They're on campus, and they're growing in number. Clever, creative, anonymous students who try to subvert ennui and indolence by infiltrating the University to present a different view of the world. Who are they, who walk among us, possessing another, more aesthetic agenda?

Now, look at the photo below. You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure this one out. They're artists ... visual artists. And this is their story.

The Penn seniors in the picture are members of The Artist Guild, an undergraduate organization dedicated to increasing art awareness, creating a social and intellectual forum for artists, promoting and supporting student artists, and providing information about arts and cultural events on campus.

"When I was a freshman, I wanted to get involved with a visual-arts group," said senior Rori Duboff, president of the guild. "I have painted and been involved with the fine arts all my life. Although I did not choose to go to an art school, I was under the impression that a school as large as Penn should have some sort of fine-arts population. Much to my disappointment, there was a lack of an artistic community. There were many performing-arts groups, but none for the visual arts."

Ms. Duboff decided to do something about it during her second semester. She went to the Office of Student Life Activities and found out that another freshman, Salman Sajid, had just started a group with two roommates. Over the next three years, Ms. Duboff and a core group of students--Bryanna Millis, David Magid, Karey Kessler and Adam Matta--assumed leadership roles and invigorated the organization, which now numbers 80 members.

Because the current leadership of the guild is composed of seniors, there had been some concern about finding members who would be willing to assume these positions. But the guild's future seems bright. Ms. Duboff said a few days ago that new officers were just elected and that they are full of enthusiasm and energy. They are Diana Falchuk, president; Javier Villar, vice president; Abigail Feldman, curator; Carolyn Strom, manager; Karina Sliwinski, design and publicity; Rachel Kreps-Falk, treasurer; and Lesley Finn, secretary.

And that means more and more artists will be out in the open on campus. Already on their canvas are plans for a home page for the guild, a female art project, an "art week," and numerous collaborative projects and public sculptural pieces.

Then again, the guild has always managed to keep busy: monthly meetings, three major exhibitions this academic year, a Halloween Masquerade Costume Extravaganza, organized First Friday gallery visits to Old City, and invitations to Members Previews of Institute of Contemporary Art exhibitions. On Dec. 1, Day Without Art/World Aids Day, The Artist Guild had a table in front of Claes Oldenberg's "Split Button" sculpture to help form the group that walked to the ICA, then traveled to John F. Kennedy Plaza for the rally. And then there was the winter show, "Giving Birth to Art," which clearly demonstrated the guild's dedication to the creative process, as is evident from artist statements that accompanied the displays.