By Alexandra Nseir,
Contributor

Seton Hill University (SHU) students looking for a creative way to release tension now have an outlet. The CRAFT club (CReating Arts with Fibers Together) allows students to meet and mingle while they make crafts using a variety of materials.

“I thought about just starting a Seton Hill Knitting club, and then I talked with (club adviser and art professor) Maureen Vissat to gauge interest in this type of club, and she suggested starting something for a broad range of crafts using different fibers,” said CRAFT club creator, Moira Richardson.

The club has 10 to 15 very active members with over 30 members on its e-mail list. According to Richardson, a senior, there is an equal mix of art majors and non-art majors in the club.
Club activities have ranged from making duct-tape wallets and collage boxes to knitting and crocheting.

CRAFT club has also reached out to the SHU community. During the Night on Haunted Hill last fall, the club made friendship bracelets to distribute and painted faces using homemade face-paint.

Over Valentine’s Day, members sent out 100 Valentines as part of a “Random Craft of Kindness.”
“It was such a fun idea, just hoping to brighten someone’s day,” said Richardson

CRAFT club members seem to be taking something away from their experience in the group as well.
According to Sarah Slates, a freshman, “I most enjoy simply sitting with friends and friendly people and just getting soaked up in everything; the busy bustle of college life and all the headaches that come along with it subside for a bit while I make something neat.”

Another freshman, Sarah Lynch echoed these sentiments: “CRAFT club is a great place to relax, and do something you enjoy.”

Richardson will graduate in May and hopes the club will remain active after she is gone.

Currently, the group is working on a semester-long project to make a quilt using a number of crotched squares.

According to Richardson, they have 20 to 25 and hope to get about 50 by term’s end, before they stitch all the squares together.

“The quilt will show our unity as a club as well as unity with the community around us,” said Richardson.

She hopes the completed quilt can be displayed somewhere on campus or in the community and that it can be used to raise money for a worthy cause.

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Categories: ANseir | Features