By Michael Purtell
Campus can always use more color, and there is no better group to bring it to life than the Plattsburgh Association of the Visual Arts.
PAVA hosted one of many mural nights in the Career Development Center, where the club members congregated to paint on a newly built blank wall Wednesday, March 27.
“I walked in and I was like, ‘Your wall is looking a little bland,’” Andreas-Jonathan Shuler, president of PAVA said.
The wall bore a simple sketch prior to the meeting, outlining the club’s idea before committing the more permanent paint to the canvas. The piece read “Explore your possibilities,” a fitting message for the Career Development Center.
The room quickly became a nest of Plattsburgh’s student artists. As the group prepared to paint, the room grew covered in old jars of paint which PAVA members were clawing open, despite the fight put up by the dried paint that sealed the jars.
A table was set up, covered in a tarp and used as a color-mixing station. Plastic cups covered the surface as painters mixed pigments in the pong-like setup.
The goal of the project was simple, said Shuler.
“We just have a good time making art.”
The mural-painting sessions have helped PAVA carve out an identity on campus. The club was one of the longest tenured student organizations on campus, but recent history has led to the club folding and needing revitalization, Shuler said.
PAVA returned to Plattsburgh after the COVID-19 pandemic had caused the club to stop meeting, and ever since the club has grown, thanks to the efforts of the current members.
Plattsburgh student Max Alexander is one of the recent additions to the club, and said the mission of the club has helped its comeback.
“We want to get more students involved with the arts here at Plattsburgh,” Alexander wrote in a text. “This includes giving students the chance to create art, meet new people, talk with professors of the art programs to review existing work and help students realize that art is for everyone and anybody can enjoy it.”
The organization of the Mural Night helps convey the accessibility of art, as club members block out the colors clearly so that anyone — art experience or no — can show up and participate in the creation of the public piece.
“We like to get everyone comfortable, provide food and drinks, have fun conversations and have a chance to make new friends,” Alexander said. “It’s really low-key and super fun.”
PAVA created several murals on campus last year, and the one done in the Career Development Center is just the latest in what has become a series done by the club.
The club has hosted a plethora of events in recent history, and will look to continue creating an environment for all students to participate in the visual arts.
“Minus campus beneficial events, we’ve gotten students the chance to get their art critiqued, paint-n-sips and large collaborative paintings too,” Alexander wrote. “One of my favorite things we’ve done was work on a three canvas spread painting for the counseling center.”
The club meets on the first and third Thursday of every month, and is open to all students.
