Meet the most proud, ‘worst’ artists in Haymarket

HAYMARKET — It was a night for fun, family, and friends.

It was a night for Bad Art at the Gainesville-Haymarket Branch of the Prince William Library.

Participants gathered in the community room at the library to create their worst art in mixed media, collage, painting or drawing. All were competing for the coveted prize of Worst in Show.

“I’m not good at art. But this is something I can do,” said Camilla, one of the participants.

The ‘bad’ artists chose from the variety of genres and could create multiple pieces of art.

Valerie, another participant who attended with her son, Chris, said that she “loves arts and crafts.” This gave her the opportunity to create with no pressure to produce. Her son, Chris, said that he attended because he loves his mother. Chris went home with the award for worst collage.

Participants had a little over an hour to create their masterpieces. Then they voted to choose the worst in each category and the coveted Worst in Show.

The final winners were Morgan for Worst Painting, Chris for Worst Collage, Camilla for Worst Drawing, and the winner of Worst Mixed Media was the author.

And the overall winner of Worst in Show was Camilla (all last names withheld by request) for her mixed media creation. She went home with a bad mixed media creation, a certificate, and a hideous trophy that was embellished by the artists during the evening.

The evening was one of many offerings provided free of charge for adults, seniors, and children by the Prince William County Library system.

Beth Walker plans adult programs at the Gainesville Haymarket branch. These include three book clubs and the Silver Series. There are also many children’s programs. Walker said that there are currently “more programs for children than adults.” She encourages adults to “suggest programs that they are looking for.”

For adults, the library staff “try to provide stress-free adult programs,” said Walker.