Art Club Recruitment at Scarsdale High School

What does Vincent van Gogh have to do with selling tote bags to a barbershop in Scarsdale? More than you'd think.

In April 2026, Initially Shop founder Entong Deng visited Scarsdale High School's Art Club to recruit student artists — opening not with a sales pitch, but with a question: Van Gogh is widely considered one of history's greatest artists. But he wasn't recognized while he was alive. Why?

The room offered the usual answers — he was ahead of his time, too eccentric, mentally unwell. Entong's take was simpler: he had no way to advertise himself. Great art, invisible to the world. The lesson isn't that Van Gogh failed. It's that art skill alone doesn't get your work seen — or sold.

From art room to real products

Initially Shop exists to close that gap. The model is straightforward: student artists submit their work and a short introduction, and Initially Shop places their designs on commercial products — gift bags, notebooks, greeting cards, gift boxes — sold to local businesses. Restaurants, salons, barbershops, and workplaces all buy branded gifts for their customers. Initially Shop connects them with young designers whose work is far more distinctive than anything generic on the market.

The pitch to the Art Club was direct: zero cost to join. No Shopify fees, no advertising spend, no upfront investment of any kind. If Initially Shop sells your work, you earn a commission. If nothing sells, you have lost nothing — but you have still built a professional portfolio listing and gained real-world sales exposure.

Quantifiable results — the part colleges care about

Entong spent time on an angle that landed visibly with the room: college applications. "I sold 2,000 gift bags to a local business and improved their sales" is a different kind of resume line than "I enjoy painting." It is a quantifiable result — something admissions readers can hold onto. For students applying in the coming year, that specificity matters.

The program is not theoretical. Entong has worked with more than ten artists through this model, sold designs to more than twenty local shops, and generated a few thousand dollars in combined earnings. One collaboration — a large-format artwork sold to a workplace — brought in over $1,000 for a single piece. The program started with her own sister as the first participant.

What joining looks like

Sign-up takes about a minute: name, contact info, and a brief introduction. Initially Shop builds a free profile page for each artist and handles outreach to local businesses. When a business places an order using a student's design, the artist earns a commission — no chasing clients, no invoicing, no platform fees.

Several Art Club students signed up at the end of the session. Their work will be considered for the next product collection.