Meet Ian Saner, the president of UP’s one and only Art Club! A sophomore from Tumwater, Washington, Ian is a biology major with a huge passion for all things creative. His art is provocative and shows his endless imagination. Find him on campus skating around with his signature ripped jeans and bright smile. Keep reading to learn a few things about Ian and his inspiring thoughts about Art Club.
How long have you been interested in art?
I’ve always liked to draw, ever since I was a little kid. I mean, everyone likes to doodle, you know? But I didn’t realize that I was somewhat good until about fourth grade. There was this video that we watched as a class on how to draw well, or draw little cartoons. And I could do it faster than everyone else. And people were complimenting me, saying that I was good at it. So I thought, “Huh! Maybe I could do this as a hobby. I like doing it.” So with more and more practice, I improved and started to really love it. And I’m a pretty creative dude, so I have these wild pictures in my head, and I’m able to put them on paper and be able to express them. I think that everybody’s is just as creative as the next person, but everyone expresses that differently, and for me, I can express it visually.
Were you president of an art club in high school?
There was no art club in high school, but I was in AP Art, so I did designs for lots of teams and clubs for their t-shirts. So when I came here to UP, I was really looking for some way to get involved with art on campus.
How did you become president of the Art Club here?
So I came into art club last year as a freshman, and they didn’t have any big goals or dreams for the club. The president at the time was really busy with school, so she didn’t have time to plan ways to get involved with the community or to expand the club or anything, so she asked a couple weeks in if anyone was interested in taking over leadership roles because she was just overwhelmed. And I was ASUP leader in high school, so I liked being in leadership positions, and the combination with art, something I was really passionate about, was just perfect. Last year I wasn’t able to do anything big with it. But this year, I’ve gone to a couple of conferences on how to make the club better.
Really? What kinds of conferences?
Well first, there was this thing called Lead UP. It was a Saturday conference from 9:00 to 4:00, and they had tons of breakout sessions on things like how to get fundraising and how to recruit more members. So that was really informational and pretty sweet. I have some big goals for the clubs, but it’s tough having that much responsibility and balancing that with school and homework. But I do have some big goals.
What are your biggest goals?
I’d love to get some murals done around campus, I think that would be really cool. We also do designs for other clubs and things around campus. Like we’ve done the logo for the UP intramurals, which is pretty cool, so we’d love to do more things like that.
That’s really cool. What other plans do you have?
I’d also love to have art galleries every couple of months somewhere in one of these buildings. I just want more spaces where kids can have their art displayed and have people come and talk about art. I also think an arts walk would be really cool, maybe with live music, food, drinks, and art everywhere. And I think sometime in the spring, that would be really cool, maybe on a Friday afternoon.
Those sound amazing!
Yeah! Those are like my big goals. Week to week, it’s more just like, “Hey, come in and take a break from studying. Meet some cool people, create some art. Have a good time.
That’s awesome. If you could tell people anything about art club, what would you say?
Something I want people to know is that it doesn’t matter how good you are or what your art is. Just come on in, everyone needs a break from the stresses of being a student, and coloring or painting is a great way to do that. So just stop by and get creative!