Art is both a means of expression and a business for Seyi Oluwaleimu.
“I’ve been drawing for my whole life, but I never really took it seriously,” the 19-year-old UF computer science sophomore said.
On Friday, Oluwaleimu worked to cut and pass out about 700 free UF-themed laptop stickers from his table at the UF Pop-Up Culture event, held Friday on the Plaza of the Americas. He made the stickers to promote his business that he launched from his dorm room in January.
About 50 vendors gathered for the event, which brought in about 1,000 students throughout the day, said Holly Franklin, the marketing manager for UF College of the Arts.
The event was organized to celebrate National Arts and Humanities Month, Franklin said. The monthlong celebration started nationally in 1993, but the UF event was moved to Plaza of the Americas five years ago.
About $5,000 in funding for the event came from the UF Office of the Provost, Franklin said. Various partners provided their own supplies.
“The arts and humanities are how you’re human,” Franklin said. “It connects to science, it connects to health, and it connects to your well-being.”
Other acts such as a bagpipe player and hip-hop dancers performed, Franklin said. Vendors were doing more than just passing out freebies. They hoped students would come up to them and engage with their art.
“It’s about using your brain and going further into thinking about how arts and humanities is connected to everything,” Franklin said.
Khairun Akther, an 18-year-old UF biology freshman, said she attended the Pop-Up Culture event to engage with different types of expression that art can provide.
“I think with art it just expresses more emotions than speaking,” Akther said. “I feel like art just helps people tell their story.”
Contact Gillian Sweeney at gsweeney@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @gilliangsweeney
Daniela Ordonez, an 18-year-old freshman UF political science major, paints on the “Diversity” mural started by the UF Center for Arts and Medicine. The mural was created to showcase the diversity at UF by allowing any student to add to it and put their own spin on the painting.
