There is certainly no dearth in style on Trinity’s campus. From the picnic tables outside the Arts Block and across the cricket pitch to the Hamilton, ‘cool’ is in abundance, manifesting in vintage doc martens, aviator leather jackets, chequered trousers and even the occasional, hard-to-pull-off, mullet. Yet the ‘coolest’ place I have yet to visit was undoubtedly the Visual Arts Society End of Year Exhibition. Members of this society emanate an aura of effortless style, an ineffable ‘artiness’, that leaves us poor mortals writhing in jealousy at the glimpse of their Freshers Week stall. Even the society Facebook page is a well-curated artistic production. Behind the scenes of all this ‘cool’ is Rachel Gunning, Society Chairperson.
“VisArts has definitely grown and adapted over the years, despite being a relatively small and young society, and we’ve been really lucky to develop relationships with other societies.”
Fittingly, Gunning is a final year History of Art student at Trinity. The VisArts Society was the first that she joined back in her first year at Trinity, and she still has her society tote bag from Freshers Week as a memento. Throughout her first two years at Trinity, she was a regular frequenter of the society’s events, before becoming an Ordinary Committee Member in her third year and finally being elected Chairperson this year. “I loved going to their events throughout college and I was always really interested in getting involved with facilitating art appreciation on campus.” In fact, this is the aim of the society, to promote interest in “all disciplines of the Visual Arts”, and has been since its founding in 2009. Gunning says, “VisArts has definitely grown and adapted over the years, despite being a relatively small and young society, and we’ve been really lucky to develop relationships with other societies which have led to great friendships and really fun events.”
[/pullquote]“A highlight in the VisArts Society’s calendar is certainly the end of year exhibition, usually held in a gallery in Dublin.” [/pullquote]
Events usually held by the society include lectures, gallery tours, workshops and regular coffee hours with an artistic slant, all of which are organised with the goal of “giving members a pressure-free opportunity to release their creativity” while functioning as a “social base for people interested in art.” Each year the society holds a ‘sketchbook project’, whereby members are given a sketchbook to fill over the course of a few weeks, with the help of prompts. In this way, the sketchbook becomes a sort of visual diary of the individual, and can be exhibited at the end of the few weeks, giving students the opportunity to share their art. This project is one that has worked well in the Covid era.As Gunning remarks, it “definitely alleviates some of the Zoom fatigue we’re all suffering from, allowing students to get involved in their own time and to release some energy through art.” Creating and making art is known to be a cathartic exercise, and may be helpful in both filling excesses of spare time and helping people express their emotions in a fun, creative way. It also is an alternative to society events via Zoom, yet still provides an outlet for students to feel involved in something social. A highlight in the VisArts Society’s calendar is certainly the end of year exhibition, usually held in a gallery in Dublin. Artworks in a variety of media and formats can be submitted and the exhibition is a “really exciting prospect for the members to be shown in a gallery.” For any aspiring artist not sure how to share and show their work, this truly is an excellent opportunity.
This year, the society has been adapting to run virtual events. They traditionally collaborate with different societies, and this has continued despite new circumstances, including their ‘Botanic Paint and Sips’ events with the Botanical Society, and their involvement in Trinity Arts Festival week in February. During this week, VisArts ran a ‘Rosé and Paint’ workshop, and a Photo Painting workshop. The society also tries to gear their events to current interests and trends. Gunning says,” Slow fashion is something a lot of people consider really important at the moment, so it was amazing to collaborate with FashionSoc for an upcycling event.” In November, they also ran a ‘stitch along’ with DUGES and Knitsoc to celebrate women and art, paying homage to the often underappreciated and historically more female contribution of craft to the canon of art production.
Covid 19 has been a challenge, of course. “It’s quite difficult to make any sort of plans with constantly shifting restrictions and a limit on social interaction in person”, according to Gunning. Despite this, the society had a remarkable year in terms of new signups, doubling the amount from last year. They were also able to organise a trip to IMMA in the brief window before Christmas when societies were open. Their end of year exhibition is still going ahead, and is definitely something to look forward to. As always, we can be sure that talent will not at all be in short supply. I have no doubt that we will all be virtually in awe.
