Shop Columbia operations coordinator Tracey Drobot discusses the annual Dark Market event.

Transcript:

0:08: Welcome back to the Chronicle Chronversations. 

 0:10: I’m your host, Aaron Guzman. 

 0:13: This week on Chronversations, I am joined by Shop Columbia operations coord, Tracey Drobot to talk about Shop Columbia’s upcoming Dark Market event. 

 0:22: Tracey goes over Shop Columbia’s active dates for the Dark Market event and shares the kinds of themes and mediums that students can expect to see on display. 

 0:30: Yeah, so Dark Market is an annual spotlight exhibition that Shop Columbia produces. 

 0:35: We started doing this in 2019, and it’s become increasingly popular. 

 0:41: We do a call for work every year for any works that are kind of spooky or of the macabre, anything that artists create that kind of goes along the Halloween theme for the year. 

 0:54: And, it’s just been really great to see all of the submissions

 0:58: and the creativity that our students produce. 

 1:01: It’s a great way for new artists to experience Shop Columbia because the exhibition runs a shorter period than our general consignment. 

 1:10: We have received, let’s see, there’s close to 70, over 70, artists that submitted work, anywhere from, we’ve got, you know, stickers, print illustrations, got some ceramic pieces, jewelry, all sorts of things. 

 1:26: So, kind of a nice eclectic collection of works from our artists. 

 1:31: Oh, you know, it’s, it’s a really popular event. 

 1:35: You know, the spotlight exhibition opens Oct. 6.

 1:39: It runs through Nov. 3, during general shop hours. 

 1:43: So, hundreds of people come through the event and then we have our, next week will be our opening artist reception on Thursday, Oct. 9, from 4 to 6p.m. at Shop Columbia. 

 1:55: So, we have some extended hours to celebrate the artists that are participating. 

 2:00: I anticipate that to be a fun event that’s really great to be able to see all of those artists and, you know, celebrate their work. 

 2:07: Tracey also talks about how Shop Columbia can be a very useful starting model for students to begin publishing their own works to prepare for professional practices outside of classwork. 

 2:17: Yeah, absolutely. 

 2:18: So, Shop Columbia, in general, you know, is a really unique business model. 

 2:22: We are here for you students. 

 2:24: We are a learning laboratory. 

 2:26: It’s a great way to showcase and sell your work outside of the classroom. 

 2:31: It’s a unique opportunity to get feedback from professionals, and to make a little extra money. 

 2:36: So, you know, we really were, you know, in 2008, we were developed as kind of, you know, filling that gap and trying to provide that professional experience for our artists. 

 2:46: So, it does take a lot of work to produce artwork or products outside

 2:50: of the classroom for Shop Columbia. 

 2:52: And so, you know, that’s totally understandable. 

 2:54: I get a lot of artists who aren’t, you know, super sure if they, you know, they have enough inventory or have enough artwork to sell, but I just encourage all artists to check us out, at any stage of your career here at Columbia. 

 3:06: And that’s why we were able to expand to alumni, because we got a lot of students in their final semester, finally able to kind of breathe a little bit, and wanted to showcase their work. 

 3:17: So we wanted to continue that exposure. 

 3:19: And it’s a great way for, I think our current students to see what alumni are doing as well, in their professional practices. 

 3:28: So it’s a great way to, you know, have your artwork out in the public without doing too much because we take care of processing those sales, we ship items, package items, things like that. 

 3:39: That’s all for this week. 

 3:40: Make sure to stay up to date with our campus and Metronews and be sure to subscribe to our newsletter on columbiachronicle.com. 

 3:46: I’m Aaron Guzman. 

 3:48: Thanks for listening. 

Copy edited by Mya De jesus