On Friday, Aug. 20, Washburn University’s Art Club held its first meeting for the 2024-25 school year. The Art Club allows students to be involved in the world of art, even if they’re not an art major.
During the meeting, students got to learn a little bit more about the Art Club. These students and the officers got to play a fun game called Exquisite Corpse, where they folded a piece of paper into three parts and passed it around so each person drew either the head, body or legs. Each drawing made a completely unique creature once each person finished.
Attendees also got to learn about future events the Art Club has planned this semester. President Conner Sowles, studio art major, talked about her favorite activity the Art Club has.
“My favorite is the pumpkin carving event because I love Halloween and I also love the exchange students we get on campus at Washburn,” Sowles said. “I just can’t imagine what it’s like to be in a totally different place and learning all this stuff for the first time, and we get a lot of them in the art department, especially from Japan and Korea, and a lot of them have never cut open a pumpkin before, and they’ll cut it open, and they’re like ‘That’s what it looks like inside.’ and I [said] ‘Yeah, they’re nasty dude.’ It’s so fun, and they really enjoy doing that. You think it’s so simple, but when you’ve never done it before it’s so fun.”
The Art Club has many events, and a popular one is their Show ‘n’ Sale, where members of the Art Club have the opportunity to either showcase their creations or sell them. This year, the Art Club is partnering with Gift of Life to help fill its donor registry with potential stem cell matches. A simple cheek swab helps match those with blood disorders and cancers to potential life-saving donors.
A major misconception about the Art Club is that a student has to be an art major to join. Kamryn Dollahon, senior studio art major and secretary of the Art Club, said that being interested in art helps, but the club is just a fun activity and an opportunity to be creative.
The art club gives students a space to express themselves, and Luca Cave, vice resident and junior studio art major, gives a great insight on why being able to have this space is very important.
“It’s homework for a lot of art students, but for people that don’t have the privilege or the opportunity to go to art school, being able to have a space to express themselves artistically while being involved with other artistic students can be very important,” Cave said.
One of these students includes Maddie Bower, freshman pre-pharmacy major, who says she joined the Art Club because it’s a hobby she really enjoys.
“I would say all my life I’ve really been interested in doing art. I’m not really looking to pursue it as a career but it’s just a hobby I really enjoy,” Bower said.
The art club posts regularly on its Instagram and the next meeting is Sept. 6, where they will be voting on t-shirt designs and playing more Exquisite Corpse.
Edited by Jeremy Ford
