Last Friday, the Trinity Art Collective (TAC) put on a Fall Art Market where student artists sold their wares to students, faculty and staff. This semester’s Fall Art Market was the biggest one yet, part of Trinity’s first Autumn Festival of the Arts (TAFA) in collaboration with the school of arts and humanities.
The Fall Art Market, held Nov. 3, had 55 art vendors, a record high, and a large number of customers consisting of students, faculty and staff. The TAC considers this to be their most successful market yet.
This semester’s Art Market is also notable because TAC isn’t the only organization behind it. The 2023-24 academic year is the first year the new school of arts and humanities has hosted an Autumn Festival of the Arts, a week-and-a-half long festival where different organizations hold campus-wide arts events.
Though TAC collaborated with the school of arts and humanities on the Fall Art Market, it remains separate from the art department. This means that they do not adhere to the authority of the art department and can organize events that are not strictly connected to the visual arts.
Calvin Taylor, senior history major, is the vice president of TAC. He said that he likes organizing the Fall Art Market each year because of the different connections that he makes as an officer.
“I mean, mostly, it’s about connecting with people and getting venue set up, and, you know, meeting different artists on campus, going out to find people whose work is really good. And you want to help them bring that and even more people on campus. It’s nice,” Taylor said.
The market appealed to the vendors as a way to get their art out into the world. Vendors sold paintings, sculptures, jewelry, stickers, clothing and other crafts.
Olive Irons, sophomore environmental science and earth systems double-major, sold their paintings and sculptures at the Art Market. Irons described how they liked the experience of participating in the art market as a vendor, and also appreciated interacting with the Trinity community.
“I really loved it. It was my first time doing it, and had I known about it last year, I would have done it last year as well,” Irons said. “It was a nice way to get rid of some of my old art and make some money and see a bunch of cool people.”
Lauren Dotson, senior biochemistry and molecular biology and philosophy double-major, sold paintings and more at the Fall Art Market. She discussed how she liked getting personal feedback on her art and enjoyed the sense of community the market brought.
“This was the first time I really shared my art with the Trinity people and they were extremely receptive. Plus, I got to really converse with a bunch of people, make new friends and buy from my friends,” Dotson said. “It was truly a fun day, a fun, light-hearted experience.”
Today, Friday, Nov. 10, TAC will be hosting a battle of the bands with student-led bands such as Brief Inner Mission, Preacher Red, Retro Cowgirl and Therapy for Cheap. Taylor also expressed excitement about this, as this is TAC’s first venture into something like this.
“It should be pretty cool. I’m optimistic about it,” Taylor said. “Yeah, so we’re going to do it right here in Dicke-Smith courtyard. We’ll have a stage. There’ll be food, and it should be good.”
