Art can take many forms and is all about the expression of oneself. On Saturday Nov. 9, New Mexico State University’s Department of Art hosted an event entitled, “Open Studios” promoting self-expression and student art. The event included hands on demonstrations of of art, where they taught things like: laser cutting, keychain making, crocheting, and many other exciting new forms of art expression. The event was organized by graduate students who find sharing art to be one of their favorite endeavors.
Johanna Typaldos, a graduate student, helped organize this year’s event and explained how she would like to teach art after receiving her Master of Fine Arts.
“I like to spread art, like I want to get people more involved in it. Honestly, we have a really good interdisciplinary program and I kind of wanted to show that off a little bit too,” Typaldos said.
Typaldos shared how being an organizer for this event has opened her eyes to how many students are actually interested in art, and what this may mean for the future of Open Studios.
“We will probably end up making an Open Studios club or even make it apart of one of the grad classes, just give it a little more structure and give specific jobs to individuals. Just in an attempt to help it run a little more smoothly,” Typaldos said.
She continued with the success of the event and why the club, or class, may be necessary so it can continue to operate with bigger audiences and bigger demonstrations.
“I think it went well [the event], and part of that reason is because the demonstrations were completely full. In fact, for the keychain-making demonstration, in the metals and jewelry room, they actually had to turn away a few people even though we allow them to stick around in case a spot opens, they were just so busy that they couldn’t even do that,” Typaldos said.
Abigail Tuggle, a graduate student, was one of the demonstrators at the Open Studios event and described the success of the crocheting demonstration.
“I think we had about 20 people show up, maybe a little less than that, but around 20 people. For the most part everyone was a beginner, so we just got people started, showed them how to hold the yarn and do a chain stitch and a single stitch. Just to get people introduced to crocheting, maybe give them a new interest and hobby, something they can pursue on their own,” Tuggle said.
Tuggle also explained how crocheting is one of her own hobbies and is used in her personal artwork.
“My mom taught me to crochet when I was really young, I wasn’t very good at it at the time and kind of gave up on it, but then in high school I was taking a class, and I was reintroduced to crocheting through that…” she said. “It was exciting [to teach crochet], I love crocheting so much, I love sharing that with other people and I think it’s so common to
crochet, and I hope that I can share that with other people and give them an avenue to express themselves.”
The Open Studio also included areas that educated people on other forms of art and how it could be used to become a visual storyteller. Elham Sabri, a graduate student, talked about how she pursued art as a form of protest.
“My booth featured a showing of the protest for Iranian women’s rights. I became interested in this area because I’ve always been fascinated by how personal history shapes who we are and what happened to our heritage,” Sabri said.
Sabri commented on how event attendees appreciated her work, and what that meant for her and her art moving forward.
“The booth was well received overall, with a few people expressing interest in the concepts behind my work. While the turnout wasn’t as high as I expected, it was rewarding to see that some of the visitors connected with my ideas,” Sabri said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to showcase my work, and I’m excited to continue pushing my ideas further in my final year. The feedback I received was invaluable and will definitely inform my future projects.”
