A group of sophomore girls recently founded a new BSM art club with the help of art teacher Ivy Mattson. The intention of this club is to encourage students to be creative outside the average school day.
The club itself stretches across every grade level, allowing students to get to know more upperclassmen while bonding over art and creativity. Allowing students to mingle with upperclassmen also creates a tighter bond for the overall BSM community, uniting seniors with underclassmen.
Students were looking for a space to be artistic outside of daily school, which sparked an idea to create a club for those looking to exercise their creative muscles outside of school. The club itself strives to be inclusive and help people access more art materials with which they can express themselves through art. “We realized, just like a lot of people, we wanted a space to do art, even if they weren’t in an art class or just wanted more time outside of school…[W]e figured we’d just create a creative space where people could do that,” sophomore founder Rose Dixon said.
When a member first walks into the club for the first time, it’s clear that they are met with a sense of community. The members are all excited to be there and willing to make new friends. While the club is still new, it has grown quite a bit since the first meeting. “If you’re thinking about it, it’s definitely a really chill place to go, and there are many benefits to joining it,” sophomore Luke Machalek said.
The founders and members of the art club stressed the importance of not having to be “good” at art to join the club. Dixon stressed that everyone is at their own level, and from an artistic standpoint, creating for themselves and their own enjoyment is the most important piece. This makes the club feel welcoming to all; Mattson assures this by having a warm smile on her face. Her ability to strike up a conversation with anyone makes anyone feel welcome.