By Kalena Reynolds | Staff Writer
Founded in 2022 by alumna Libby Bush, Baylor’s Art History Club initially sought to foster student unity and introduce students to new people. Fast forward to now, the club meets twice a month and actively works on integrating the importance of art into campus life, thanks to the help of Shreveport, La. junior and club president, Ellery Copple.
“I think she just wanted an opportunity for art history majors and minors to get to know each other outside of the classroom and also for people who are interested in the subject to get to talk about art with other people who like it, even if they’re not necessarily art majors,” Copple said, referring to Bush’s original mission for the club.
Since the beginning, the club’s leaders have focused on bringing interactive elements to the students participating by making the presentations more hands-on and interactive.
Currently, the club meets twice a month at 7 p.m. on Thursdays, alternating between the Creekmore Conference Room on the second floor of Jesse H. Jones Library and the art history classroom in Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center.
Copple said the first meeting of every month usually involves a PowerPoint presentation on a specific artist or style, and the second meeting usually involves a project or activity related to that month’s topic.
“One time this semester, we did button making,” Copple said. “So we went to Moody and we made a bunch of buttons… that members have picked out with our logo and everything. And then, last winter, we did Christmas ornaments with air-dry clay. We’ve made little fall pumpkins. We’ve done coloring sheets based on important artists and stuff like that.”
Tomball junior and social media coordinator Noelle Rigmaiden said that three current officers decided on what artistic or stylistic movement to cover in the meetings that month.
“It’ll usually be Ellery presenting since she’s president, talking about a specific artist that we think that the club would like,” Rigmaiden said. “We also take suggestions at our first meeting every semester of what the people attending the meetings want to see, and we’ll take those into consideration.
And so we’ll form a presentation and then ask questions like, ‘What do you like about this piece?’ or ‘What do you not like about it?’ ‘What does it make you think of?’ and try to engage whoever’s attending.”
Occasionally, the club will also host professors from the art department to create presentations for the members. This allows them to learn from someone directly in the field and network with professors they otherwise would not be able to talk to.
“Professor [Greg] Lewallen just kind of came in and shared with us about the art that he makes,” Copple said. “He’s really talented at stippling and other forms of drawing and has just completed a life-size drawing of a rhino. So he talked about those projects. He brought us copies of a book that he made of his work. He’s really great at telling stories; that’s one of the reasons why I wanted to feature him.”
The club is welcome to students of any major and art level, and Rigmaiden said that they are planning to have future presentations on “sculptures, installations and the artist’s workspace, as well as possibly an art fair where anyone in the club would be able to sell their own work.”
To join the club, contact president Ellery Copple by email (ellery_copple1@baylor.edu), direct message their Instagram or reach out via Connect.
