by SAMANTHA WALLA, Production Editor
Creators and appreciators of art find a place to create with other artists in the Manhattan College community on a weekly basis at Sanctus Artem, Manhattan College’s art club. Sanctus Artem is Latin for “pure arts,” which speaks to the diverse scope of the club.
During the 2019 spring semester, the club is not only increasing its presence on campus, but continuing to diversify its programs to encompass art of all mediums.
“Sanctus Artem is not just an art club for art. We indulge in all sorts of art,” said senior English major David Valentin. “What’s so important to us is to get everyone involved with art because, to me, art is an expression of the lens one sees reality through, and everyone’s got their own different color lenses. By joining together all these different perspective, we all collectively make something that’s greater than the sum of our parts.”
Valentin has served various position on Santus Artem’s executive board before assuming the role of co-president alongside junior Ryan Askin. In addition to his role in planning events with the rest of the board, Valentin’s favored form of art is writing, speaking to the club’s support of arts of all forms.
Co-president Askin agreed, elaborating on how the club offers a place for him to have his pieces critiqued.
“Sanctus Artem is a place to express yourself and feel safe in doing so. On a more personal level, it allows me to be able to connect to other students who do art, whether that be visual, performing, or literary, and hear their creative feedback or criticism on the pieces I create.” said the secondary education and English major. “Surrounding yourself with other artists is also just more fun as well when creating art because it allows you to see how other people use different modes.”
This semester, the group holds a different type of workshop including abstract painting, photography and writing. The group hopes to incorporate additional modes of art such as culinary. By expanding the breadth of art supported and promoted by students, they are given an opportunity to create conversation and grow their skills.
The already expansive community cultivated by Sanctus Artem is not limited to its participants. Sanctus Artem is a collaborative club, meaning that they are constantly searching to partner with other student organizations, such as Coffee House.
The most recent workshop was a collaborative effort in which attendees created feminist art for the Lasallian Women and Gender Resource Center, held Tuesday, Feb. 19.
Sanctus Artem also promotes Jasper’s artwork on their Instagram page, @sanctusartem, which accepts DMs that are reviewed by sophomore Mariajose Blas-Perez. Blas-Perez uses the workshops of Sanctus Artem as relief from the course load of her finance major.
“Art to me is my outlet to disconnect from the world. Sanctus Artem has helped me continue my art since in a way it delegates a specific time for me to sketch and disconnect from everything, which keeps me from become overwhelmed,” she said.
She continued.
“I believe Sanctus Artem is important to the campus because it allows other artist to connect especially since unlike high school we don’t have a specific time like art class to connect with other fellow artists,” Blas-Perez said.
Valentin also cited creating a space for artists to come together, especially in a school with robust engineering and business programs, as a key component of the club.
“Sanctus wants to help people carve out an hour just to sit down and do art and work on something they could be proud of. In a college atmosphere it’s often incredibly easy to be overstimulated and overwhelmed by everything going on around college students, and so we want to create a safe space where students can just relax,” he said.
Sanctus Artem’s leaders also hinted at an upcoming event that will be revealed on their Instagram in the coming weeks.
Above all, Santus Artem welcomes students of all levels of experience to join.
“You do not have to be “good” at art, as many students say when they hear about our club.” said Valentin. “Many of our members join us every Tuesday for our events who are not artist or writing, but they just want to take in all that good energy and just relax.”