As more students find themselves drawn to graphic design, junior digital media communications (DMC) major and non-profit minor Ryan West and DMC professor Julianne Donovan worked together to create a space to foster and share that creativity. The club was officially created in 2022, in which West acted as president and advertised the club for all to join.

“Design Hive is a branch of William Jewell [College]’s Art Club, where we help other organizations with their marketing – such as [with] posters, flyers, logo designs, t-shirts, stickers, you name it,” West said. “We are here to help others get creative while growing our passion for digital media as well.”

Prior to the club’s start, West admits that she had been thinking about creating such a club since she was in high school, but remained unable due to the stress of graduation. However, at Jewell, West was given the perfect components to finally make her vision of a graphic design community a reality.

“Since [my] freshman year of being at Jewell, I have been planning and recruiting other creative individuals to help me bring Design Hive to life,” West said. “It’s been a great journey, and I’m grateful to have so many helpful hands in this club.”

West created Design Hive with the ultimate goals of having fun and providing her peers with creative opportunities in a relaxed setting.

“Having a space where people can just be creative without the pressure of grades, deadlines and stress on their shoulders is the end goal,” West said. “We want to help our Jewell community out while having fun doing so.”

With Design Hive being newer on campus, West was still testing the waters throughout the first year of the club’s creation. Now, she is focusing on recruitment, expanding the club’s community, and collaborating with other campus organizations.

”We’re planning on working with the Art Club more this year, as well as other clubs to boost their marketing,” she said. “We also plan on having guest speakers who are in the marketing and digital media field to talk with us about the future, networking, etc.”

This year, Design Hive is out of its creation phase and is ready for student leadership to elect an official Executive Board. While West had to step down from the President position, she is encouraging students to pursue leadership and membership in the club to those who are interested. 

“A way to be involved is to come to our weekly meetings on Wednesdays at 4 p.m.” she said. “Our meetings are held in the DMC lounge in Brown Hall.”

Another way to keep in touch with Design Hive is to follow @jewell_designhive on Instagram and/or to fill out this Google Form to sign up for newsletter emails.

Art Club at William Jewell College has had a bit of a stall the last few years, mainly due to COVID-19, but 2022-23 president Claire Henry, a senior digital media communications major, wants to increase engagement. This year she hopes to cater more to the ‘art’ aspect of the club.

“Art Club didn’t have as much of a presence on campus purely because we were coming out of a really intensive pandemic,” Henry said. “COVID-19 quarantine and social guidelines made it very hard to meet frequently, which is something I know a lot of clubs are dealing with this year.”

Although Henry has not been in the art club cabinet, she has been extensively involved with the general art community at Jewell and the creative activity as a hobby and profession over the past few years.

“I was reached out to by the previous cabinet and they asked if I’d like to run,” Henry said.  “I thought it would be a great opportunity especially in regards to what I want to go into professionally, so I said ‘yes.’”

As a digital media communications major, Henry dedicated her career to graphic design and illustration. However, it was unforeseen as she preferred sculpting in high school.

“I was very sculpture-focused when I was in high school, but I knew that I wanted to go into digital art,” Henry said. “Digital art was something I was pretty unfamiliar with at first. I started practicing graphic design in Adobe Illustrator and I just fell in love with it. Now I’m designing pretty much every day. I don’t think there’s any other career that I’d ever be interested in.“

Now comfortable with her choice in career, Henry said she wants to share her knowledge and help out others in regards to art as a whole.

“My main goal is to [better] establish Art Club on campus and try to make sure that it has more of a presence,” Henry said. “This year, we are going to focus more on the artists that work in the Stocksdale Gallery. The art club will be responsible for greeting them, helping them display their artwork and going to the exhibition openings.”

Art Club is scheduled to meet every Wednesday evening from 6 to 8 p.m., with the first open meeting being Sept. 21. Henry invites and welcomes all students to share their feedback and suggestions.

“We’re going to talk about everybody’s wants and needs with the art club,” Henry said. “Since we do have a budget, we’re going to talk about what kind of materials people want to see and what projects people want to work on. I think that we’re going to try to have some rolling projects, too, so that not every week is a new project. Hopefully, we’ll be able to reflect what our members want out of our club. I want to encourage anyone who is interested in any type of visual arts to come check out the club.”

This year’s cabinet consists of Henry, the president; Vice President Garrett Washington, a sophomore theatre major; Treasurer Sarah Coupland, a senior theatre major; and Secretary Marquis William, a musical theatre major.

