Local Art Club Creates Backdrop for Magical Evening Under the Sea

An enchanted evening awaits area couples attending the You and Me Under the Sea Daddy/Daughter dance sponsored by the Student’s Fund of Hope, in partnership with the Hope PTO, from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, February 25, at the First Baptist Church, located at 455 Jackson St., in Hope.

Planning for the event began back in October, says Whitney Budd, founder of the Student’s Fund of Hope.

“It’s always a process,” she says. “We learned a lot last year, so we made several changes this year. You learn as you go and every year there is something new to learn.”

Budd adds that she is confident this year’s dance will also offer lessons of its own.

In addition to a new venue, this year’s dance also introduces a new partnership between the SFOH and the Hope PTO, Budd says.

“There has been no PTO in Hope for several years now,” she says. “So, we wanted to do something to help the PTO get their feet underneath of them and be able to bless their teachers and schools.”

All the profits from the evening will be split with the PTO, Budd says.

When planning for the event began last fall, one of the first calls Budd made was to area art teacher Amber Whittington, whose talent and expertise brought last year’s Candyland-themed backdrop to life.

However, this year, Whittington had a different approach in mind.

Since recently launching an Art Club, open to area students in grades 3rd through 8th, in collaboration with the SFOH, Whittington thought what better opportunity than this to involve area kids in the project.

All it would take is a combination of a sketch, painting supplies, student artists and a whole “lotta mess.” Fun stuff.

“I just kind of envisioned the idea [for the backdrop],” Whittington says. “I looked up a couple of reference photos for our inspiration. I sketched it all on the background for the kiddos, so it was ready for them when they came in.”

And come they did. When it was all said and done more than one dozen young artists painted a masterpiece. Granted, the students all went home far messier than they were when they arrived, but they had fun, Whittington says.

Admittedly, Whittington says this first foray into a project of this kind had its own lessons.

She describes that first meeting as “crazy” and “chaotic,” however, beautiful things are often born from disorder.

When the kids arrived that first Saturday, they got to work painting on the canvas almost immediately. During the more than two-hour session, Whittington worked with the kids three at a time painting on the canvas and would rotate to give everyone a chance to add their own artistic flare.

“The challenging part was there is only one of me and a whole lot of them,” Whittington says. “So, I quickly learned to bring other activities to entertain them. That is actually why we got the sea creatures for them to paint and glued them on the background.”

For six weeks the kids painted on the backdrop with the final brush strokes added last weekend. Each of the young artists got to take part ownership of the canvas when it was finished by signing their initials in the bubbles.

“I think just for the girls to show up and show their dads that this is the project they worked on, that’s going to be so special,” Budd says. “And we will be able to display the backdrop in the Hub after the dance.”

Whittington says the kids enjoyed getting messy the most.

“More paint went home with the kids than was on the canvas,” she says.

But that’s OK. Art is like cooking. If you don’t get messy, you’re not doing something right.

The backdrop masterpiece is the backbone for the underwater feel the dance is intended to convey, Budd says.

Blue uplighting will accentuate the sea-themed canvas and there will be sea-themed activities throughout the evening, including mermaid tail sack races where the daughters can race the dads.

“There will also be an Ocean in a Bottle that they’re going to make,” Budd adds. “And there will be treasure fishing.”

Sea-themed snacks will be available, and Mike Asher will once again offer his DJing skills to provide the evening’s soundtrack.

Organizers are very much looking forward to the big evening and all the wonderful memories that are sure to be made, they say.

“It is a really special night and time for the daddies and their daughters to take some time for them,” Whittington says. “I hope they can enjoy that special moment with the kiddos and know the kids worked so hard to provide that for them.”