Face painting and table tennis were among the many activities offered at the Bash. | Justin Cross/ The Cougar
Under clear, starry skies and perfect Texas weather, the Blaffer Art Museum Student Association held their signature Red Block Bash on Thursday.
The bash is held once every semester. It celebrates the arts at UH and helps attract traffic to the museum on campus.
“It’s a way to celebrate students’ artistic talents,” said Katherine Veneman, Blaffer’s curator of education, who also acts as an adviser to the association. “It’s great that we can get the UH Dance Ensemble, visual artists and literary artists all involved.”
BAMSA was founded in January 2005 with a mission to increase student participation in the museum community. Since then, the association has achieved beyond the museum’s initial mission of “(generating) and (establishing) résumé and CV-worthy events, opportunities and experiences for not only UH art students, but everyone in the arts community.”
There was a diverse array of booths set up this year. Organizations like the Horticulture Society at UH, the student-run Uncommon Colors, the online magazine Her Campus and The Comics Club all participated in making the event a success.
BAMSA officer Marissa Gonzalez, an English creative writing and studio arts senior, helped organize the event with painting and biology senior Leah Bydalek.
“We were thinking, ‘How far should we reach out?’” Bydalek said. “We were trying to reach out to the humanities, not just the arts.”
The Inprint Poetry Buskers, a group of local writers, graduate students, and alumni from the creative writing program, took requests for poems and typed them up on typewriters for guests.
“When I came in I had Glass Mountain in mind,” Gonzalez, who is also an editor for the literary journal, said. “With Glass Mountain, I wanted to pull in more arts and here I wanted to pull in more writing.”
The UH Dance Ensemble performed in the museum to music played by members of Uncommon Colors.
Activities such as face painting, speed sketching and allowing people to create their own Rothko impressions took place throughout the night.
Free tours of the Blaffer Art Museum were also offered throughout the event. The buzzing crowd munched on pizza, fruit, ice cream and cupcakes as they went around discovering and participating.
The officers all believed the event was a success.
“It’s kind of hard getting the word out about this bash because not many people are aware of Blaffer or BAMSA,” Bydalek said. “I think we were able to attract a lot of people and I think that is due in part because of the organizations.”
