MfN Paint and Sip, My Nuclear Romance

I just happened to meet Carocha while standing in line at Staples—I was buying art supplies for our upcoming South by Southwest (SXSW) exhibit, and she looked artsy, so I started chatting. Turned out she had a local art gallery and ran themed paint-and-sip nights! Kristin and I have been thinking about doing something like this forEVER, and when I asked her about doing a nuclear one, she didn’t turn and run! (You never know in our community, though I’m slowly learning that the really anti-nuclear people may be loud, but they are not plentiful—most people in our area support nuclear).

We worked together to pick an overall theme based on nuclear energy and on Valentine’s Day, since our event would be held that week.

When we got to the studio, Carocha led us through a brainstorming session about what “My Nuclear Romance” made people think of. She wrote down six ideas. Then she revealed the second half, which was a secret theme called “My Intro.” This discussion was a super important part of the process. It was kind of like therapy—helping people visualize their feelings and brainstorm their most important memories and emotions related to nuclear.

After that discussion, our leader gave us some artistic advice—a pep talk about how our art is great no matter what we end up creating. “You will create a piece that no one else has done before.” It seems silly to write about now, but her positivity helped to take the pressure off and quieted some of the negative self-talk about our artistic skills. People were nervous that we didn’t have someone to guide us through painting, but it ended up much better than the paint-by-numbers approach that is more common for group events.

Our event was a relaxing and bonding experience for participants, and it also helped increase the amount of positive nuclear imagery in our world. Since then, several other nuclear groups have approached us to ask about the logistics of holding similar events.

We went on to showcase some of this work in our #BeautifulNuclear art show at South By Southwest in Austin, Texas.

If we’re going to change the public perception of nuclear energy, we need to work every angle. There is some absolutely beautiful climate art out there. We need nuclear art too. And so many other nuclear-themed positive things—experiences, writing, imagery, events, theater, discussions. If you want to partner on a new idea or event, let us know!

-Heather