UNIFYING THE CREATIVE ACROSS CAMPUS—

Wofford Artisan Market is one of 10 project finalists that will take the stage at Wofford’s third annual Impact and Launch Competition on Saturday, March 28, from 5 – 9:30 p.m. The project, led by seniors Sarah Baldwin and Mills Brown, supports student artists and entrepreneurs and gives them a platform to branch out and sell their merchandise. As artists and members of The Space to Impact, Baldwin and Brown wanted to put together a not-for-profit project that would benefit Wofford’s growing art community.

Baldwin and Brown have always been interested in the arts and plan to continue to pursue careers in business and the arts after graduating in May. Brown has been a part of The Space to Impact for the past three years, and Baldwin has been a part of the program for the past two years.

For busy student artists, Baldwin and Brown’s project is an enormous aid in getting their creations out to the public.

“We both realize how difficult it is to balance academia and a personal business venture,” says Baldwin. “So we wanted to create a unified platform for student artists to showcase and promote their craft without feeling intimidated or overwhelmed.”

With the help of Courtney Shelton in The Space, they were able to get their idea up and running.

The two were inspired by the recent growth of the arts at Wofford, and began promoting the project through the daily announcements and at the interest fair last fall. They also created an Instagram and Facebook page to further promote the project and direct audiences to the blog. Selected artisans are interviewed and images of their work are collected. All of this is featured on the blog at woffordartisanmarket.wordpress.com. Baldwin and Brown try to feature at least one student artist a week, and they hope to begin featuring professors and alumni in the near future. So far there are 10 artisans featured on the blog with crafts ranging from making bread to refurbishing typewriters.

Wofford Artisan Market has proved that creative talent is abundant in the Wofford community, and that the need for the Center for the Arts is great. Although this started off as a project for Wofford students, Baldwin and Brown are looking into collaborating with a few off-campus organizations. One idea is to have an off-campus market where students can sell their creations to the public.

“Wofford Artisan Market is a support group for creative minds,” says Brown. “Our mission is to share Wofford’s artistic talent with the campus and the community. We hope Wofford Artisan Market will inspire students to continue creating and promoting their work!”