Trent Elmore. Photo by Michael Farrell
At the end of spring semester RestART returned to OCCC to provide the students, faculty and locals the opportunity to expand their artistic ability.
Josh “Jaiye” Farrell was the artist that was providing the lessons and guiding anyone that was interested.
Ceramics Prof. Jeremy Fineman and Farrell worked together to get the right materials, tools and anything Farrell or anyone else may need. It was an event going on the east side of the campus next to the VPAC.
It is going on OCCC’s campus but there were plenty of locals that showed up and enjoyed their time as well.
One of the locals who showed up is named Holly, a 29 year old local from Oklahoma City. Holly and her mom have gone to shows at the VPAC and now they get emails for events at OCCC.
RestART was one of those events Holly’s mom found out about. She got that email and convinced Holly to show up and see what she can learn. Holly does have some experience with murals.
“I did a wall that was kind of abstract. We wanted more color but didn’t want it to be too dark. So, I added green squiggles, orange triangles,” Holly said.
Holly may have some experience but anyone can show up and earn something. RestART is about learning and something Holy was able to learn was the kind of caps you can put on a spray paint can.
“He told me about the different kinds of caps. Like the softer one and you pull out instead of pushing down so you can have more control,” she said.
Holly was not the only local who was at RestART.
Trent Elmore is another local from Oklahoma City who was taking part in RestART. He heard about this event from his parents who got an email and told him about it. He did have some second thoughts about it though. He didn’t show the first because he was unsure of what to expect. But his sister was able to convince him to come out.
Trent is someone who came to RestART with zero mural and spray paint experience. But the point of the event is to teach so he was in the right place. But he does have some experience with drawing when he was a kid.
When asked what he has learned Trent said, “Switch tips, because different tips will affect the paint differently.”
Trent enjoyed his time so much at the RestART event that he said he would look for other similar events.
There is another important aspect of RestART is to provide a chance to unwind in a relaxing environment. All while providing an opportunity to learn something art related as well.
“A large grant was given to us for the stress relieving activities,” Fineman said.
The Martin Family Foundation has been the group that has been providing OCCC with grants to make these events.
According to the Martin Family Foundation website (Martin Family Foundation) they support causes related to education, environment, animal conservation, physical and mental health.
The RestART program and all the people behind have been able to provide a pastime that many locals (and students) have been enjoying for years now.
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