Lights Up

by Riley Wootten, reporter

FAIRHOPE, Ala.-  Fairhope art students premiered their blacklight art in the Black Box Theatre January 24-26. The paintings ranged in designs from glowing jellyfish to stunning portraits created with special inks to glow under ultraviolet light. 

Blacklight is a unique form of art as the glow is only activated with the black light turned on. This creativity adds magic and mystery to the artwork transforming it into a more interesting piece. 

“I play a lot of video games and am a vivid engineer so I wanted to make some kind of physical representation, mix it with art and my love for video games, which inspired my design,” said junior John Wood. 

The variation of colors and artwork represents a part of each student and plays a key role in the inspiration for these designs. 

“I knew that the natural beauty of a nighttime storm would make a cool piece for blacklight art because the lightning would really show up under the blacklight, especially with the dark background,” said sophomore Sadie Boothe.

Fairhope students look forward to participating in this yearly exhibition. This presentation allows students to get imaginative with their ideas and apply them to their art.  

“I was inspired to use a broken mirror with a hand smashing through it as my artwork because of the saying that breaking a mirror gives you seven years of bad luck and the hand represents that luck,” said sophomore Vivienne Littlepage. 

Artists felt that the blacklight art was easy to incorporate, according to Littlepage. She used dry brushing with glow paint to give it a fluorescent effect.

“I love drawing people so I researched what kind of colors show up best through ultraviolet light and included those colors into my painting,” said junior Kayliegh Sprute. 

This presentation displayed unique designs incorporating the neon theme of the event. The exhibition was a way for students to show off their creativity and introduce others to the captivating artwork.