Art activity tackles the tough times

On Saturday, Dec. 1, an event called "Paint Your Heart Out" was held in the KnightSpot during which students were given the opportunity to paint on wooden boards or on paper, while listening to two live bands and enjoying hot chocolate.

"I had an internship with the College Union in the activity section," said sophomore Jenny Whittaker, who created the event. "We had to come up with a final project, and a professor I know had seen this done at another school while going on college visits with his son, and I thought it would be a good idea to have here.

Whitaker said she's also interested in music and art and wanted to combine the two.

The event was a success and had a much bigger turnout than was expected.

"I had gotten 60 wooden boards to paint on and they went in minutes," Whittaker said. "I'm really happy with the turnout."

"I wish there were more wooden boards," sophomore Christopher Caruana said. "I got here pretty early and by the time I had gotten here they were all gone."

Paint your heart out was something new and different to do on the weekend and was very relaxing this close to finals.

"This was definitely a stress relief," Caruana said. "It's nice to just be able to hang out and paint instead of worrying about studying for finals."

"I saw a sign for this in the Union and it sounded like a lot of fun," said sophomore Amy Cavanaugh. "I never have the chance to do anything creative and this was a chance to get to do something fun."

It seemed that this event was well placed as many of the students did not frequent the KnightSpot and this gave them a reason to go to it. Many students had only been to the KnightSpot once or twice before.

"I wanted to do this at the Knight Spot because I wanted this place to have a coffee shop feel." Whittaker stated. "While the Union is a great place to have Late Knight events, it's a very big space and I wanted this event to feel a lot smaller and cozier.

Whittaker said she wanted a mellow, low-key feel with music and art. In addition to making individual pictures, two wooden boards were set out and available for everyone to paint on.

"The murals might get hung up in the union if they get fully covered in pictures," Whittaker said.