Biochemistry and Economics majors don't usually have the opportunity to put their creativity to work. But on Saturday, the Penn Art Club provided these students and many more with all of the supplies needed to transform Harrison College House into an exhibit of Rembrandts and Renoirs.
Portrait of Penn - the first-ever noon-to-midnight art-in - allowed more than 70 students to work with mediums ranging from pastel to pencil and charcoal to collage material. Their creations were just as varied, featuring paintings of Locust Walk in the winter to a bottle of Absolut Vodka. By the end of the night, dozens of works lined the walls of the upper lobby, including several self- and partner-portraits.
Portrait of Penn was organized by the Penn Art Club and sponsored by the Spiegel Fund and Harrison College House.
"Supplies can be expensive or hard to get, so it was nice that they had a lot of options for everyone," said College freshman Hilary Gerstein, who made a multicolored bowl out of recycled fliers.
The work will be displayed in Harrison for the rest of the semester, after which it will be returned to the artists.
"A lot of people need this art therapy," said College junior and Arts Events chairwoman Ingrid Lindquist. "Everybody that you talked to was just beaming," she said.
College senior Anna Turetsky, president of the Penn Art Club and a Biochemistry major, added, "Most art majors are doing so much art all the time that they don't need the extra opportunity to do it. This [was] a chance for all the closet artists at Penn to express themselves."
She noted that this is one of several projects the Penn Art Club has undertaken this semester. Tonight at 7 p.m. they will host Philadelphia mosaic muralist Isaiah Zagar.
They are also embarking on an installation project called "Squirrels on Locust," in which larger-than-life squirrel statues will be placed along Locust Walk, much like those of animals displayed in other major U.S. cities.
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