Taking action to support Ukraine

Printmaking students are designing and selling shirts and posters to raise funds for vulnerable Ukrainians.

By Stephen Wilson

Around a large table in the Experimental Printmaking Institute (EPI), students are a hive of activity.

Several are sketching out ideas on paper. Some are designing a flyer. Others are planning an event. A few have just stepped away to prep screens.

The focus comes from their shared desire to support Ukraine.

Following the invasion, students, faculty, and staff have rallied to support the country.

Printmaking students sought to help. Pedro Barbeito, assistant professor of art and director of EPI, discussed how they could use the tools in the studio to raise funds. The students readily agreed.

They each created a design that they each will print on a T-shirt. One design, though, will be selected and sold across campus as a limited edition. Another design will be printed on a poster.

“The students care about art and activism,” says Barbeito. “Printmaking, both historically and presently, is a way to help blend those two passions.”

Blue and yellow paints sit on the table alongside sketches of peace symbols and doves. Some sketches are being traced onto plastic, which will help form the screen for printing. The marketing team is throwing around words like handmade, cool, wearable, cause. They have already booked a table for Farinon, drafted a PSA for WJRH radio station, and started to price out shirts, posters, and combo packs.

While the art students are busy, Olena Ogrokhina, associate professor of economics, who is of Ukrainian descent, has placed green bins in lobbies and lounge areas in several academic buildings as well as the campus center to collect needed medical items. 

Two Ukrainian organizations, MEEST and Dnipro, will receive those supplies in Poland, load them on trucks, and deliver them inside Ukraine to assist injured soldiers and civilians.

Ogrokhina also has set up donations to the Kyiv School of Economics, which, in cooperation with the Ukrainian government, continues to supply territorial defense forces with much-needed first-aid kits and body armor. 

Finally, Deanna Hanchuk ’22 is leading student organizers in the Russian and East European Studies program (REES) with support from Josh Sanborn, David M. ’70 and Linda Roth Professor of History and chair of REES. They launched a fundraising campaign over social media with donations going directly to Razom, working with Student Government to ensure that students who are more apt to use Venmo can participate as well. So a second wave of fundraising will leverage Venmo with donations then moved to Razom.

Art students have worked with Hanchuk to ensure that Lafayette’s support is unified and makes an impact when the people of Ukraine need it the most.