Sacramento State’s Festival of the Arts welcomed guests to the third annual U-Nite at the Crocker Museum in downtown Sacramento Thursday night.

 

Poetry, dance, live music, sculptures and paintings were some of the few forms of art and talent Sac State faculty, students and staff showcased.

 

Graphic design major Evan Purdy created his work of art through costume and wore it to the U-Nite to express his creativity.

 

“I’m exploring my imagination,” Purdy said. “I love to get my art out there, so I saw an opportunity and wanted to experience something totally different.”

 

Purdy wore a white dress-like garb, red gloves and a red colored square-like wooden structure as a head piece.

 

“I had to create something fast, so it was essentially an intuitive design,” Purdy said.

 

Sac State painting and drawing professor Ian Harvey encouraged students to be aware of the richness of art and to actually see it in person, not only  through a screen.

 

“It’s a direct and personal experience, to feel and see the physical reality of the art,” Harvey said. “Art is everything, it’s the whole world, there’s no limit to that.”

 

Harvey said art is a critical aspect of living.

 

“Its life, it’s making things,” Harvey said. “Much of our life we’re like spectators. The act of creating is critical to existence, to make something in your experience as a human being than just sitting and watching things.”

 

Literary artists from the Sacramento region shared their poetry and written works.

 

Sac State alumna Rebecca Woolston attended U-Nite to promote Sacramento Magazine and to share her outlook on the meaning of “home.”

 

“We’re looking for the people of Sacramento to submit their writings for possible publications for the magazine,” Woolston said.

 

Executive Editor of the Calaveras Station Literary Journal Ulises Palmeno attended U-Nite to promote awareness for the school’s literary journal.

 

“I’d like for students to be aware of the artistic opportunities at Sac State,” Palmeno said. “There is a big artistic and literary movement at Sac State. The journal is a medium to channel that voice. There is so much dedication in creating art which only shows fractions of what students are capable of.”