The Webster Art Coalition hosted the print sale on Dec. 9 and 10, giving student artists the ability to connect with peers and sell their work.
Twenty student artists got the chance to sell their work on campus on Dec. 9 and 10 – some for the very first time.
“I thought it would be a bit more nerve wracking, but it’s been really good to talk to people,” senior art history major Kellen Wright said.
Webster Art Coalition (WAC) hosted the print sale. Club members set up tables to sell their art at various spots on campus, including Sverdrup, the University Center and Marletto’s.
After years of being inactive, WAC started up again in fall 2020 during the pandemic. This is the first year the organization has hosted the print sale since.
WAC president Nermina Ferkić said the print sale was a good way to bring attention to the club.
“The main goal of [the print sale] is to not only get people outside of the art building and community involved, but also giving artists recognition,” Ferkić said. “We have a lot of talented people in WAC and everyone kind of does their own thing.”
Though technically called a print sale, students sold all kinds of art over the two days. Some sold ceramics and stickers. Others had tote bags and shirts.
Prints were still the main art sold. However, the techniques people used to create them varied greatly.
Sophomore graphic design major Andrew Sanker used relatively traditional methods to create his prints. For some, he took photos on his camera and broke them up in photoshop to separate the colors. He then printed out those colors in cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black) to get the final result.
For another, he made an exposure from a phone book for the background and then drew musical instruments on top in a graffiti style.
“Most of them started off with an idea I saw in a dream or while I was driving and I thought, ‘Oh, I [have] got to make this,’” Sanker said. “Once I had the idea, I was like, ‘Okay, I guess I’ll do screen printing.’”
Wright’s artistic process is very different. First, they create tracings or rubbings with graphite or crayons of random things they find. This could be anything from paint on the floor of the art building to their own arm.
After collecting multiple tracings and rubbings, Wright scans them and makes a collage out of the combined results. The next step is tracing over the collage and printing the final product.
“I don’t think of my work as looking like something. It’s more about, what can I make? Where does it start? Where does it stop?” Wright said. “It starts with like, a doily, and ends in this image.”
The print sale was both Sanker and Wright’s first time selling their art. However, they said getting to talk about their work with their peers was just as important.
“Since I’m an art history major, not an art major, I never really talked about what my work is to a lot of folks,” Wright said. “This has been a good opportunity for that.”
Ferkić sold prints of her digital illustrations made on Procreate and Adobe Illustrator, along with some screenprints.
For her, the print sale showed that WAC was giving students more and more opportunities. Last year, it was common for seven people to show up to a meeting. Now, 30 to 40 students regularly attend.
“We’re doing a lot more things in person, like the print sale. We’re planning Art Prom for next semester,” Ferkić said. “I really want to see where we could take WAC.”
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