Artists and locals gathered in the MSU Broad Museum courtyard for a day-long Drawing Marathon Wednesday. With canvases set outside and markers, glue, paper, paint and more supplies for participants to choose from, they got to work on the hours-long endeavor.
The annual event is a collaboration between the museum and the MSU Department of Art, Art History and Design. But Associate Professor and Foundations Coordinator Robert McCann said this event’s history extends far before that.
"This event actually predates the Broad; I believe it has been since 2007 we’ve hosted this event," McCann said. "We started collaboration with (the Broad) since they opened."
The event started at a ripe 9 a.m. and went until 6 p.m. With the marathon starting before the museum even opened, the increasing traffic of museum visitors later in the day also yielded more participants. McCann said many people who visited the museum would walk to the courtyard and ended up taking part in the event.
Astrophysics senior Sofia Biriouk participated in the marathon for the first time yesterday.
Drawing has always been one of Biriouk’s hobbies, and she’s currently enrolled in an art class herself. She participated in the event through that class.
"I am in the color and design class, and I honestly like drawing more than my major sometimes," Biriouk said.
The "marathon" aspect of the event was pretty lenient because students like Biriouk had to come and go throughout the day due to classes.
"I have classes throughout the day today but I came for the start of it, and I'll be here as much as I can for the experience," Biriouk said.
But for the time she was there, the non-stop nature of the marathon helped "inspire a stronger work ethic in not just drawing, but in life too," Biriouk said.
In addition to college students, the marathon was also open to high schoolers. Meghan Collins, a museum educator for K-12 and family programs, said students from East Lansing High School and Waverly High School were among the participants.
"It is almost a recruitment for the high schoolers as they get to experience the art program at MSU," Collins said.
The outward-facing nature of the event helped in its success, museum employee Tony Cox said.
"This event is so community oriented and not restricted to just people on campus, which is nice," Cox said.
Collins said she hoped the Drawing Marathon encouraged people to celebrate their existing love of drawing — or develop a new one.
"Our goal here is to help students and people step out of their comfort zone," Collins said. "Everyone has talent, they just need to be encouraged."
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