Best bad art award presented at Plenty

By Joan Janzen

Not everyone is artistic, but everyone can have fun creating ‘bad art.’ Chelsea Weese, librarian at Plenty Library, welcomed the Wheatland program coordinator from head office, who conducted the best bad art class. She came equipped with an assortment of craft supplies for the participants to use.            

Chelsea, along with seven wanna-be artists, gathered at The Coffee Shop in Plenty on Tuesday evening, April 9th, to create some awful art. While there’s nothing quite like expressing yourself by creating ugly art, few instructions were given on how to do so.

Bryce Bulgis won the crown for the “best bad art” at the Plenty Library art class Tuesday evening, April 9. Congrats Bryce! Photo by Joan Janzen

Mitzi Gilroy had fun creating her “best bad art” at Plenty Library’s bad art class. Photo by Joan Janzen

The group was told they would all have the opportunity to vote for the worst (or best) bad art at the conclusion of the class. The winner would receive an ugly crown. A paper crown was plunked on the counter, which all the participants could help transform into an ugly crown during the evening.

Everyone was leisurely applying their best bad art skills while chatting and having fun, but suddenly, they were reminded there was a time limit involved. “Ten minutes remaining to complete your art,” the coordinator said, and the pressure was on to finish the best bad art possible.

The crown was passed around, receiving a personalized blemish from each patron present. And then it was time for the judging. Suddenly it became apparent there’s a difference between ‘ugly’ art and ‘bad’ art.

Ugly art is just plain ugly; however, bad art is accompanied by a theme and interesting story. A few teachers participated who excelled at story telling, so it wasn’t surprising when the coronation took place and Bryce Bulgis was crowned the best bad artist for his piece of art, which he called “Messed Up Forest.”