Art is a medium that has the ability to bring everyone together, connecting people and building community– two common themes found within the beauty of Athens. The Athens Art Guild is an organization that prioritizes the art community, inspiring them to create a social event for members and non-members to attend.
“I think it helps us get out of the vendor frame of mine into at least putting down our tools and taking a break and going and seeing people that maybe we haven't seen since the last event and getting to know some new people, which we really need,” Lisa Heinz, the social media and website coordinator for the Athens Art Guild, said. “We need to have some new faces and new talent coming in, new ideas.”
The social will consist of a panel made up of speakers Christopher Quolke from ACEnet, Tina Kelsey of Tina’s Tiaras, Michael Baum of JaM Dye Studio and Michael West of Michael West Artistic Woodworking.
“We have a lot of new and younger artists that are coming in and joining the guild, but don't know how to go about starting all this, so that's why we have this panel at this to help out with this new group that's coming in,” Marsha Egleston, the social director for the Athens Art Guild, said.
The agenda will also consist of a meet and greet with the panel.
“It's a good networking opportunity,” Heinz said. “For the guild itself, it's for membership. That's one of our things. We want to offer opportunities for other artists in the area, students or locals either one, to vend. That's probably one of the main reasons people join the guild is that we have curated events that we set up specifically for our vendors.”
In particular, ACEnet is helping explain the business side to artists, which Heinz says is something all artists need to consider when going into the field.
“ACEnet is trying to help us address the business side of being an artist, and the kinds of things you have to think about and what you need to do,” Heinz said. “Your business type, are you still proprietary or LLC or are you going to incorporate?”
Art students on campus are particularly excited for the social event, especially because of how difficult it is to find events such as this one in Athens.
“I think that it's definitely a positive thing for the community to have,” Mattes Brown, a sophomore studying studio art, said. “I know that in the past, Athens, art students specifically, have struggled to find a sense of community, so having something with the art guild is really awesome because it brings us together and helps us network and make connections, which is like 90% of being someone in the art world is just meeting other people.”
Besides students, Egleston says the event is open to anyone, even if you may not be the biggest fan of art.
“It is open to anybody that is interested,” Egleston said. “Bring a friend. If you're an artist and just want to bring a friend that isn’t into art, go ahead. Who knows, they might get inspired to do something, they might go, ‘well, I don't really know how to do that, but that interests me,’ so maybe they can connect with somebody who does what they might be interested in doing.”
The social will be Feb. 8, located at the Eclipse Company Store in The Plains on 11309 Jackson Dr. from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
“I think for a lot of us that’s our goal is to get new people in so they can carry the flag when it's their turn,” Heinz said. “I mean, we hope to get people who are local, who are going to stay local, so that they can do that, but of course, students can come and we've had students who are members.”
