Sustainable Art Club joins the ranks of student organizations in an effort to preserve Auraria campus as an environmentally conscious and creative landmark. In a city that prioritizes wellness and the arts, this club hopes to take things a step further by sharing non-wasteful ways to create and repurpose materials.  

Club President and third-year Architecture major Drew Duchaquette shared how, “[students] need to get back to the concept of playing as adults.” By engaging in grade school-like art projects, Sustainable Art Club challenges members to gather their own limited and often already used materials. Foraging materials and contributing to community-centered art promotes problem-solving and connects students with their campus and the environment.  

In Spring of 2025, Duchaquette and two other third-year Architecture majors founded the club after realizing that the Architecture department generated an abundance of waste. Although the Sustainable Art Club could receive funding from CU’s student government, Duchaquette reported that they “don’t use it—materials are either donated or collected from around the building.” Material scraps, especially paper, were thrown out of the department’s classrooms and print labs when printing errors made them unusable. The club utilized the autumn leaves—fallen and yellowing—for their art, showing how even those without prior technical experience found community and opportunities for hands-on creativity.  

According to SAC’s Vice President Emma Ainslie, “since Architecture students drink a lot of energy drinks,” there is no shortage of aluminum cans found in the designated recycling bins throughout the building. These cans have been torn apart and repurposed into mini-sculptures and artfully embossed metal canvases featured on their Instagram, @sustainableartclub.  

A few of these workshops have been in partnership with other campus entities. For example, SAC has previously collaborated with the Denver Lynx radio station and the American Institute for Architecture Students (AISA) in celebration of Halloween with a costume craft table.  

Another event the club hosted, drawing mandalas on an extra-large canvas reenvisioned paper as grounds for building friendships and engaging in intercultural communication. Club leadership hopes to reuse this collaborative piece for personalized club flyers, so keep an eye out for their announcements next semester.  

Through more collaborations in the future, the club’s leadership hopes to gain new members with all artistic backgrounds and interests. They also hope to expand the club’s workshops into different mediums so participants can work with organic materials or cloth. 

Treasurer Jaida Bokal commented on the club meetings and enjoyed seeing how, when students collaborate, “individual art styles become apparent.” Both Bokal and Ainslie revealed how many of the club’s members reminisced during activities about similar arts and crafts from their childhoods. These hands-on exercises “heal their inner child,” Ainslie shared, saying club members recalled simpler times when success and parental pride came from macaroni art and hand-shaped turkeys. 

Members of SAC achieve multi-dimensional wellness by engaging with the natural and academic world by exploring sustainable and artistic hobbies. While meetings vary on club leadership availability, SAC meets twice a month, usually in the evenings from 5:30 PM to 7 PM in the Architecture building. The club will not be meeting until next semester; leadership wishes students good luck during the midterms.