By: Devon Cormier
Posted In: News
Photo credit: Stephanie Turaj
James Swol, a senior, proudly represents AIGA on his pumpkin
Photo credit: Stephanie Turaj
Salve members of AIGA carve pumpkins for a contest.
Photo credit: Stephanie Turaj
A freshman finds inspiration from Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’
October is a month of chills, thrills, and of course, pumpkins. Pumpkin crafting is the perfect Halloween tradition that mixes creativity with fun. What better way for Salve Regina’s graphic design students to come together and celebrate the Halloween season?
On Thursday night Oct. 14, members of Salve Regina’s AIGA, or American Institution of Graphic Artists, gathered together in the graphic design room of the Antone Center for their annual pumpkin carving and decorating contest. It was one of the club’s first meetings of the year and a perfect way for the students to get to know one another. Of course, there is no contest without a prize. Earlier this year, all graphic art students had to pay $50 to become members of AIGA. Whoever wins the pumpkin carving contest will have his or her $50 reimbursed. This proves that sometimes it pays to be creative. In addition to the 20 pumpkins purchased for this event, the graphic design room was filled with neon paints and markers of various colors, for those who did not want to endure the somewhat grueling task of scraping out and carving a pumpkin. For those with patience and strong, steady hands, pumpkin carving kits were available to make the task a little more endurable. To make the occasion even more festive, Emma Taylor, a senior and AIGA club president, also purchased bags of candy for everyone to munch on while they worked. Around 6:45 p.m. most of the AIGA members arrived at the event. To help everyone get to know each other a little better, Emma had everyone in the room give a brief description about themselves. To break the ice a bit more, she pulled up a graphic design game on the overhead projector. The game had pictures of well-known logos, and everyone had to guess the names of the companies that went with each of them. It was a perfect way for all of the graphic design students to come together, have fun, and share some pertinent knowledge with one another. Despite the fact that there were quite a few freshmen at the event who were quite new to the club, everyone seemed very close-knit, and it felt like all of the students had been working together for a number of years. After the game, it was finally time to carve and create. Every student had their own idea about what he or she wanted to make, and of course, being art students, the ideas were very original. Some painted designs and patterns, while others carved traditional jack-o-lantern faces. One student painted swirls of yellow and blue, drawing her inspiration from Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.” The theme of Disney Pixar movies seemed to be a popular category that evening as well: Kristina Hern, a senior, made her pumpkin into Mike Wazowski from the animated movie, “Monsters Inc.,” and Carolyn Marconi, a senior, made her pumpkin into Nemo, from none other than the popular film, “Finding Nemo.” Jim McBride, a senior, showed his love for New Jersey by carving a heart and a image of the state on his pumpkin. Despite being from Philadelphia, McBride said that he spends a lot time in New Jersey and “it is like a second home to him.” James Swol, a senior, proudly carved the letters “AIGA” into his pumpkin, hoping that it would perhaps give him an edge in the competition. At the end of the night, students cleaned up their spaces, some bagging up seeds to take home and cook, others rinsing pumpkin goo and paint off of their hands. Everyone proudly placed their pumpkins on the counter in the back of the room, each silently hoping that all of his or her hard work would pay off. Time will only tell who will be the winner. For the next few weeks, the students will judge and critique each other’s creations as they usually do- but this time instead of rating graphic designs, they will be critiquing pumpkins.
