The Student Activities Board and Artists for a Change hosted a Paint Party on Friday, March 4 to encourage students to bring out their artistic sides. The Paint Party was split up into two different time frames, with the first session being from 7:30-8:30 and the second session from 9:00-10:00.
Gina Geletei, sophomore education student, who is also Festivals chair on the Student Activities Board, planned this entire event. She wanted to provide the campus with a unique event rather than a typical festival they could attend any other day.
“Planning this event was a lot different because I usually work with a variety of vendors per event but for this I only used one company. I also planned this event as a co-sponsorship with Artist’s for Change which is a new club on campus and that was the first time I cosponsored an event which was really exciting and different,” said Geletei.
When the students arrived to Anacon Hall, they were greeted with a “mocktail bar,” a non-alcoholic cocktails bar. The venue was set up as a rectangle with about 25 tables. They were then assigned a place to sit with their canvas, three paint brushes, and a cup of water to rinse the brushes with. Two artists were in charge of instructing the students and guests. The 7:30-8:30 shift painted a scenic portrait with a river, mountains, and flowers. The 9:00-10:00 shift painted a portrait of the New York City skyline. The artists showed the students and guests different techniques on how to paint without being stressed about it being perfect. They also were able to only use five different colors, but blended them together to make different colors and shades.
Monica Cioppettini, junior fine arts students and president of Artists for Change said “It was nice working with another club, especially one with such large recognition. It really opened my eyes to the resources we have on campus and I learned a lot of club organization and delegation.”
Artists for Change is a new club on campus. Cioppettini describes it as “a chance to appreciate and experience the world of art, and to provide a forum to discuss others’ individual ideas and artistic expressions, to provide artists a means to utilize their ability in the real world, and to offer an opportunity for artists to social.”
Students left the event very content, because many of them have not painted portraits like this before.
The paint party was so much fun. I was able to spend time with my friends and sorority sisters. It was exciting because I was guided to paint a scenic portrait, but was also able to be creative with it by the end,” said Melissa Naranjo, a sophomore nursing student.
Lindsay Smith, the Student Activities Board Assistant Advisor said, “The event was great and took a different type of planning since it was an event with limited spaces [for students to sign up]. The students were allowed to create something personalized that reflects their creativity.”
PHOTO COURTESY of Brian Foye
