How does one start a poem? With a question? With a pause?
These were the beginning phrases of the collective storytelling board at Get Creative Night hosted by Creative Campus. The board, which included phrases written by several different people and which continued to grow as the night progressed, typifies the event – a collaboration of artistic talent from all areas of campus.
Yesterday evening at Maxwell Hall, Creative Campus held their second annual Get Creative Night. With approximately 70 pieces of art and more than 20 live performances, Get Creative showcased the talent of students majoring in everything from telecommunication and film and advertising to American studies, classics, New College and studio art.
“I thought there would be a lot of art majors showcased, but there’s a lot of art here by students majoring in other things, too,” said Evan Cottrell, a junior majoring in marketing.
Although Cottrell didn’t come to last year’s Get Creative, he said he came this year because he loves art and because he follows photographer and student Rae Marshall, who had several photographs on display at the event.
In addition to the photographs, paintings, and ceramics on display inside of Maxwell Hall, several musical and written works were performed on Get Creative’s small outdoor stage.
Morgan Bruffy, a junior majoring in telecommunication and film, recited her short story “Up and Away.” This was the first time Bruffy had performed her work.
“I love this organization, and it’s important on this art sharing night to showcase all of the art that’s created on this campus,” she said.
Michael Battito, a junior majoring in jazz studies, played the guitar alongside his roommate Adrian Marmolejo, who played the bass, and new friend and guitarist Jonathan Harms.
“It’s a cool environment because there’s physical art and live performances in the same place,” said Battito, who performed by himself at last year’s Get Creative. “Also, people come to Get Creative Night for different reasons, but regardless of their reasons, they hear you. You’re on showcase no matter what.”
Facing the stage but on the opposite side of Maxwell Hall’s front lawn sat the Get Creative craft table. Using the art supplies placed on the table by the interns, attendees could take part in origami, painting and other crafts while listening to the performances.
Second-year Creative Campus intern Seema Kumar, a junior majoring in biology and Spanish, said she was very pleased with the event because so many people attended.
“We are extremely pleased with the turnout,” she said. “More people might have attended if we hadn’t hosted the event so early in the school year, but since Get Creative is about getting people involved, we wanted it to be a part of Student Involvement Week. There’s a good mix of people here from all areas of campus, which was our goal. Making the arts more accessible to students and getting them more involved – if we do that, we’ve achieved what we set out to achieve.”
The Creative Campus interns invite all students to keep checking their website, creativecampus.org, for information about upcoming arts events.
