A couple weeks ago, PSU hosted a Paint-off! I just got around to extracting the pictures I got from the event. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stick around till the end, but I did make it to the end of the third quarter.
I arrived before the event officially started, and was treated to some dancing mascots in costume and some Rock'em Sock'em Robot fun. The teams were in their corners getting ready to go, all looking like they were already having fun. The schools involved were PSU, PCC, and OCAC; each were in their own colors and hand-modified uniform shirts.The American national anthem on electric guitar was played over the loud speakers, taking a good three minutes to finish up. Then, the painting began.
I started on the PSU side. The students dove right in in a group, laying down the base layer of paint. There was a real team effort going the entire time. The team had a number of items on hand already to make the painting process as quick and efficient as possible. Spray paint and added sculptural elements set PSU's work apart from the other two schools. Overall, the work appeared to really capture the various styles of each of the students, rather than make them uniform. The piece took on a mural-like quality because of this choice.
OCAC felt the most promising on my first pass. The colors they were laying down were bold, bright, and abstract. It really left me wondering what they were going to do as the event went on. However, I noticed that they were going about the event very differently than the other teams. Rather than tackle the event in a group, rushing the canvas with every hand that could fit, they were going up in small groups of thee or four at a time, working separately. Over the course of the event, I could feel the work lose its promise, with all the work at one point being completely covered up with a brown-gray coating. By the time I had to leave, the work was rather uninteresting. The colors left something to be desired, the students were still working rather separately from each other and the work just felt too much like a still-life.
Before I even rotated to PCC, my impression of the work they were doing was already tarnished. I peaked over the PSU area to see them pasting a ready-made painting onto the canvas. A number of people were booing their choice of under painting. However, by the second quarter they were painting. And not just a couple people, the entire group of students were up at the canvas. It was very difficult to take pictures of the progress because there were so many students painting at the exact same time. The under painting was almost completely covered in the process, and took on a very mural-like look. Of the three schools, PCC definitely felt like it had made the most progress in creating the work.Overall, it was fascinating to watch three different teams working to create three separate paintings by working together. Whether it was unifying a style, working with the separate styles of each student, or simply attacking the canvas with everything the team had, it was an amazing thing to watch. I didn't get to find out who "won" and who "lost", but it felt like it was a huge learning experience for each of the people involved, including the audience. In that, everyone came away with something.
