The La Pittura Art and Art History Club sent students into Halloween weekend in style with their “Learn To Face Paint!” event on Friday, Oct. 29. The event welcomed attendees over Zoom for a virtual demonstration of simple face painting techniques to spruce up costumes this year.

The demonstrations were led by Coral Sifre, president of La Pittura and a professional face painter. Sifre alternated between her professional tools and those purchased directly from a Halloween store, proving that with the right techniques you can exceed all expectations for what is possible with the latter.

“[The affordable face paints] are water activated, so you just spray the color and [mix with] a brush, and you can activate it and do details,” Sifre said during the demonstration, additionally utilizing affordable makeup wedges and teardrop-shaped sponges to blend in the paint.

The first demonstration — modelled by the club’s secretary, Rorry Gilkinson — featured a creatively spooky spin on the classic wounded face look, with Sifre demonstrating to attendees how to realistically paint on both the wound and a spider crawling out of it.

“We kind of wanted [an event] that was going to be Halloween themed, something that [could] be a demo that was art related but can [also] help if someone was maybe doing a Halloween activity or costume,” Rorry Gilkinson said, explaining the planning that went into the event’s inception.

The second demonstration resulted in a colorful butterfly design painted across La Pittura Vice President Darby Gilkinson’s features, with Sifre incorporating various utensils many attendees were likely to already have lying around at home to complete the look — including eyeshadow and eyeliner.

The organization has been consistent with offering a plethora of art-related programming this fall — students might recall the alumni art exhibition that opened in the basement of the Oakland Center in September, as well as the recent collage making session held in Wilson Hall.

The face painting event was one of several regular virtual meetings the organization is holding this semester, following their newly implemented programming schedule that combines in-person activities with remote ones. This pattern stems from the initial move to online programming borne out of necessity due to social distancing, with the organization putting the continuance of remote events down to membership convenience.

“When we went back to being in-person for the classes and everything, we also decided [since] virtual worked pretty well for some people because of their schedules […] we can do one in-person event per month and then one virtual event,” Rorry Gilkinson said, “that way it’s kind of like [the] best of both worlds, and we’re just offering the same amount of opportunities to everybody.”

The events immediately succeeding this one continue within this hybrid framework — following an in-person session where attendees will create frames for 2D artwork within the on-campus Maker’s Lab on Nov. 11, the club will once again gather virtually for a Disney-themed meeting on the evolution of the company’s artistic content and style on Nov. 26.

“[Offering virtual events] is also kind of a safety net,” Darby Gilkinson said, “in case something happens where we’d have to go back to being online for classes and things — we already have the infrastructure down.”

La Pittura looks forward to continuing to engage creatively with the OU community throughout the remainder of this semester and into the next one. Those looking to get involved are encouraged to consider running for officer positions within the club — several spots will be opening up following the graduations of Darby Gilkinson and Sifre this fall, and anyone interested in applying may contact the organization at [email protected] to seek more information.