Rebecca Kiss/Assistant Photo Editor Erin Sausville, a senior double-majoring in environmental studies and biology, and Maya Wechsler, a senior majoring in art, hash out Wechsler's photography, on display at "Fine art @ INK." The event was held at the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator as part of December's First Friday in Downtown Binghamton.

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The Koffman Southern Tier Incubator showed First Friday participants that the artistic process is quite similar to the entrepreneurial one. Friday dark'south show, "Art @ INK," featured work by student artists, musicians and entrepreneurs.

The incubator, which is dedicated to fostering the growth of new businesses, hosted the upshot in association with Binghamton's First Fri Fine art Walk. The night was co-sponsored by the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Partnerships at Binghamton Academy, Harpur Edge and Broome Community Higher (BCC). The first two floors of the incubator were decorated with art past BU students, while the third floor was reserved for BCC's "Innovation Commemoration."

At the issue, over twenty BU students displayed work of various media, including photography, drawing and painting. Many students took the exhibition opportunity as a chance to promote themselves as artists. Lucy Wong, a sophomore majoring in business assistants, displayed her "#instafamous" collection aslope stickers she was selling for $ane and Cassie Armon, a senior majoring in English, showed a few pieces next to copies of the Free Press, a campus publication for which she is an illustrator.

Taylor Hayes, a senior majoring in art, showed work inspired by a surreal estimation of nature.

"A bulk of them are pieces that I did on my iPad, digitally — I drew them out," Hayes said. "Others are India ink prints of insects that I observed from a dead form or an alive form. I really but dearest insects, in general. I actually similar, sort of, anthropomorphic shapes and humanoid things."

Hayes said she also constitute the upshot to be positive in terms of advertizing.

"I'thousand putting my business concern cards out and a lot of people have picked them upwardly and so, I call up it's really beneficial for people to become their proper noun out in that location for futurity career opportunities and everything," Hayes said. "I feel like, fifty-fifty if you're not showing your stuff, you can also come across other people."

Although the new business incubator has just been open since Apr 4, it has not taken long for the facility to expand its attain into the community with events similar this showcase.

"We accept a variety of different companies in the building and we wanted to expand that to the fine art world. We wanted to give the students a identify to showcase," said Laura Holmes, assistant director of entrepreneurship and innovation partnerships at BU. "Equally much as they have that on campus, the customs doesn't make its way to campus a lot so, we're trying to friction match those two things up."

The incubator looks for companies that can "come in, abound, hire people and move out into the community," Holmes said. In club to foster this, the facility has a series of mentors and a three-phase program for growth. In addition, the incubator creates networking opportunities for students and customs businesses.

"Nosotros have, we call them mixers, in one case a month, where it's but, kind of, a social networking event for business owners to come up in," Holmes said. "This is the first one we've ever done across the art world. I can't imagine nosotros wouldn't do information technology again, it'south such a huge success, but I don't think we'll exercise it every month."

Kathryn Cherny, a fourth-year graduate student studying biology, has used the incubator to help establish her small business. Cherny began the process of creating microBELLA, a cosmetics and "natural AF skin care" company, in January. Cherny brought 2 dissimilar soap prototypes to the Starting time Friday effect and took the time to educate her audition well-nigh her product and fifty-fifty offered gratis samples, using the occasion every bit an opportunity to promote her small business concern.

"I'yard doing natural, prebiotic skincare," Cherny said. "I'm doing a startup, and so this is my kickoff prototype. I'thou trying to create skin care that enhances bacterial growth considering bacterial health, like, yous know, for your gut — the aforementioned sort of situation is on your skin. So, having leaner on your pare, healthy leaner, you tend to accept healthier looking skin and behaving skin."

Cherny said that the incubator has been helpful in securing her lab space and offer her connections with kinesthesia, who have aided her in combining her love of skin intendance and knowledge of bacteria.

"I have lab space where I'll outset to put together and start making my soaps and my lotions," Cherny said. "I'thousand even so kind of in the learning stages. But, I use the resources here to aid put together my pocket-sized business and agreement how you start a business, as well as, the lab spaces, to be able to create these wonderful things."

Kat Catus, a junior majoring in fine art, was 1 of many students and community members in attendance at the outcome. Catus remarked that this type of fine art scene was especially appealing due to its appreciative nature.

"I remember it's extra cool because you actually go a chance to purchase the fine art and run into that and really support them, as opposed to, kind of, nebulous exposure, which is often synonymous with exploitation," Catus said. "I call back events like this really, kind of, showcase the worth of the fine art, as opposed to simply a means to an end."