Art Club leader Lili Malone (‘25)  shared information with The Navigator about one of Southwest’s creative extracurriculars. Art Club meets every week on Wednesday from 3:05 to 4:30 and is advised by art teacher Edie McDonald, whose classroom students use as a meeting space. Art Club is free and welcoming to everyone.

Q: What do you do in Art Club?

A: Southwest’s Art Club is all about access. We provide open studio time to anyone and everyone who’d like it, making it so that everyone at Southwest is able to access materials, space, and time to practice and grow their art. Practice is such a crucial part of an artistic journey, and something like going to Art Club and working on something every week can help to improve your art and reach your artistic goals. It’s also very casual—if you want to come in a meeting or two and just sketch or maybe do whatever craft it is you’d like, great. Everyone is welcome, no matter your level of experience or areas of interest. Art Club is open time, rather than providing you with prompts and activities that you have to do.

Q: What artistic mediums do you use in Art Club?

A: Since Art Club is meant to provide students with resources and to give them the chance to use them, every medium available to us in Southwest’s art room is able to be used in Art Club—anything from sketching to sculpture to collage. Most of the time, I’m sketching in my own sketchbook, but you can access lots of cool basics like acrylic paint, gouache paint, air dry clay, pencils and charcoal, varieties of paper, different brushes, ink, and more.

Q: How long have you been Art Club leader?

A: I’ve been involved in Art Club for two years, and last year I was co-leader with a fellow sophomore at the time. 

Q: Why do you think art is important?

A: I think that art is so important because it’s an essential form of self-expression for humans. Everyone has some sort of attachment or reaction to art, and art has existed about as long as humans have. I think creativity is important as a part of life, and that every person can benefit from creative time. Art Club gives us the space and resources to have some.