drawing is really bodily,” Doron said. “The back of the canvas is stories that have been rubbed in over and over and then [in] the front I create these contour drawings of contorted bodies … I think the process of kneading the paper with my hands and getting the motion, and then later bodies coming from it is something that I’ve really enjoyed doing.”

Aiden Li, one of Doron’s friends, said that her appreciation for detail and unconventional forms of connection extends beyond her art.

“[Doron] always has amazing spontaneous activities in life,” Li, a Wiess College senior, said. “Let’s play this drawing game now, [or] go lay in the meadow and enjoy the breezes, the sun, the grass and everything. I think that’s remarkable … I would say it’s a necessity of life.” 

Li said that being around Doron has allowed him to become less negative and to appreciate small moments. 

“Indulge yourself a little bit in the moment and feel the texture of everything,” Li said. “You really have to feel it. And I think she does, which is why I really admire her.”

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