By: Dayna Wilmoth
10/10/2007

“Cool and collected” might aptly describe Grace Langness, a junior at Friends University. Her calm belies the fact that she is a busy full-time student involved in a number of campus organizations, including the Singing Quakers, Campus Ministries and Campus Life as a resident assistant. She also serves as the president of the Art and Design Society.

The Art and Design Society was started just last year with Adam Achey, now a graduate of Friends, at the helm. Langness said that he is the one who really got the ball rolling.

“I’m pretty much just picking up where he left off,” she said.

The Art and Design Society has the largest Student Government Association budget of all the campus clubs and organizations. It started out with almost twice as much as any other club, but has since been cut closer to what the other clubs and organizations receive. “He (Achey) did really well with the budget request,” Langness said.
 
She is modest about her own involvement, but as the current president, she is leading the club in its growth and visibility. Art and Design Society projects and events have been popping up all over campus throughout the semester.

On Saturday, Oct. 6, members of the club painted plain wooden toys from the Sunflower Workers Guild. The toys will be on display at CityArts this December, after which they will be distributed to needy children by the Salvation Army.

Langness said the club is flexible about activities. Club members get together the last Friday of every month for a meeting, and then they head out for Final Friday in support of local and area artists. Last month, Friends’ student Nicholas Carvalho had a solo show on Final Friday. “That was a big deal,” Langness said.

Besides supporting local art, Langness is hoping that next semester the club will be able to take two weekend trips, possibly one to Kansas City and another to Tulsa or Dallas. Langness added that many members are hoping to take an international trip next year. “Fingers crossed!” she said excitedly.

She also noted that the upcoming spring Washington, D.C., trip will be of special interest to art majors, because this year the focus will be on art in politics and history. The club might even have a fundraiser to help students cut down on the cost of the trip.

Although Langness is majoring in studio art with an emphasis in art history, when she first started she was not really sure if that was what she wanted to do. She came from an artistic family and her father was an art teacher for a while, but until college she was more involved in music, specifically vocal. When choosing a major, however, “I decided I really enjoyed art,” she said.

She chose art as a “‘trial’ major” and enjoyed it so much that she has continued on with it. When asked what she wanted to do with her degree after she graduates, she tipped her head to the side as if in thought and said, “That’s a really good question!” She might enjoy working at an art center or maybe teaching at the college level. “Mostly I want to work in some way that combines art and ministry,” she said.

For now Langness is focusing on her work on campus, and she has been happy with her experiences. What she likes about Friends is that, “Even though the art department is small, and kind of limited in that way, they will work with you and let you do pretty much anything you want.”

Because of the smaller setting, professors are more willing and able to work with students to create a program tailored to what they want to study, “even if it is not technically in the book,” she said. Her own emphasis in art history is an example.

As for her work with the Art and Design Society, that will probably keep her busy for a while. She mentioned that she is always open to new ideas, and she is interested in what things people have in mind for the club to do.

Langness added that while the club is a great place for art majors to get to know and support one another, it is not just for them. The club will appeal to anyone that enjoys art, and it is open to all majors.

“We love everyone; that’s our motto,” she said.