The Arts Club at NC State held its first art sale, allowing students to share bits of themselves and build community with peers. Featuring beaded jewelry, abstract art, acrylic pours, stickers and photographs, the tiny venue represented a wide range of art and artists.
On Monday, Feb. 13, Students shared various perspectives and cultures at the event while building their reputations as artists in Talley Student Union. Many students, such as Lee Chavis, a second-year studying history and anthropology, centered their art around their culture.
“I’m Lumbee,” Chavis said. “So we’re very crafty people. We love to make our friends things. I specifically got into beaded earrings because of my grandma. … I got into jewelry, unfortunately, after she passed. And I [was] self taught because my mom and my aunt never really learned. And I’ve learned lately through other native groups. And it’s just a way for me to stay connected with my culture, and more importantly, stay connected with my grandma.”
You can find more of Chavis’ beaded earrings on their Instagram.
Jane Thomas, a fifth-year studying graphic design and Japanese, said their two fields of study overlapped in their art. Thomas sells prints of photos she took in Japan, as well as T-shirts.
“I’m really interested in Japanese culture and the language, and I guess that’s important as to why I like using Japanese [in designs] and taking photos in Japan,” Thomas said.
Others focused more on their perspective when creating art. Erik Sample, a third-year studying environmental science, described his thought process when creating collages and light spectrum abstract works.
“Abstraction is really nice, because I feel like as long as it’s grounded in some sort of a lighthouse in the storm, you can just know that the lighthouse is there and get lost,” Sample said. “And so if you see something you relate to, the rest is all open for interpretation. You kind of go inward, and then it becomes a reflection of yourself.”
Sarah Hitt, a fourth-year studying mechanical engineering, sells stickers and acrylic pours and shared the origin of her animal sticker designs.
“I was in AP Art my senior year of high school, and my theme was animals in the worlds that are native to the places that I’ve been,” Hitt said. “And over the quarantine summer, I figured out a way to extract just the picture of the animal and print it on a sticker paper and cut it out.”
Those who came to sell did so for a variety of reasons. While everyone wanted to get their name out and market themselves, they also wanted to share their works with the world.
“I never tell people, ‘Oh, you can buy these,’” Chavis said. “I will be like, ‘These are my earrings. I made them because of this reason. If you’re interested, they are for sale.’ But I just want to promote the culture, and I am always open to people asking me questions about what goes into making them [and] how I got started.”
That said, making a sale can also be very fulfilling.
“That makes it go from amateur hobby to professional,” Sample said. “Like that was an actual sale, the IRS needs to be involved.”
Regardless, the event itself offers a huge opportunity for all artists to promote their work.
“Even if nobody buys stuff, I can get the products out there for people to see,” said Lauren Grimsrud, a second-year studying meteorology. Grimsrud sells beaded earrings on her website.
The act of selling together also offers students a means of community.
“It’s kinda like a team thing,” Hitt said. “When somebody sells something, everybody’s excited for them. It’s helping me figure out how to be better at marketing myself.”
The Arts Club president Emily Grace, a fourth-year in visual arts studies, and vice president Autumn Owenby, a first-year in visual arts studies, organized this event for those exact reasons.
“In the short term, it’s something to just learn the process of settling and to earn money from,” Grace said. “But in the long term, it’s also something that applies to what we’re all, to some extent, trying to do for a career.”
Grace creates and sells cards; you can view her work on her website. Owenby does pencil and ink commissions as well as digital commissions for tattoos.
“When you get one of these [art] pieces, they are the students’,” Owenby said. “They are going to the same school as you. They go to the same classes. They find the time to make something they love, and they want to sell it and showcase it.”
