Michaela Woodward – Staff Writer

This Wednesday, the Studio Art majors hosted a Night Market in Schaefer and Grandlund as well as their studio spaces. Senior and junior art majors displayed their finished and in-progress work as well as pieces to sell and information for commissions. 

“The Night Market is [a] collaboration between mainly senior art majors but also the junior art majors and anybody who wants to join that’s an art major. It’s just kind of a way for us to market our art in an affordable manner to the student body because a lot of the work we’re doing for our actual portfolios or shows would be way above [a] price range that is easily accessible. And also to invite the community into our space and just show them what the art department is about,” Senior Sage Kiefer said.

Senior Hannah Jones sees the Night Market as not just a platform to show art, but also as a means of forming connections on campus.

“The goal is to try to connect the art majors with the rest of campus because not a lot of people come over here at all. A surprising amount of people, especially upperclassmen, have never been in this building, so it’s to kind of show off what the art building has and what people are in it and what they do. And I think it’ll just be fun,” Jones said

The Night Market has been in the works since last year, and finally a date was set so that all areas of campus could come see what the art building is all about. Those who attended were welcomed with a comfortable and open atmosphere. 

“Exhibitions are very formal, I feel and I think it’s really cool to have them, they’re obviously mandatory for the majors. But we spend months preparing for them and we have usually a limited amount of work that we’re allowed to put up and it’s, again, very formal. This just feels more like, you can kind of do what you want, and you can have more work up, you can have different types of work up,” Jones said.

Jones also noted that the studio spaces showed what it is like to be an active art major, with in-progress work and the unique set-up of the spaces. They hoped that attendees did not just come to view art, but to meet and talk with the artists. 

“I’m hoping more people interact with the artists. I have a decent amount of connections outside of the art building but they’re all because I’m on the swim team. Maybe if just other people on campus can come and see what the rest of the artists have to offer and can really get a good gauge on what’s here, that would be nice,” Jones said. 

Kiefer has similar goals for the event.

“I’m hoping that campus-wide, people will be more aware or watching the arts at Gustavus because I feel like since we’re just in a spot that nobody really goes to unless you have an art class; there’s so many people who haven’t even been in the art building. Also I have different majors so it’ll be cool for people who don’t know me in an art context to come and see me in an art context and it’s really cool because it’s not only people coming in to see my art but when they come to see my work they see everybody’s, so it’s community building in that sense,” Kiefer said. 

All of the senior art majors had a role in putting together the event, in addition to putting together their pieces to display and sell. While this was the first Night Market, it will likely not be the last.

“We’re hoping to definitely have more of these in the future. Be on the lookout for that. It’s a way for us as artists to take conceptually what it means to be a working artist in the world and turning it into a little project, but with less stress since we’re in undergrad,” Kiefer said. 

Whether or not you had a chance to attend, artists can always be contacted for commissions, or just to admire their art.