CHROMATIC blends imagination and community to create a comfortable environment to share artistic processes. Pictured from left to right are founders communication major junior Hana Smith, communication major junior Elizabeth Jacobs and sociology and political science double major senior Shauna Ricketts. (Annalee Bainnson/Photo Editor)
If you’re an artistic person looking for a place to express yourself and improve your skills among friends, then CHROMATIC is the club for you.
CHROMATIC is a new club for those passionate about the visual arts. The club includes photography, film, painting and any other medium of creativity in which students want to improve in.
Tom Magnus ’17, sociology and political science double major senior Shauna Ricketts, communication major junior Elizabeth Jacobs and communication major junior Hana Smith are the club’s co-founders. Each of them have their own realm of creative influence, but they all have a passion for the arts and a desire for a community with which to express that passion.
Magnus wanted to create a club like CHROMATIC due to the lack of an arts program at Geneseo, according to Jacobs.
“There’s not really an outlet for kids to go and do art and meet other kids who like art,” Jacobs said.
Geneseo has art clubs, and certainly a plethora of students ready to embrace their artistic side, but few places match CHROMATIC’s focus on togetherness.
“There are a lot of [arts] clubs, but they’re more structured,” Ricketts said. “[With CHROMATIC the idea is to] bring people in, we brainstorm, we think about projects that everybody wants to do. It’s much more community based.”
This devotion to fluidity and a welcoming environment extends to leadership; not one of the founders seeks a presidential role, rather everyone in the group is valued as equally important.
The founders are focusing on the collaborative aspect because they believe students need a place to gather resources and support one’s needs to be a successful artist. The cohesiveness is also important in pushing creators to further themselves and improve their skills, which CHROMATIC also emphasizes.
One way that the group wants to push people further is with the fun challenges they make like “Three Photographers, One Model.” Each photographer takes a photo and then the group comments on them, offering constructive criticism and encouragements that will better the photographer in the future.
Do not think, however, that this is only a forum for those seeking to enter the professional world of art. Hobbyists are also welcome. The only real trait you need is the desire to improve your art and work in a group.
Whether you’re just interested in having fun and snapping some photos, or you want to be a successful videographer, CHROMATIC is the place to expand your artistic skill set and bond with other art-lovers. Despite being relatively new, they already have many members involved who no doubt will continue to grow the aims the CHROMATIC club founders set out to address.
CHROMATIC meets on Fridays at 5 p.m. in Milne 121.