By Molly Atchison | Print Managing Editor
For math and science majors, getting a job after college revolves around their grades and qualifications. However, for many arts and humanities majors, companies are looking not for numerical data on their job candidates, but for proof of their creative minds. The Baylor art department hosts a print and portfolio sale each year to give their photography students a chance to market and profit off of their talent; this year’s print and portfolio sale took place from 5:30-7 p.m. on Thursday in the Martin Museum Foyer of the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center.
Jennings Sheffield, assistant professor of photography and coordinator of the event, emphasized that the sale is a way for students to experience having their work sold in a professional setting.
“The print and portfolio sale is a wonderful opportunity for our photography students to share with their peers, the faculty, the Baylor community and community at large what they have been working on during the semester,” Sheffield said. “Students spend the evening sharing their latest work and selling their prints. It is a wonderful way for the community to acquire art from emerging artists and help support their local art students.”
The sale was organized several years ago by former photography professor Susan Mullally, Sheffield said. It has been carried on for the past few years to promote both the students, their work and the whole art department and all of the talent within it. The art department currently has 73 Bachelors of Fine Arts students, according to the Baylor Institutional Research and Testing website. Only a portion of those focus on photography so the art department also uses the event to show what the department can offer Bachelors of Fine Arts students.
Senior studio art major Mimi MacDougall has been studying photography for the past four years at Baylor. As a participant in the print and portfolio sale, MacDougall said she feels the sale is a chance to find out what their peers are creating.
“It’s such a great time for us all to reconvene after working independently throughout the semester,” MacDougall said. “We get to display our own hard work, but also we get a chance to be inspired by different ideas. It’s an invaluable experience getting to create alongside each other.”
As the semester finishes, students continue to look to the future, and to the possibility of success in their career of choice. The Baylor print and portfolio sale presented an opportunity for photography students to measure the success of their creative instincts, and to reconnect with a community that can many times overlook their area of concentration.
