UF art show moves to new location

A UF pop-up art shop is coming back for its second year, but in a new location.

Last year, the Fridge Pop-Up Shop was located in a gallery space in Thornebrook Village Shopping Center in Gainesville. This year, it will be held on campus at the Mint Design Studio in Infinity Hall. The shop is open today and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The shop features artwork made by UF students, faculty and alumni. Ashley Fuchs, the Mint Workshop coordinator, said the theme is an homage to the tradition of hanging the best work on the refrigerator with pride, also known as being “fridge-worthy.”

“We’re trying to build this into a cultural thing where every year, people know it’s going to happen,” Fuchs said. “So then they’re excited about submitting and wanting to sell.”

Fuchs said the price of each piece is up to the artist. Forty percent of the proceeds will go to the Mint Studio to fund the pop-up shop next year. Students are encouraged to think about the percentage cut when pricing their works, which can lead to higher prices, she said.

The most expensive piece sold last year was a painting for $2,000 and the least expensive was a packet of postcards for $3.

Marissa Volk, a UF graphic design masters student and the graduate assistant for Mint Studio, said she and Fuchs helped put the shop together after the idea was brought up by a colleague.

“People are always creating, but there’s no unified outlet to sell those works,” Volk said.

Last year, more than 100 people stopped at the shop and most of the artwork was sold by the last day, Volk said.

There were more than 30 submissions last year. Volk said they didn’t expect that many submissions and had to keep art pieces in the back room due to lack of space. If a piece was too big to fit inside the shop, a picture was provided to show buyers. When someone expressed interest, they were allowed to go see the piece in person and purchase it from there.

Volk said this year there were more than 60 submissions from people who hope to gain exposure. Volk hopes in a few semesters, they will be able to obtain their goal of establishing a permanent shop.

“The original goal was to always have a place where work could be sold, but I think we need a few more semesters to work out a few kinks,” she said.