As student artists let their pens run wild on papered walls, visions of priceless paintings and renowned figures of creative history roamed around eating pizza and taking Snapchat photos.

On Tuesday members of the Art History Collective gathered in the critique space in the Arts and Humanities Building for their first annual costume party and contest. Students came dressed as their favorite work of art or favorite artists to socialize, take pictures against a Halloween themed backdrop, and draw on butcher paper spread out over the walls. The prizes for the three winners of the contest were pieces of student art.

Katie Bradly, Senior

Why are you here tonight?

Katie Bradly: I helped organize this event. This year I became a part of the art history club and helped revive it this semester. We’re called The Art History Collective. We haven’t had an art history club since 2012 so we’re really excited to establish it and keep it going. We’re hoping to pass the torch these next few semesters

What are you dressed as?

KB: I’m dressed as Yayoi Kusama, she is known for her soft sculptures which are covered in polka dots. She also went around with paint and a paint brush and painted polka dots on everything. So that’s the only thing I’m missing: paint and paintbrush.

What does art mean to you?

KB: Being an art history major, art means everything to me. It is my portal into history, to learning about everything. Everything is connected to art. It’s my way of loving a certain subject and learning about the world through it.

Why are you holding this event?

KB: To announce ourselves as The Art History Collective. We wanted to get our name out there. We wanted (this event) to be something fun for people to come visit casually, get to know us, and hopefully get interested in the club and join.

Will this become an annual event?

KB: Yes! This is our first event and it just so happened that we collected ourselves during Halloween. It looks like people really got into it art historians and studio artists alike.

Sara Smallhouse, Recent Grad Program Graduate

What are you dressed as?

Sara Smallhouse: I am dressed as Vincent Van Gogh’s “Wheatfield with Cypresses”

Why are you here tonight?

SS: I helped organize it, but we wanted to create events where there was a little more crossover with art history and fine arts. So this is really cool we have people drawing on the walls, we have people dressed up.

What does art mean to you?

SS: Art means life to me. I eat, sleep, live, breathe art.

Drew Narayanan, First Year Graduate Student (3rd Place Winner)

What are you dressed as?

Drew Narayanan: Caracalla, he was one of the few black emperors of Rome.

Why?

DN: We have this notion in western society that all Romans were a bunch of white people which is not entirely true. It was a very multicultural world where people of different ethnicities could rise to power.

What does art mean to you?

DN: Art is to me the pinnacle of society. If we don’t have art, then everything that we have ever done doesn’t matter anymore because our desire to create is something that transcends race, art, religion, culture it is a part of everyone. If we don’t have that desire to create than what do we have?

Rachel Dessenberger, Junior (2nd Place Winner)

What are you dressed as?

Rachel Dessenberger: Gustav Klimt’s painting “Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer ii”, which is also known as the “Lady in Gold”

Why?

RD: It’s one of my favorite paintings and I saw it this summer in Austria. I wanted to be her because I love her.

What does art mean to you?

RD: Art is a form of expression. I’m an art history major, I absolutely love art. I think it tells a story and I absolutely love getting to know the stories behind the paintings.

Isabel Yglecias, First-year (1st Place Winner)

What are you dressed as?

Isabel Yglecias: Frida Khalo

Why?

IY: I wanted to dress up as her because I’m super proud of my Mexican heritage and I like to take any opportunity to represent it in a public setting.

Anna Porretta can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_arts on Twitter.