University of Idaho students in printmaking and ceramics classes will sell their work at the fourth annual UI Student Holiday Print and Ceramics Sale Saturday at the Prichard Art Gallery.
Belle Wages, a UI senior studying art education, will bring her work to the event for the first time.
“I’ve taken the printing course a couple of times but this is my first time participating,” Wages said.
From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wages’s and other UI students’ work can be bought at the gallery. All proceeds go to the artists and UI art program studios.
While all students in print or ceramics classes can submit their work, Wages said she chose to not to participate in the past.
“Last year I was in the introductory course,” she said.
As with any new skill, she said it took her a while to feel ready to submit her work to the sale.
“I feel a little more confident, (and) a little more confident about the medium of printmaking,” Wages said.
Wages is a long-term art lover, and said she now spends as much time as possible in the print studio.
While some students create pieces throughout the semester classes with the sale in mind, Wages said the sale is more of an “added benefit of the course” for her.
“The projects I’ve been working on are more like my own endeavors,” she said.
Working in a variety of mediums, Wages said print artwork encompasses several different techniques and styles.
“That’s actually the really cool thing about the whole sale,” Wages said.
She said the art works for sale could be in any number of styles, including screen, letter press or wood block printing.
One of Wages’s pieces, a wood block print, is intended to express her perspective on feminism and women’s rights and provide a “commentary on the female role in our society.” She describes it as “a surreal illustration of some female figures and some houses also thrown in.”
A motif of houses can be found in several of her works at the sale, and Wages said she draws it from her father’s experience designing homes.
Wages said she would encourage others to take introductory printmaking or ceramics courses.
“People are maybe nervous because they haven’t taken many art courses, but you can come in without experience and be successful,” Wages said. “You don’t have to be an art major to take the intro to printmaking courses.”
For art students, however, the holiday sale provides an opportunity to see how their art is received publicly.
“It can sometimes be hard to kind of find your footing in the marketplace for art,” Wages said.
She said the sale can be the chance an art student needs to take their work into the public market.
“Maybe people will ask for commissions,” Wages said. “It has potential to really open up the doors for artists.”
Many of the artists who feature their work in the sale will help at the Prichard Gallery during the event. This gives local art supporters the opportunity to meet some of the artists they’re buying from.
“I think that it’s really great that we do this,” Wages said. “It gives students the opportunity to understand the process, or feeling, of being able to sell your work.”
Beth Hoots can be reached at [email protected]
UI Student Holiday Print and Ceramics Sale
When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday
Location: Prichard Art Gallery