Drawing inspiration from Portland Community College Rock Creek’s event, Art Beat Week, junior Griffin DeWitt and senior Kailea Saplan set out with the same objective: bring art to the forefront.
This past week, Dewitt along with other art students, showcased student art, provided an open canvas for students to draw on with pastels and also had conversations with students about art and its value.
DeWitt also took a theater class his sophomore year on a whim.
“That is what’s great about a liberal arts school,” DeWitt said. “You’re encouraged to take classes you would never think of taking.”
Now a theater major and this year’s Drama Club president, DeWitt wants to share his passion for art with others.
He contacted about 15 different professors and clubs to see who would be interested in partnering with his group to make this event happen.
Professor Tal Sanders did a live art demo on Wednesday, April 29. On Thursday the Art Club brought some student work to be put on display at the University Center’s patio.
DeWitt’s favorite event was the open canvas.
“It was great to see students get involved, especially non-art majors,” DeWitt said. “Even if they just drew something simple like a flower, it goes to show that anyone can do art.”
He’d love to see this event grow, have high school students come and shadow art majors on campus and live art demos, and also have “A Day Without Art Day.”
This event would consist of art that is featured around campus such as in the library.
The dorm hallways would also be covered or taken down.
Music that is played aloud like in our campus Starbucks would also be stopped.
The aim of this day is to show how lackluster the world would be without art.
Doing so would hopefully shed light on this area of study and show that “art is not a cop out,” DeWitt said.
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