The first-ever Fall Festival of the Arts is featuring original student artwork ranging from fine art to hand-crafted jewelry, writing, film and music on Wednesday, Nov. 15 in Adams Plaza from 11:30 am- 1 pm.
More than 21 students submitted original artworks by the deadline of midnight Nov. 10, festival organizer and this year’s ASMC Arts and Technology Senator Raven Rice said — mostly undergrads, at least one MFA student and a mix of arts-related and non-arts-related majors.
Typical of Mills, many artists here incorporate other issues “like their own ideas about sustainability and social justice,” Rice said, who reached out to countless student clubs, friends, alumni and handed out flyers to strangers in the halls.
“Just to make sure that we get a well-rounded depiction of what Mills is,” Rice said.
Some highlights of the fest will include a poems-and-photos project about family members and their heritage, an adorable collection of hand-crocheted octopuses and a jewelry artist who repurposes materials which would have ended up in a landfill.
“Some people are selling, some people are showcasing and some people are sharing,” Rice said. “Not everyone is going to sell their music or something that’s intensely personal to them.”
Artist De’Ana Brownfield, who works in ink, charcoal and graphite on paper, submitted a large drawing to the fest.
“Most of my art incorporates things like the impact of slavery on black Americans now and their relationship with water,” Brownfield said. “I’m an ethnic studies major so a lot of my work reflects that.”
If it rains, the Fall Festival of the Arts will relocate to the Student Union. Rice said there might be a spring Festival of the Arts if possible, and that she is setting up easy ways for others to organize the arts fests after she graduates in spring 2018.
