A newly founded Carlmont club, the Art Showcase Club, aims to illustrate students’ talent through magazine production.
Sophomore, Shiori Chen, started the Art Showcase Club (ASC) to create an accessible space for artists to publish or display their works. However, the club as a whole aims to reach beyond displaying art on screens or posters to reach a new level of interactivity with the student body.
“Our goal is to publish a physical magazine at the end of the semester to showcase our appreciation of art,” said Jonathan Park, a sophomore member of the club. “ASC is where artists contribute and show off their artwork on a digital website.”
ASC provides young artists at Carlmont with a platform and community to display their work, meet other artists, and create an art portfolio for their future. — Michelle Lo
While the ASC is determined to produce a physical copy of its magazine, it faces numerous obstacles as a brand-new club.
“Figuring out the logistics to print out our magazine cost quite a bit of money, so we plan on hosting more fundraising events to get a partnership with a local printing press,” said sophomore Michelle Lo, the club secretary.
The magazine, however, has not taken away from the ASC’s ability to support its artists.
“The club is still in the preliminary stages of creating a magazine, so we’ve just been collecting donations to extend our audience,” Park said.
ASC members meet every Thursday during lunch to discuss the club’s plans for the future, especially regarding fundraising, as well as provide artists with an opportunity to exchange ideas.
“I’ve really enjoyed this club,” said Maximilliano Navarrete, a freshman member of ASC. “I get to meet many more people, do something fun, and have a place to go during lunch.”
As they work towards their future, artists are supported with art supplies and surrounded by other supportive members to produce their best work.
“Carlmont has one of the most enriching art programs in the Bay Area, and the fact that there wasn’t a mainstream way to share and display the art created by students before the ASC was astonishing to me,” Lo said.
The club attracted the attention of Connor Fenech, one of Carlmont’s history teachers.
“I wanted to facilitate this club because the members were all really passionate about the idea,” Fenech said. “Shiori has great organization during club meetings; everybody knows what role they have, and the club has a great system of delegating responsibilities across different committees.”
“The magazine is just a long-term goal,” Fenech said. “Ideally, they’d like it to happen as quickly as possible, but in the short term, they have their digital magazine in the makes.”
With the club in motion, the ASC works tirelessly to improve its creative work.
“The club’s current idea is to create and sell pieces of art to get their club name out there, with the eventual goal of publishing a physical magazine,” Fenech said.
