The Solstice club is creating their annual magazine featuring students’ art and literacy pieces, portraying and showcasing talent. Solstice is a club for all students who are interested in different types of art and have different backgrounds in it.
“We teach all of the graphic design skills needed to participate in the club and go over how to review art and lit works,” said Toral Bhatt, senior. “It is also really nice for students to be able to see their work in print and show off their skills and talents with their peers.”
Solstice has been going on since the 1940’s under different names such as ‘sequence’ and ‘image’ and is mainly student ran.
“Solstice is a graphic design club that creates a yearly magazine,” Bhatt said. “We showcase student art and literary works that are submitted to us and are reviewed by the club.”
The magazine is designed based on a yearly theme, but the student works are independent of the theme. This year’s theme is porcelain, and last year’s theme was perception.
Students submit a google form choosing whether they would like to submit art pieces or a literary piece.
“I love how pieces are submitted to the solstice and the whole concept of showcasing your work,” said Phoebe Teoli, senior. “They can share their stories through visual arts and writing.”
After the deadline, the Solstice club anonymously chooses pieces which they would like to add in this year’s magazine. This helps with preventing bias choices within students.
“Everything is anonymous, so no one in the club knows if someone submitted something, unless they recognize it, in which case they are instructed to not participate in the discussion of that work,” Bhatt said.
For art, the club looks at purpose, skill/technique, composition, cohesiveness, feeling/mood, and whether or not it is cliche. For literary works they look at the purpose, writing style and skill.
“I have club members fill out a Google Form with those categories and also a simple yes/no/maybe question so that I have all the data on which works we decide to keep,” Bhatt said. “I also love to see all of the amazing creativity other students have and admire their work.”
Many people enjoy solstice because of the opportunity to be able to publish your hard work and be recognized throughout school for your artwork. The club maintains a healthy and peaceful environment for everyone.
“Solstice is great because it provides avenues to celebrate student writing and artistic works,” said Angelique Burell, the head of the solstice club.
The deadline to submit pieces to solstice is Jan. 6, 2025. To submit your artwork, click here.
