GZ Basement brings creativity to life with art market

On Friday, September 26, GZ Basement held another art market, providing a space for talented artists on campus to show off and sell their work. With the recent renovations on the first floor of the Union, there was some concern as to whether or not the event could happen. Alexis Graff ’28, member of GZ, said planning for the event was fairly smooth, with finding a location being the biggest task on their list, as their original club space Mothers no longer existed. However, this ended up being a silver lining for GZ as the art market took place outside this year, giving them much more space and leading to a larger turn out of artists wanting to table. Another obvious difference this year was the presence of live music. GZ had reached out to Rensselaer Music Association and one of their groups was able to perform at the event. Graff was particularly excited about this, as music is integral to the identity of the club.

With more artists at the event than last year, there was also a much larger variety of artwork for sale. There were some delicious looking baked goods such as ube banana pudding, brown butter matcha cookies, and quite fall-appropriate spiced cookies. There was also a table selling both fish sugar cookies with royal icing designs alongside fish keychains made out of beads and string.

There were also the more traditional items one would expect to see such as stickers and prints. Alex Hertz ’27, selling stickers of their hand drawn designs, informed the Poly that it was their first time ever tabling. When asked about their experience, Hertz elaborated that it was super easy coordinating with GZ and, while working with a vending service was challenging, it was also a good learning experience.

Near Hertz’s table, Lilu Kaufman ’27 and Hana Mali ’26 returned to the art market for their second year of tabling. Kaufman was selling prints of her artwork, consisting of original works as well as fanart for popular shows such as Arcane. Mali was selling handmade pottery with a variety of items ranging from candle holders to bowls with interesting sea-shell like texture. Other stand out tables included face painting, chainmail jewelry, crochet sea animals one could adopt and put in a fish bowl, and clay goods such as pins and earrings.

At a school mostly focused on technology and engineering, it was exciting to see such a creative event held on campus once again. The artists were clearly passionate about their works and excited to share with other students, even recommending ways for others to get involved with their beloved crafts.