Calling all creatives — the Salt Lake Community College library wants to display your work.
From now until the end of the fall semester, students, faculty, staff and community members can submit artwork that will be displayed at the Taylorsville Redwood and South City campus libraries. Librarian Erica Gudiño describes the call for artists as part of a larger program, called SLCC Creatives, to develop a visually engaging way to interact with library patrons and bring life to the library.
“SLCC Creatives is essentially a creative exhibit where students, faculty, staff and even community members can display the work that they’ve done with the ultimate goal of … [being] able to see themselves represented in the library,” said Gudiño.
This is the second year Gudiño has accepted art for the exhibit. According to her, the more non-traditional the better.
“I want anything that folks have, that they’ve made from scratch, whether that [is] pottery or, last year, we had a push board that someone made that they put out,” said Gudiño. “Whether it’s tech-based, whether it’s something more 3D, whether it’s a crocheted piece of work, or pottery, or even […] a recipe that someone made that they wanted to print out and put up.”
According to the SLCC Creatives display, “The variety of work is intentional as it draws attention to the variety of talent among us and how art can take on many different forms.” Some of the different forms that have been submitted include 3D mixed media, photography, oil paintings and even crayon art that was submitted by the children from the Eccles Lab School.
Contributors create art as an escape
SLCC student Chenoa O’Neil submitted a poem titled “You Still Deserve Love” to the display. O’Neil has been writing poetry since she was a child, with some of her work even published in the local newspaper when O’Neil was in elementary school and later published in a book of local writers.
“‘You Still Deserve Love’ is, in simplest terms, a love letter to myself. From the moment I was conceived, life has been no easy journey,” said O’Neil. “Carrying so much trauma and leaving it unaddressed for so many years laid the foundation for unhealthy relationships and bad choices as a young adult. Deep down, we all know we’re deserving of love, but our hearts and minds don’t always align.”
O’Neil uses words of affirmation as a tool when she is struggling with self-worth.
“At first, I thought it was silly to stand in the mirror and speak to myself in such a manner, but consistency with affirmations has strengthened my confidence. This poem is an in-depth reflection of those moments,” shared O’Neil.
O’Neil said writing has always been her “saving grace.”
“Writing has always been an escape for me. I didn’t have an easy childhood, and it often felt like I had no voice,” O’Neil said. “Writing became how I self-soothed, how I advocated for myself and how I spoke resilience into little me. My short stories gave me characters who were everything I wished I could be, and my poems were the tears I was too afraid to cry.”
O’Neil wanted to submit to the artist call to honor her younger self.
For years, I stopped sharing my writing outside of family and friends,” said O’Neil. “But ahead of my 35th birthday this year, I had an epiphany. I realized I was doing a huge disservice to that little girl who used to fill journals with poems and stories, who loved hearing her words read out loud because that was her true voice. Now, I honor her by taking any opportunity to share my work.”
SLCC staff member Ana Holt submitted two drawings that she created as an art student at SLCC. She said she has had a natural talent for drawing since childhood.
“When I learned about the library’s initiative to showcase artwork from the community and students, I thought it would be a great opportunity to submit some of my own work I did when I was an art student,” Holt said. “During my time as an art student, I learned various techniques and gained confidence in my abilities.”
Holt said that beauty is what motivates her to create.
“Whenever something appeals to my eyes, then I want to paint it. Sometimes I paint as a way to vent. When I paint, I go into a moment of relaxation; even though I am working hard to paint, my spirit feels calm,” said Holt. “I also desire to turn it into a source of income in the near future.”
Since having kids, Holt has moved from oils to charcoals, pastels and watercolors.
“I enjoy using oils, but at this stage of my life, while I’m raising young children, I prefer a medium that is quick to clean up and set up, posing little risk to my kids,” Holt said.
Reimagining the Library
With SLCC Creates, Gudiño hopes to reimagine what it looks like to engage with students at the library.
“What I’m really trying to achieve, along with all of my colleagues here at the library, is reimagining what this looks like to engage students as a library and really just to make it a fun, welcoming place where people can learn all different kinds of things, whether that’s read a new poem or something more academic,” shared Gudiño.
To submit artwork for the display, submit the form here. Anyone who would like to learn more can text or call Gudiño at 801-957-4196 or email egudino@slcc.edu with questions.