After coming back to campus this fall, it is more apparent than ever that what we need right now is to be able to connect with people about our experience this summer. Students need a place to express their thoughts and feelings in a time when they can feel more disconnected than ever. The William Jewell College Art Club has been doing their best to connect people and allow people to be themselves in this scary time.

Art Club has begun holding events on campus, and many of them have had a very positive reception. The Hilltop Monitor sat down with Isabel Warden, sophomore public relations major and president of the club, to talk about what they are doing to hold events and help build connections through art even through the COVID-19 precautions.

“Art Club is a judgement free place where people can express themselves,” said Warden.

Warden made it clear that Art Club is not about being great at art but more about self-expression and connecting with others.

“I suck at art – and I’m the president!” Warden said.

She then expressed that she wants anyone, regardless of ability, to feel free to come to any events or even to become an official member.

With 22 official members, Art Club is able to plan some fun events, and they meet every other week to come up with ideas. So far, the club has held three events. During their introductory Zoom meeting, everyone decorated name tags and got to know one another. You might remember that a few weeks ago, they also held an event called “Watercolor on the Quad,” where people could come and paint anything they wanted, judgment-free. This past week, they collaborated with RepresentASIAN on a Henna Tattoo event, giving out beautiful Henna drawings to anyone who came.

At all events, the attendance included official members, and people simply wanting to join in on the fun. The Henna event welcomed over 30 people who all came to get Henna drawings. Warden also said that the club is planning two different Halloween events in October.

“We welcome everyone regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability. We are a welcoming group wanting to provide a relaxing time for people to do art,” said Warden.

If you are interested in becoming a member, Art Club meets every other Wednesday from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Check @jewellartclub on Instagram for more information, or contact Isabel Warden at her school email.

Photos by Catherine Dema.

Supervised by Professor Nathan Wyman and legitimized by Becca Saffier last year, William Jewell College’s Art Club is a no judgment zone. The Hilltop Monitor sat down with one of the founders of the club, Senior Heather Jackson, at one of its open studios to chat about its mission and the reason behind its foundation.

“I was disappointed when I first came to Jewell my freshman year that there wasn’t an art club because I love art so much,” said Jackson. “I am going to be a studio art minor, and having another outlet for people to express themselves in this creative way is really helpful.”

Jackson was also struck to stick with this idea when Jewell’s accreditation was on probation and the tough decision was made to cut the art program. 

“Because of the accreditation issues and how the art department was cut, we just don’t have any visual arts available on campus other than the digital media classes and Professor Wyman’s stage design classes,” Jackson said. “There are all these important aspects of art and how it can engage with the community that we are unfortunately lacking at Jewell, and my hope is that the At Club can bolster that.”

Jackson said the club’s mission is to welcome artists of all kinds to come and learn or just hangout and be creative.  

“You don’t have to have any kind of experience level with art, you can have never even picked up a pencil or a paintbrush before and you can just come here and chill and work on whatever you want,” Jackson said. 

Jackson also talked about the educating environment of having different levels of artists in the club. 

“Sometimes people are here who know a lot more about the medium you may be working with, so you can ask them for advice or help or other constructive criticism from your peers,” Jackson said. “We want to foster a really encouraging environment for the arts, and I think we’ve done pretty well so far.” 

Art Club also has access to other resources on campus. 

“We also support the artists who are exhibited in the Stocksdale Gallery only a couple floors above where we work, and I’m hoping in the future that the art club can work with the wider Kansas City community,” Jackson said. “I think the idea of uniting student expression and interest with community interest and expression is so important.”

Jackson also made it clear that anyone is welcome at Art Club

“Anyone is welcome to come, they don’t have to have taken any art classes or be a digital media major. There are no requirements or prerequisites, as long as you respect the space and the people here you are absolutely welcome to stay and come back.”

There are some events that you will see next semester where the Art Club will be pairing with QUILTBAG and Students for Mental Health on campus to have some time to unwind before finals with playdoh, finger painting and potentially even an Art Club exhibit in the Stocksdale Gallery where anyone who wants to submit their art can do so.

Art Club usually meets Wednesdays at 4:30, but the space is open for student use almost anytime. So if you’re feeling creative, or just want a relaxed environment to chill out next semester, make sure to stop by G22 in Brown Hall and check it out.