During the School of Art’s annual Holiday Sale, attendees were able to purchase students’ original creations and meet the artists behind them.
Senior studio art major and vice president of the Textiles Club, Ashlyn Merrill, said they chose to take part in the sale as an opportunity for students to purchase handmade products and meet the artists.
“I think it’s really special when people get to buy handmade things and they know who’s making it,” Merrill said.
This year’s Holiday Sale included creations from Glass Club, Jewelry and Metals Co-Op Club, Ceramics Club, The Arts Entrepreneurship Club, United Print Alliance and Textiles Club.
Compared to the School of Art’s previous Halloween sale, the Holiday Art Sale saw higher numbers of attendance, junior studio art major and treasurer of the United Print Alliance Giana DeAlexandro said.
“There seems to be a lot more traffic for the holidays, and it’s because there’s a lot more free time at the end of the semester,” DeAlexandro said.
The Arts Entrepreneurship Club used the opportunity to teach their members how to price and sell their creations, sophomore visual communication design major and member of the Arts Entrepreneurship Club Nadiya Seniv said.
Sophomore studio art major and member of the Art Entrepreneurship Club Taliyah Clark said she hopes people will be more eager to contact her after the exposure the sale is offering for her jewelry.
“I hope that people see it and just recognize it and reach out to me if they don’t buy anything the first time,” Clark said. “I do hope some people come by and buy things for people that they’re trying to holiday shop for.”
The profits from the sale of glass works, like ornaments, available at the Glass Club will go to the artist who made the individual pieces and the club, sophomore biology major and Glass Club member, Emily Friend said.
From the sale on Thursday, Glass Club made around $800 to $1,000 in sales as they have sold about 20 to 30 products, Friend said.
During a previous meeting, Ceramics Club members made the mugs for the art sale to raise money, junior recreation parks and tourism management and Ceramics Club member Alexis Wendling said.
“We had a Mug-A-Thon where we were in the studio for 24 hours making mugs and it was a great community event,” Wendling said.“We chose the mug because it’s the holidays and people are making hot drinks for themselves, this is the holiday to have hot cocoa and stuff and snuggle up.”
Friend said she noticed holiday shoppers in attendance, as the Glass Club’s most popular product from the sale has been their glass ornaments.
“It’s really close to Christmas and I think [the glass ornaments] just catches people’s eye just the way it’s displayed,” Friend said.
Although some may be done with their holiday shopping, it is still a great opportunity to purchase something for loved ones, residence hall director Shaunese Johnson said.
“If I see anything, I would definitely happily purchase it for the holidays or as a gift,” Johnson said. “This is a great and cute sale and I’m really happy that Kent State has this on our campus.”
The Jewelry and Metal Co-Op Club kept in mind who would be attending the sale, so they chose to sell their products at a reasonable price, senior studio art major and vice president of the club David Homsher said.
“There are a lot of poor college students on campus, us included, so the majority of us in the club really do try to make things affordable,” Homsher said. “Like these $8 pair of hippopotamus earrings, they’re actually probably worth a little more than that.”
Others like sophomore studio art major, Candy Autrey, came to the sale to show support for their partner and friends.
“I came to just check out the cool art…I mean my partner was involved in the Mug-A-Thon and a few of my friends were,” Autrey said. “This is really cool, I really enjoy looking at everybody’s art.”
For those who missed this art sale, Homsher said they can still purchase the creations made by the Jewelry and Metal Co-Op Club and the Glass Club at the Haymaker’s Farmer Market on Dec. 16.
Adriana Gasiewski is a staff reporter. Contact her at [email protected].
