UCF students sell their art at the Art Club’s market on Wednesday in front of the Visual Arts building. The art market is a weekly event that gives UCF students an opportunity to expose their art to the community.
Every Wednesday, UCF Art Club students gather in front of the Visual Arts Building to socialize and share their art with everyone who passes by.
The club’s weekly art market is an opportunity for students to sell and share their art with other people who might be interested in looking at their handmade prints, pins, stickers, crochet and more.
The Art Club was founded in 2018, and the art market has been going for two years now. Ashley Nelson, junior studio art major, is the operational officer for the club, where she helps run the events that it hosts. She said that the club’s art market is a good opportunity for anyone who is interested in selling but doesn’t have a lot of money to expose their art.
“The Wednesday market in front of the Student Union has a process separate from ours. It’s $25 for a table and $75 every time after, but with the art market, if you pay the club dues, you can sell out here any of the market days,” Nelson said.
Madeline Bailey, sophomore pending emerging media major, said that it was her second time participating in the club’s art market and that it has been an amazing experience since then.
“Everybody is really nice; I think it’s important mainly because people get to see all different kinds of arts, and it’s nice to see your art seen by people and how people react to it,” Bailey said.
The club’s art market is open to students, regardless of their major or field of study, to expose their art. Nelson said that the objective is to be friendly, bring attention and support local artists.
Senior biology major Destiny Violano said she is glad to have the opportunity to sell at the Art Club market because she doesn’t have money to pay for a table at the Student Union’s Market Day.
“It is a lot cheaper and economical,” Violano said. “I’ve been doing this for two years now, and it is a lot of fun.”
Marissa Saito, freshman biomedical sciences major, said this is her first semester participating in the art market, but before coming to UCF, she said she knew she wanted to join the Art Club. When she found out they had an art market, she was excited.
“For outsiders, I think it’s really cool to see what other people are up to, and you get exposure to this kind of culture, including anime, games, all sorts of things, some you don’t see on the regular market,” Saito said.
Saito said that the art market is important to all students and that every student has their own reason to enjoy, but the love she has made her college experience much better since she started at UCF.
“It’s important to me because first of all, I love art; it’s my passion. The day the world ends, I will still be doing art,” Saito said. “I love talking to people and see fellow artists and what they are selling, what their art journey is, their dreams, and I made a bunch of friends here.”
Although she loves art, Saito is getting a biomedical sciences major, but said she doesn’t mind for now, and the art market has been helping her make some money, which is just a minor part of the experience.
“I don’t think I can make a living out of my art honestly, not at the moment, which is why it is a side hobby for me, but honestly, I don’t mind because I don’t mind sciences,” Saito said. “I enjoy learning biology and chemistry and stuff like that, so I get to pursue something I like while, at the same time, pursuing something that I really love, which gives me the energy to do both.”
