ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Close to 60 Auburn students are creating and marketing their own artwork as part of a pop-up store concept conceived by art teachers Jason Judd and Iga Puchalska to take business and art lessons into the real world.
The store’s rousing debut success has the two thinking even bigger.
Clothing, jewelry, artwork and more fill Judd’s classroom as students buzz around eager to show off their handmade work featured in the school’s first-ever pop-up store last month.
The idea for a student-led store was inspired by Auburn’s Business Academy studio art pathway. This is one of many smaller learning communities within the school that allows students to deeper explore subjects of interest.
“We want to offer our students the real-world experience that they might encounter, leaving here,” said Puchalska “Not all of our students might be interested in going to art school, but love art and want to incorporate it in their lives. And we want to offer them the professional practices that might come with it.”
A pop-up store is as real world as it gets, said Judd. Students created and marketed their own products, combining art and business.
“Instead of Being a consumer, you can actually be a producer in this, right? You can make your own clothing line, you can make your own cards, you can, instead of consuming other people’s apparel or products, right? You can be the one hand making it,” said Judd. “And that’s what makes it valuable to other students or other people that is handmade by somebody and they can kind of point to the person who made it.”
One of those producers is Kamila Fernandez, who created sweatshirts, tees and bandanas for the shop. She said expressing her creativity is just one of many takeaways.
“Going into this class and learning that I can take my art to the next level and make merchandise and, you know, make a business out of this and a lot of life skills,” said Fernandez. “So anyone else needed to do like shirts and anything or like merchandise that can be there to be like, Hey, I know how to do this.”
Judd said he is planning for the next student store to pop up in downtown Rockford towards the end of the school year.
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