The art club officers work to expand the member list from the past year and connect with the art community.
Carlmont’s art club struggled to build an active community in the 2023-2024 school year.
“I think the biggest challenge was trying to keep club members coming in. As the year goes on, fewer and fewer people come to club meetings, and a challenge in the club is definitely to maintain membership,” said Claire Yee, the vice president of the club and a senior at Carlmont.
Despite this, the art club has seen far more success this year and is working to expand its projects further than the art classroom and into the campus and the city.
“We’re trying to plan bigger events rather than small meetings; we want to have larger community events,” Yee said. “One of the big things we wanted to do was a mural on an electric box around the city or somewhere on campus.”
While working on their larger goals, the art club officers, including the president, Anna Jin, a senior at Carlmont, also put effort into bonding with their members and creating a community in the art room; their current project is designing stickers.
“We thought the stickers would be a really fun and engaging way to get people to join our club and get to know each other,” Jin said.
Jin’s goal is to spread the magic of art and everything it means to her to the rest of the club.
“Art is pretty magical because you’re expressing something without speaking it directly,” Jin said.
Kyle Scarpace is a freshman at Carlmont who joined the art club; his favorite part of the club is the unrestricted access to every art supply he can imagine.
“I joined the art club because I like doing art, and I’m looking forward to taking art next year, so I was curious to see what the community was like,” Scarpace said.
The club advisor, Julia Schulman, is proud of the art club’s positive impacts on students, artists, and the community the club officers have built.
“I think the most positive impact is that students who do not or cannot have an art class can still engage in art activities. Also, it’s a great space to hang out with fellow artists, and it builds community. The students who already have an art class can continue to engage even more,” Schulman said.
The art club meets every Friday in F12, building on community, working on projects, and enjoying their lunch under the influence of art.
“I think that art impacts a community more than the other way around. Everyone needs art to thrive!” Schulman said.
