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Fernald Hall smelled like melting glue and watercolors last Monday. National Geographic Magazines dating back to 1987 covered the floor. Newspaper cutouts, feathers, markers and paintbrushes were strewn among old photographs.
Emily Fortin kneeled on the floor gluing pictures of important people in her life to a cloud-colored posterboard. Her flowing handwriting mingled with her pictures, leaving quotes of inspiration for viewers.
“Being creative can make you feel beautiful,” she said.
Fortin sat among seven other women gathered on the floor and couches of Fernald 102 – the Women’s Resource Center.
The women, all members of the Student Women’s Association, or closely affiliated with it, were holding an art night to create displays for their upcoming event, The Beautiful Project.
SWA is a self-described “progressive, feminist student organization, open to all women . and offers opportunities for political as well as social activities,” according to its Web site.
From a mound of clippings and art supplies, the women were creating their ideas of beauty. Their completed artwork will hang in Memorial Union on April 25 during the all-day event.
“Art is one of the best ways to portray that [beauty],” said Amy Marchessault, a member of SWA.
The project will bring women’s resources and advice to the union. Speakers are set to speak from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a small break for lunch. Topics include midwifery, “fat liberation” and sexuality.
University of Maine officials will be taking part as well as outside lecturers. Sisters Supporting Sisters, an ethnic women’s group on campus, and Sandy Caron – a professor best-known for her human sexuality course – will both speak.
Starting at 10 a.m., sorority tables, art displays, women athlete, tables, books geared toward women, and information on alternate feminine hygiene products will be available to the public.
“Men are invited too,” Fortin was quick to add while explaining the event. The other women chimed in while fast at work with scissors, paint and magazines.
The Beautiful Project will end the day with entertainment from Renaissance, the Steiners and Euphony.
“It’s all about reinforcing rights of women,” Fortin said.
The event will be held the same day as the HOPE Festival, a peace celebration sponsored by the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine. The 15th annual event will be held at the Student Recreation and Fitness Center.
The Beautiful Project has been missing from the scene since 2003, but they hope to collaborate with the HOPE Festival during its comeback. Current members of SWA ran across the idea of the project while searching archives and decided it was time to breathe new life into the endeavor.
The women began planning the project shortly after Take Back the Night last fall and have been working on it since. Taking a short break to produce and act in “The Vagina Monologues,” the women meet once a week for a SWA meeting, which has now blended into a planning committee for The Beautiful Project.
As the women chatted about the beauty of old women, being in love, pro-life demonstrations, climate change and National Public Radio, it was evident they were a close-knit group. The time commitment to the group was clear.
Abbie Strout, a leader of SWA, placed a small round mirror in the center of her art project. Fellow leader, Hannah Pennington, teased her quickly, and Strout laughed.
“It’s our idea of beauty,” she said.
“I wish I had more pictures of older members of my family, because I think they’re really elegant and beautiful,” said Alissa Brown, a first-year member of SWA.
She glued pictures of her relatives and friends to her poster as the group continued to chat.
