By Joslyn DelSignore / Jambar Contributor
Whether students are art majors or not, the Student Art Association at Youngstown State University proves that anyone can be an artist.
SAA is a student-led group that welcomes all YSU students to create art. Current members range from creative writing majors to interdisciplinary arts majors, such as SAA President Leah Franke.
Franke is a junior and joined the group when she was a freshman. Her goal when taking on a leadership role was to make SAA a space where anyone feels welcome.
“Our goal right now is to have community involvement on campus involving art, as well as making it a bit more accessible to other people,” Franke said.
SAA meets at 4 p.m. every Monday and currently has 60 members, 15 of whom are routinely involved in every event.
Members not only are able to make art, they display and sell it at various events.
SAA events such as ceramic make days, Summer Festival of the Arts or its annual Valentine’s Day sale are held on campus. The group also participates in community events such as Federal Frenzy.
The events that advertise its art to the Youngstown community are especially important to SAA.
“We feel that Youngstown has a dying art scene, unfortunately,” Franke said. “We’re just trying to expand a bit and, you know, make our mark. Show Youngstown that art is still here.”
While Franke oversees most things within the group, Chauncey Hay, faculty adviser, plays a large role in SAA as well. Hay, who’s also the YSU coordinator for Studio Art Support and an adjunct faculty member, as well as an artist himself, said he helps coordinate the group and its events, bringing the student’s ideas to life and giving them real experience.
“The goal of the group is to give students the opportunity to have professional experience prior to graduation,” Hay said.
SAA’s exhibition of its students’ work was displayed from March 20 through April 3 in the John J. McDonough Museum of Art.
This summer, SAA will return to the Summer Festival of the Arts on July 11-12, hosted on YSU’s campus.
To be a part of SAA, students can visit Instagram @ysu.student.art.association and click the link in its bio to join the group’s Discord server. To be added to the newsletter, students can contact Franke at lefranke@student.ysu.edu.