Paint By Number

*You will, you just might not know it yet.

Inspiration

Gee, wouldn't it be cool to have an Olympic event which would produce an aesthetically pleasing artistic product that we could hang in the lab?

This event takes its inspiration from just that very idea. I will provide you with an artistic outlet, you will provide the lab artwork. It's that simple. And it's fun too.

How it works

While the prospect of exploring the artist within you may seem intriguing, not everyone would know what to do with complete artistic freedom. Therefore, in this event I have narrowed the field slightly to make it highly likely that, working together, each team will indeed produce a product worth displaying.

In short, each team will be responsible for interpreting and reproducing one of four famous paintings (assigned to each team at random at the Trivial Pursuit game), perhaps one of the three pictured above... perhaps not.

On Monday at 2PM each team will receive a postcard-sized print of its painting. The catch is that the postcard-sized prints of the paintings will have been divided into many smaller rectangles. Each team member, therefore, will receive only a tiny section of her team's painting. Her job will be to reproduce her rectangle as accurately as possible on a larger sheet of paper, using her own (or her team's) personal style, such that when the rectangles are reassembled the resulting image is a creative, but recognizable, interpretation of the original.

Scoring

All points will be totalled, and teams will be ranked and awarded Olympic points based on final standings.

Judging

Evaluators will be asked to score each painting (1-10) in the following categories:

• Recognizability: How easy is it to tell which original this team was painting from. Note:To score points in this category the painting does not have to be in the same style as the original, but it should maintain the same image. That is, all of the major elements in the original should appear in the same location in the replica.
• Consistency of style: Does the team seem to follow one consistent style throughout the painting?
• Fluidity of objects: How well do the individual rectangles match up at the edges?
• Originality: How creative is the interpretation of the original?

Teams will be awarded the sum of the averages of each of the categories. (i.e. A perfect evaluation by all evaluators scores 40 points).

Participation

As usual, the most important aspect of this event will be participation. Teams will receive 3 points for each artist who completes a rectangle of the painting. As you can see, this event is heavily weighted towards participation, since art is supposed to be subjective anyway.

The Declaration of Independence, by John Trumbull

Details

• Participants may paint anytime between 2PM and 5PM on Monday. Painting one rectangle normally takes between 15 minutes and 1 hour, depending on how much detail you put into it.
• Only one artist may paint each rectangle.
• Artists may not directly compare finished rectangles to a rectangle in progress. That is, once a region is completed it may not be returned to the painting area, and regions which are not complete may not leave the painting area.
• Artists must paint based only on the small rectangle they are given at the beginning of their painting session.
• Artists may paint more than one rectangle, and may need to if there are more rectangles than participants. However, make sure everyone who wants to paint gets a rectangle.
• Artists may use only the materials provided at the event (paint, pencils, paper)
• Paint may not leave designated areas.

Trivia

• The name for this event comes from the fact that the rectangles are numbered prior to separation, as are the sheets of paper associated with each rectangle for easy assembly after the painting is finished.
• I encountered this activity at a concert festival called Bumbershoot in Seattle, WA. By the way, do you know what a bumbershoot is?