{"id":9432,"date":"2015-03-31T18:49:44","date_gmt":"2015-03-31T18:49:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/?p=9432"},"modified":"2015-03-31T18:49:44","modified_gmt":"2015-03-31T18:49:44","slug":"party-arty-at-paint-nite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/?p=9432","title":{"rendered":"Party arty at Paint Nite"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s preface by saying this isn\u2019t a kindergarten art class. In front of each student is a blank canvas, paintbrushes and plastic plates that double as palettes. Red Solo cups are filled to the brim with a poison you don\u2019t want to mistake as your drink:\u00a0paint water. Flashes of light signal \u201cbefore\u201d selfies (showing\u00a0empty canvases). It\u2019s 7:00 p.m. and someone shouts, \u201cCheers.\u201d Participants clink their brushes together and \u201cwoo\u201d in excitement as they look wide-eyed to the front of the room. Julie Cote introduces herself as a social painting instructor and, in a high pitch that conveys only enthusiasm,\u00a0says, \u201cWelcome to Paint Nite!\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a Thursday night at Mambo Nuevo Latino restaurant in the ByWard Market. Cote stands in a lime green smock which is uniformly worn by the sold-out crowd\u2014in this case,\u00a036 participants who fill over two-thirds of the restaurant.\u00a0 Only three of them are men. And with only three returning painters, anticipation thickens as the whispering dies.<\/p>\n

Mixing painting and alcohol, this pop-up experience is known as \u201csocial painting\u201d and is held in local bars, pubs or restaurants, encouraging the slogan, \u201cDrink creatively.\u201d For each event, a social painting instructor prepares a prototype painting for the lesson, and\u00a0provides necessary art supplies. Tonight Cote points to a painting called Fall Tree Road<\/em>, and explains that in the next two to three hours, each painter will have her or his\u00a0own version to take home.<\/p>\n

\u2018Going from a blank canvas to finished product is amazing, and of course the alcohol helps.\u2019\u00a0 \u2013 <\/span>Ajaz Hussain, CEO of Paint Nite Canada<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tap into your\u00a0inner Gauguin<\/h2>\n

\"Social<\/a>
Social painting instructor Julie Cote guides the group\u2019s next brush strokes\u00a0for Fall Tree Road<\/em>.
[Photo \u00a9 Bethany Rubin]<\/figcaption><\/figure>Although instructors give step-by-step directions on how to replicate the presented painting, Cote encourages her students to colour outside the lines: thus enabling participants to dip\u00a0brushes into their innate creative ability and produce their own unique paintings.<\/p>\n

But the painters don\u2019t just come away with a new piece of art that will either hang on their wall or collect dust in their basement. Cote explains the experience itself can be therapeutic. Still pointing to the Fall Tree Road <\/em>model, she says, \u201cWhen we start painting the leaves on the trees, I need you to channel your anger from your daily life.\u201d The painters will then stab\u2014or dab\u2014the painting, to give a depth to the leaves that would otherwise be missing. Sound complicated? Not only can you choose an event based on the level of difficulty the piece will present, but prior painting experience is not required\u2014even for instructors.<\/p>\n

Erin Reece, a social painting instructor in Toronto, says she never painted before attending a Paint Nite event in November 2013. While painting, Reece says, she fell in love with the experience, calling it relaxing and eye opening, as it revealed a gift she never knew she had. While she works five to six nights\u00a0a week as a social painting instructor, Reece also works part time as a criminal defence law clerk.<\/p>\n

A drinks\u00a0party with vision<\/h2>\n

Paint Nite can\u2019t be brushed\u00a0off as just another fad. According to Paint Nite\u2019s website, the social painting experience is now in 90 U.S. cities and\u00a018 cities internationally\u00a0and hosts approximately 2,500 events each month. This incorporated company was co-founded in March 2012 by Sean McGrail and Dan Hermann, two Bostonians who were inspired after attending a friend\u2019s party where they painted pictures while drinking wine and beer.<\/p>\n

