The Visual Arts Society (VAS) will be hosting several upcoming events and exhibits including an exhibit entitled “Vote with your Art,” which encourages students to explore their political beliefs and to express them through art.
The “Vote with your Art” exhibit will open on Nov. 6 on the first floor of the Sims Memorial Library.
“The inspiration for ‘Vote with your Art’ was simply the presidential election coming up,” said Dillon Raborn, the vice president of VAS. “With the air becoming a-buzz with the topic of political debates and the future of our country, the club officers, together with the faculty sponsor, Michael Aldana, collectively decided on the theme of the show over this past summer.”
Students of all majors can enter art into the exhibition. VAS members may enter for free, and non-members must pay an entry fee of $10, which immediately qualifies them as a VAS member. All art will be judged based on artistic skill and not the message of the piece.
“The focus of the exhibit is to use visual art as the medium to discuss personal politics,” said Aldana.
Entries can be dropped off in the Clark Hall Photo Lab by Nov. 1. All entries must specify through a note or writing on the back that it is specifically for the “Vote with your Art” exhibit, and entries must be labeled with art medium, year completed and title.  
Despite the potential controversy surrounding this exhibition, the VAS feels confident that there will not be any problems and that all attending the exhibition will have a chance for healthy discussion.
“The name is optional in this show because it is meant to be in the same spirit of casting a vote in political matters,” said Raborn. “When one casts a vote, it is anonymous. Also, given the generally heated atmosphere and deeply held beliefs and feelings regarding many of the subjects in political shows, the anonymous naming of a piece assists in shielding the artist from any backlash from peers for their views.”
In addition to the “Vote with your Art” exhibit, the VAS also sponsors “Art Night,” its largest event of the semester. “Art Night” is a celebration of the visual arts, according to Raborn. This semester’s installment of “Art Night” will include some new activities while also returning some popular ones.
“This year’s activities will include a catapult flinging paint onto a target, the Yves Klein Dance Floor, where the students shall dance over a large canvas to music while their paint-drenched feet produce an art piece of Yves Klein Blue, a T-shirt printing by the Palmetto Press, the printmaking club in Southeastern and many more activities,” said Raborn.
Art Night will be hosted on Nov. 1 at 6:00 p.m. in the Clark Hall Annex.