Sac State’s IMPACT Club hosts multimedia ‘Organic Flux’ exhibit

Exhibit runs through Nov. 4

The+University+Union%E2%80%99s+Gallery+at+Sac+State+will+display+the+%E2%80%9COrganic+Flux%E2%80%9D+exhibit+from+Oct.+25+to+Nov.+4.+Acrylic+painting+%E2%80%9CSummer+Break%E2%80%9D+by+Genesis+%E2%80%9CThe+Mayor%E2%80%9D+Torres+will+be+displayed+in+the+exhibit.+Image+of+the+painting+%E2%80%9CSummer+Break%E2%80%9D+courtesy+of+Torres.+Graphic+created+in+Canva.

Mercy Sosa

The University Union’s Gallery at Sac State will display the “Organic Flux” exhibit from Oct. 25 to Nov. 4. Acrylic painting “Summer Break” by Genesis “The Mayor” Torres will be displayed in the exhibit. Image of the painting “Summer Break” courtesy of Torres. Graphic created in Canva.

Zachary Cimaglio

After 18 months away from one another, Sacramento State’s art community has returned in-person with their  “Organic Flux” exhibit. 

The exhibit is meant to showcase artwork created by members of Sac State’s Individuals Motivating Progress Across Communities Together (IMPACT) Club, a student organization made up of local artists and creators.

Genesis “The Mayor” Torres, art major and the founder of IMPACT Club, cited issues like the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting shift toward online learning as some of the reasons for the division that he saw in Sac State’s art communities. 

A single-layer linocut to be featured at the exhibit titled “Lifeline,” by Elizabeth Kellogg, sent on Oct. 15, 2021. Kellogg is one of many Sac State students set to be featured at the show on Oct. 25. Image courtesy of Elizabeth Kellogg.

 “It just seemed like there was this separation between us that I just really felt should be invisible,” Torres said, “So I wanted to reconnect our art community.”

IMPACT Club intends to mend that separation, in the hopes that students and community members from all disciplines would be able to come together under one common goal, and pursue their own personal ideas. 

According to Torres, the club encourages people to be creative in their own endeavors, whether in art, writing, media or print.

“When you have a group of people coming with the same intentions and the same point of wanting to grow, I think that’s what really makes our club solid,” Torres said.

With “Organic Flux,” the latest exhibit curated by Torres,  IMPACT Club hopes to “Capture the many textures that organic substances create within their environment,” according to the University Union webpage.

The webpage states that the show is intended to be interdisciplinary, in other words, to break down the divisions between artistic mediums by allowing multimedia art from any and all sources, whether they are involved in the art community or not. 

To art major and IMPACT Club member Sarai Bustos, the concept of “organic flux” represents the idea that nothing is ever the same forever, and so many parts of nature are uncertain. 

“It could be forward, it could be backward, it can move on its own terms, and there’s no exact grounding to what the image can be,” Bustos said. “‘Organic’ is very natural and ‘flux’ is just this constant change of movement.”

Many art students, like Torres, Bustos, and IMPACT club President Ember de Boer, were unsure about their own future at Sac State prior to its reopening, as they had not been able to involve themselves with the art community that many of them had grown to love.

“We felt like the school had turned their backs on us a little bit,” de Boer said. “…there’s an emotional attachment to having access to this building and being able to make your work. It feels personal when they tell you you can’t. We just felt like we needed to do something.”

De Boer spoke about her own uncertainty when it came to her future as an artist during the campus lockdown, and said that the concept of “flux” was the basis of humanity’s requirement to adapt to a constantly changing world.

“I think ‘Flux’ really speaks to the constant state of transition we’ve had to adapt to during the pandemic,” De Boer said.  “I think that ‘Flux’ is a very hot button word for how it feels to just constantly be in a world that feels uncertain, everything from the economy, to the environment, to your everyday life with your mask.”

“Organic Flux” will feature pieces from local artists, such as Zoe Nelson, Elizabeth Kellogg, and several other members of IMPACT club. The exhibit will be open in the University Union Gallery until  Nov. 4.