The Goshen College Art Club hosted their first event of the year on Friday, titled “Arts and Crafts for Introverts.” The event provided a space for students of all majors to work on their personal projects in community with others without pressure to engage in conversation. The event was hosted in the art building and the club provided snacks. 

Mafe Aguilar Vargas, a senior marketing and graphic design major and member of Art Club event planning committee, said she came up with the idea for the event after seeing something similar on social media. Aguilar Vargas, an introvert herself, said that she wanted to create an event that would involve “a sense of community but also doing your own thing without feeling alone.”

Aguilar Vargas hopes to grow the art community on campus through her involvement with art club leadership. “I wanted to reconstruct the art community,” she said. “Last year, leadership was really minimal and only one person was doing it. I wanted to get other people involved.”

The event drew some first-time Art Club attendees, including Sadie Sherman, a sophomore music and psychology major, who worked on knitting a scarf during the event. Sherman said that the event was “a nice opportunity to come and just relax and not have any pressure to interact or anything and just be around people who are also creating art.”

Joryn Yoder, a junior elementary education major, worked on a craft project that she intends to use in a lesson plan. “It has been so cool to walk around and see other people’s projects, and there’s just a huge variety of things being worked on, and it’s just awesome to see everyone’s talent and different skills,” Yoder said.

Rosemary Baer, a senior secondary education and art major, used the event as a chance to work on a charcoal drawing. When asked what she thought of the event, she said, “I’m loving it. It’s so fun to get to meet new people and all work on art in the same space. It’s like my two favorite things.”

Hallie McCarthy, a junior art major, thought that the event succeeded at creating a welcoming atmosphere. “For some events that are the first one, it’s hard for some things to be welcoming and not overwhelming, but it was pretty chill actually,” McCarthy said. 

Art Club has many events planned for this semester. The club will host their “Inktober Challenge” on Oct. 23 and host another “Arts and Crafts for Introverts” event on Nov. 6. More information about upcoming events can be found on the Art Club Instagram page,       

@g0shen_c0llege_artclub.

 With Reporting by Natalie Middleton