\"Working<\/a>
Two versions of the model painting Birdie Love <\/em>show intriguing\u00a0differences.
[Photo \u00a9 Bethany Rubin]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\u201cGoing from a blank canvas to finished product is amazing, and of course the alcohol helps,\u201d says, with a laugh,\u00a0Ajaz Hussain, CEO of Paint Nite Canada. Hussain\u00a0first learned about Paint Nite\u00a0through Hermann, who was a student of his in\u00a0economics and marketing\u00a0at Babson College in Boston. With\u00a0no prior experience in art, Hussain says he realized this event was especially fun for people who had never painted before, like himself. He brought Paint Nite\u00a0to Canada in 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt brings people together,\u201d\u00a0Hussain says, explaining that it\u00a0provides\u00a0a setting for\u00a0people to bond and have a good time. He says although most people come with friends, the experience also attracts individuals, who share in the powerful group dynamic. \u201cYou\u2019re drinking and doing a creative activity;\u00a0it\u2019s a great way for people to interact.\u201d The\u00a0camaraderie\u00a0and creativity, he says,\u00a0supply an attractive alternative to just going to a bar.<\/p>\n

Social painting instructors are told to create a no-shame zone, which removes the element of negative critique and promotes positive vibes for yourself and your neighbour. Instructor Reece says she wants to impart a stress-free zone,\u00a0to help give the\u00a0painters\u00a0an escape from daily cares.<\/p>\n

Throughout North America, businesses such as Paint Lounge, Paint Social Art and Social Artworking\u2014to name a few\u2014have popped up, mimicking Paint Nite\u2019s social painting experience since it began three years ago. While Paint Lounge\u2019s website mentions that it\u00a0launched\u00a0in 2010, before Paint Nite, it\u00a0is available only in three cities, all in Ontario, and with a mere 3,768 Facebook likes, as compared with\u00a0Paint Nite\u2019s 21,122.\u00a0 When comparing the various companies\u2019 popularity on social media, Paint Nite has yet to be beat. Paint Social Art has 8,163 likes;\u00a0however, it is\u00a0available only in certain\u00a0cities in Connecticut and Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

According to an article by Barbara Quick on the Yahoo Small Business website, social media acts as one contributor that paints Paint Nite as popular. The article says McGrail and Hermann calculate that 35 percent of Paint Nite\u2019s ticket sales are due to people tagging themselves and posting about their experience on social media sites. The participants\u00a0with Cote at Mambo Nuevo Latino admit they\u00a0learnt of Paint Nite predominantly through emails\u00a0from Groupon, a website that\u00a0recommends a \u201cdeal of the day\u201d to customers by providing an electronic coupon for activities in select areas. The site usually offers up to 46 percent off of Paint Nite. This means the cost of your night out would drop\u00a0from\u00a0$50.85 plus\u00a0tax to $27.46\u2014not including your\u00a0cost\u00a0of drinks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Bride-to-be Nicole Shievitz starts and finishes her Birdie Love <\/em>rendition. [Photo \u00a9 Bethany Rubin]<\/figcaption><\/figure>On Nov. 1, 2014, Nicole Shievitz, a medical general practitioner, was surprised by her friends in Toronto with a Paint Nite party to celebrate her bachelorette. Shievitz was always an artistic child but never pursued it further than high school art class. She says she would attend Paint Nite again,\u00a0time allowing, but not necessarily on a weekly basis. Instructor Reece says she has seen several bachelorette parties, and that girls\u2019 night, birthdays and co-workers\u2019 team building are also popular. Reece says there are countless memorable moments, specifically recalling one where a gentleman proposed, via\u00a0canvas, to his date.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 9:36 p.m., and flashes of light betoken\u00a0\u201cafter\u201d selfies\u00a0with freshly signed masterpieces. A woman with a paintbrush in one hand and an almost empty wine glass in the other begins cackling at the sight of her painting: \u201cI don\u2019t know if I needed less wine or more wine!\u201d The other painters respond with laughter, \u201cMore is always better.\u201d\u00a0As Cote takes a group picture to place on Paint Nite\u2019s\u00a0Facebook page the next morning, her assistant cleans up the mess. The fulfilled amateur artists begin to drift out the door\u2014or back to the bar. It may not be karaoke, book club or speed dating, but it\u2019s providing a new alternative to a typical night out.<\/p>\n

[Front page photo \u00a9 Bethany Rubin]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With friends, paint supplies, an instructor, and some liquid courage, Paint Nite proves that making art is fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":9433,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9432"}],"version-history":[{"count":63,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10489,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9432\/revisions\/10489"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}