Intrinsic Art Club said they are looking for new members to make art for their auction. Proceeds from the auction go to the members’ charity of choice. Jennifer Thompson, the club’s advisor, talks about the club’s plans for its future.
Q: In a few words, could you tell us a little bit about the Intrinsic Art Club? What it is, and what makes it unique from other clubs that are like it?
A: The Intrinsic Art Club, [started] before my time.…A student wanted to raise money for…Doctors Without Borders, and so she started the Intrinsic Art Club, and [members] created artwork throughout the year…and then they auctioned off the work, and then they asked local artists to auction off their work. So it started …16 or 17 years ago.
Q: What are some of your specific goals for this year? What has been the typical amount that you raised at the art auction?
A: The highest we’ve raised is $500. So my goal…is to have more of a community involved in the art auction, so it’s not parents buying their kids work. We’re also…trying to up our membership for the intrinsic Art Club…a lot [of people] signed up from the [club fair]…The students now try to make it more [engaging]. They’re gonna play games on the first day. We have snacks now during it. It used to be a club that you didn’t pay money for, but now it’s $[10] but that’s because we get snacks for each class or each meeting, and we meet once a week, every Monday.
Q: Like you mentioned, the art club does the charity auction, and the students pick the charities. What are some charities that have been done in the past?
A: So we have done Doctors Without Borders. That was the main one in the beginning. Then [students] switched over to the Heifer [International]…[where] you raise enough money to buy a cow for…an area. Essentially, you’re getting an animal for a whole community…We’ve done a Jewish…nonprofit that…helps students that need therapy, they help families with addiction. Then we’ve done clean water. Last year, the money was donated to Habitat for Humanity– we [donated] $300 for that one. So [revenue] went up again. We went really down low, and then we tried to change the auction…to see how it would work. Now, we put the auction with the art show, so that more people would be there to see the work and [buy it].
Q: What do the prices at the art for art at the auction usually look like? How much can people expect to pay for a particular artwork?
A: Usually about $10, $20.
Q: What, if anything, does the club do to promote the auction and get more sales this year?
A: We’ve posted signs up, we put it online, and we made posters. The kids put [them up] at the Solon Center for the Arts. They were supposed to– I don’t know if they did. We try to put it out in the community.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to add about the Intrinsic Art Club?
A: Just that we can explore different art mediums throughout the whole year and create a couple pieces that we could auction off, is the main thing. And you don’t have to be an artist to be in the club. So you can help out with all the organizing and all that stuff. So this is a club that’s for kids that couldn’t get into art during the year because they couldn’t fit in their schedule, or students that kind of like art but…don’t feel strong enough that they’re good at it. It’s just for anybody.
If you are interested in making artwork for the end of year art auction, the Intrinsic Art Club meets every Monday after school in room 184.
