Suffolk’s Sexuality and Gender Alliance club hosted their bi-annual queer artist alley in the Sawyer building lobby Oct. 17. The event invited artists from across campus to showcase and sell some of their creative pieces to other Suffolk students.
The alley had a multitude of art pieces made by students for sale including crochet, jewelry, prints, accessories and more. There was something for everyone as the event had several different artists sharing their art and their businesses with the Suffolk community.
The event highlighted many student businesses as it gave them the space to push their art out there. Julia Valanzola, a sophomore and owner of Julia’s Crochet Garden, spoke about why an event like this is important for queer artists.
“I think it is so important for artists who are queer to share their art,” said Valanzola, “Art is so intrinsically tied to the queer community and is so tied to expression. So, I’m really grateful spaces like this exist for queer people to share their art.”
Other artists at the alley shared this sentiment of queer artists being given a space like this. Sarah McPhertridge, a sophomore and owner of Astro Flower Creations, spoke on how this event can be important not only for their business but for others as well.
“Doing things like this helps many small creators, especially in the queer community to show their art,” said McPhertiridge.
They further explained that spaces like this where they get to share their art with the world give them a place in society.
During the event, other artists opened up about how this event really allowed them to get their art out there to others. Artist Jessa DiDonato, a junior and owner of @jessdidart, talked about how the queer artist alley gave them the chance to get their business started. They spoke about how they had been drawing since winter break of last year, but the artist alley last spring gave them the opportunity to begin selling their artwork to others.
“My friends encouraged me to do it,” said DiDonato, “So I started to draw some more and that’s how I started making my art account and started the business.”
On top of that, the event made room for artists who were selling their pieces for the first time. Artist Jane Blair, a freshman who is a part of S.A.G.E., talked about how the alley was the first opportunity given to them to sell their art.
“I knew about selling stuff, but I’ve never really had the opportunity to be able to do it myself,” said Blair, “S.A.G.E. was the one to open me up to the possibility.”
At the end of the event, there was an opportunity to speak with some members of S.A.G.E.’s e-board about the event and what it provides, especially to its queer students.
Ares Centeno, a senior and president of the club, talked about the idea behind the queer artist alley and how it helped promote student’s art.
“We wanted to bring a community of artists together since we do a lot of art-based events already and we just wanted to bring together a bunch of artists so they could sell their stuff on campus,” said Centeno.
They also spoke heavily on queer artistry and its importance stating, “Not only does it show our part of the community in the art world but as well as in general. A lot of us are artists and it’s important to highlight that.” said Centeno.
The queer artist alley overall was a welcoming space for all Suffolk students and it gave a space for queer artistry to shine.
