Winthrop University’s new art club, Rising Artists of Winthrop, or RAW, provides an enjoyable creative outlet for artistic students of all varieties.
A new space for artistic expression at Winthrop University was born in the fall with the formation of the Rising Artists of Winthrop, better known as RAW. The club has grown in popularity and membership over the course of the last few months and has built an accepting space for community and student art.
While weekly meetings typically take the form of artistic practice, such as “art walks”, the club has also hosted events such as costume parties, open mic nights and art shows for all interested students.
Zoe Gumangan, a fine arts major with a concentration in expanded media and president of RAW, shared the serendipitous story of how the club began, starting with the encouragement of fine arts Professor Shaun Cassidy, who invited Gumangan to become president one day after class.
“It was very, very impromptu […] Shaun had an idea of who were the active students in our fine arts department and our sculpture department,” and sought to bring them together.
Mars Simpson, a fine arts major with a concentration in expanded media and secretary of RAW, expanded on the story. “[Shaun] was like, you know, there used to be a good club here and a good community for art, and then it kind of died out with COVID. And so he brought together like five or six students […] and was like, ‘I think that you guys should start a new club.’”
Things started slow for the group as they began to get their footing and connect with other creatives on campus. “We started planning events and it was a very slow startup because we didn’t really know what we were doing,” Gumangan said. Senior advisors to RAW proved beneficial during this stage, as they had experience with RAW’s predecessor, Winthrop’s Union for Student Artists, or USA, club. Advisors “gave us tips on what did work with USA, what didn’t work with USA, and what events were really popular with them. They help a lot with guidance with that.”
Professors also played a role in the club’s current success. “All the professors here also help and pitch in in any way they can, like helping us get approved for spaces and helping us with food,” although most of RAW’s operations are student-centered. Gumangan continued, “It’s still very student-led. [Shaun] just granted us the opportunity and it’s in our hands now.”
Fostering student creativity and autonomy was an essential part of RAW’s founding and current practices. “Regardless of your experience, regardless of your background, regardless of how confident you feel, we want you to know that everyone starts from somewhere and everyone deserves to have the opportunity and the accessibility to have their creative outlets and express themselves,” the president explained.
The club is nonexclusive to major or talent, but instead hopes to create an enjoyable creative space for all students. “You don’t have to be an art major to join our events, to be a part of a RAW. One of the biggest things is [that] we want people to make personal art for themselves, by themselves,” Gumangan said.
Taking away the pressure which often accompanies college-level art classes is a defining value of RAW. Blair Bailey, a fine arts major with a concentration in painting and a member of RAW, reiterated this point, “I think having a space where you can have a creative outlet that’s non-judged and nongraded is very important right now.”
One example of this accepting atmosphere which stood out to Bailey, Gumangan and Simpson was the club’s recent Open Mic night on Jan. 23 where students shared music, poetry, and small skits together. The president was proud of the success of the event, saying, “It was crazy because we filled up the room. There were so many people and it was very exciting to see that people love the arts, people who aren’t art majors, who want to perform, who want to share their creations. It was very heartwarming.”
Bailey felt the same, noting that the event shared the essence of what RAW seeks to be. “The open mic really showed that this is a comfortable space for people. Everybody was just overwhelmingly supportive. […] I think that it was really a good example of what we’re trying to do here and just let people make the art they want to make and not worry about if it lands or if it’s good.”
Gumangan shared that RAW hopes to make Open Mic nights a part of its monthly practices due to their popularity among students.
Along with creative freedom, RAW leadership emphasized community as one of their priorities. Secretary Simpson said, “The overall goal is to have a higher sense of community here. The sense of community here is pretty high, but I don’t think it’s as high as it could be, especially creatively.” Gumangan agreed, “We want people to have the opportunity to have events to get closer to other creatives to get their own creative outlets out.”
Member Aubrey Walden summarized her thoughts on the success of the new club. “I thought it was going to be like a cool little thing. I didn’t expect it to be this big. The turnout at the open mic was crazy and I think it’s super, super, super awesome.”
To those interested in becoming a member of RAW, Simpson imparted, “If anyone is curious whether they should come to an art club, they should feel extra inclined to because it’s a really good place to meet other artists and share your work, especially if you’re someone who’s trying to make a career out of art. I would encourage you to join.”
