By MALEAH GRIFFIN
Tiger Media Network
Palette Society will be set up in the Memorial Union from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, selling caricatures and hand-painted Valentine’s Day cards. The sale is essential to their fundraising effort, and each purchase at the event will greatly support this new club.
“We’re a brand new club, so we didn’t get any allocations. All of the money we have managed to raise has been by ourselves,” said Club President Ava Williams.
Palette Society was established last semester when Diana Unrein, this year’s emergency-hire Painting Professor, saw an opportunity to start something specifically for fine art students. Since the start-up up she’s strived to cultivate student involvement and culture within the club.
“Diana [recognized] all these other groups have clubs, but there is no painting club,” Williams said.
Since then, Unrein, Williams, and Club Vice President Maddy Bourne have worked hard to come up with ideas for events, fundraise to take trips, experience art, and bring in outside artists, growing the club into what it is today.
“Diana has been fantastic and very involved,” Williams said. “Together we’ve built this club from the ground up and plan to continue it for next year in hopes that whoever is brought in as our next Painting Professor is willing to work with us.”
In preparation for their sales event, the club met to practice caricature drawing and create hand-painted cards. They enjoyed pizza and Valentine’s treats to kick off the evening of hard work and fun.
Mary Greenwood, an Art and Design Student, led the group through a workshop to sharpen their drawing skills in caricature.
“There is a spectrum of caricature art from super simplified to hyper realistic,” Greenwood said. “My style is kind of a mixture, which is what I trained everyone to do because it’s the perfect middle ground for selling.”
Greenwood started learning caricatures after a lesson in Digital Illustration and has always loved drawing portraits. She’s enjoyed looking on Pinterest and online and having fun developing her skills in this art style. She led the students through examining eye and nose shapes, sizing facial features, and hair styles to capture a fun, well-executed drawing style, producing finished caricatures of their subjects.
“Our members have been doing great during our workshop today and I’m super excited for everyone to come get a caricature on Thursday,” Greenwood said.
This event is an opportunity for couples, groups of friends, or individuals to get a unique keepsake for this Valentine’s Day, or pick up thoughtfully made cards to give to their loved ones. Palette Society can’t wait to share their art with anyone who stops by while raising funds to keep the club going and open up exciting opportunities.