FMU’s fine arts department hosted a Fine Arts Day in the Hyman Fine Arts Center courtyard on Sept. 15.
The event gave students a chance to participate in several art-related activities, such as letterpress printing, collage making, image transferring, button making, paper marbling and a graffiti wall. The goal of this event was to allow students to learn more about the fine arts program as a whole while also embracing their creativity.
While the event was hosted by the fine arts department, it was targeted towards students of all majors, with enjoyment shared all around.
“I liked that they had a graffiti wall that students could draw on, and while I may not be an art major, I do love art,” Shawn McMichael, sophomore mass communication major, said.
While many students enjoyed the event, some still saw the potential for an even bigger event in the future.
“I feel the event was successful, though I also think there is room for improvement.” Curtis Simmons, sophomore visual arts major, said. “I can’t name anything specific, but I think more activities should be added next time.”
Some activities encouraged by students primarily involved more of the painting-based activities. Having only one present – the graffiti wall – some students saw this as a missed opportunity that could have benefited the event.
“There’s more activities that could have been added, maybe another version of painting,” Shaylin Caldwell, junior business management major, said. “Mini canvases that you could draw and paint on. I’ve always loved the arts, so I was very interested in the activities when I saw the event being advertised.”
Assistant professor of fine arts Delaney Me-Sun Shin helped organize the event, and explained that each activity was chosen due to the variety and popularity of each one.
“Being a paper artist, I was able to facilitate the paper marbling booth,” Shin said. “Many people have heard of hydro-dipping which is essentially paper marbling using different types of ink depending on the material they are transferring the ink pattern to.”
Shin discussed the importance of the event for expanding many students’ horizons. She said that the low-stakes environment was a good outlet for creativity. Shin also mentioned enjoying seeing the many students enjoy the event. As an assistant of fine arts, she is familiar with seeing art students express themselves creatively but was pleased to see different students express themselves.
“My favorite part of this event was seeing so many students exploring different forms of art,” Shin said. “For instance, students would go from booth to booth, using the marbled paper that they made to print photographs or words on it and then use that to create a button. In a way that is how many visual artists begin a body of artwork through play.”
Due to the success of the event, the fine arts department has already begun planning for another fine arts day, either this academic school year or next.
“We are definitely looking forward to having more Fine Arts Day in the future,” Shin said. “It was a huge success and we would love to continue to use a way to foster curiosity within the arts. There has been talk about seeing if we could have the music and theater department join in the fun.”