I just happened to meet Carocha in line at Staples - I was buying art supplies for our upcoming 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 are loud, but not plentiful - most people in our area support nuclear).

We worked together to pick an overall theme based on nuclear energy and our event being held the week of Valentines.

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.

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

Since we did this event, we have had several other nuclear groups approach us to ask about logistics and how they could hold a similar event. Our event was a relaxing and bonding experience for participants, and also helped increase the amount of positive nuclear imagery in our world.

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

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 novel event, let us know!

-Heather