Art has always been an important part of the Upstate’s cultural identity, both on and off campus. Statues and murals scattered throughout downtown Spartanburg and pieces throughout Upstate’s campus show this clearly.
This especially holds true in Professor Freda Sue’s printmaking classes (ARTS U207 and ARTS U307) where students are reaching out to their communities to show support and appreciation. Students in these courses have been working on projects where they design cards using what they learn in their studies to send to non-profits in their own communities.
Students produce variations of the cards using techniques learned in the class to provide distinct cards for each member of the non-profit they choose.
“Asking students to make additions to these prints, it becomes a process of very thoughtfully packaging those gifts. We’re not just a machine doing reproduction.”
— Professor Freda Sue
Students in this class aren’t making their cards for any personal gain. Instead, they are encouraged to create prints that help their communities through art. Professor Sue wanted to use service learning as an opportunity to show students that while art can be a career, it’s important to give instead of take.
Non-profits were chosen for this reason. These organizations represent key parts of communities and in many cases, have impacted the students in some way. The passion students approach these projects with when they are able to choose someone that impacted them allows for growth not only in their work, but in their understanding of community.
Sue began this journey after COVID-19 lockdowns where she noticed the sense of isolation and time alone brought a lot of people towards art, with a desire to help people heal.
“In a way, it’s a process of healing for others. It’s about process of giving hope for others.”
–Professor Freda Sue
Service learning can be daunting for a student that has never engaged in it before, but working through the course, students see how their work throughout the semester can change their community and show the skills they’ve developed.
All service learning courses highlight how students can impact their communities using their studies, and often in very different way. Sue highlights how even if her art students never hear feedback from the organization they sent cards to, they can still see their direct impact on the community and how it helps it grow through gratitude. This impact continues with many of her students as they begin to tackle community service in their personal lives and pass it down as they enter into their careers.
Sue says that the care and passion poured into these projects allows community engagement to blossom in students’ minds and teaches them to carry it into their lives.