The Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art (RAFMA) held a unique experience to paint with coffee while enjoying a cappuccino on May 9. This event featured customized cups of iced and hot lattes and cappuccinos and supplies to create a caffeine masterpiece.
The artisan coffees were topped with tailored designs made from steamed milk, which created a smooth finish of cream on the top. The baristas measured, weighed and took the temperature of every ingredient that went into making the perfect cup of coffee for each visitor.
Along with enjoying a java, participants were able to paint their own masterpieces using ground coffee beans, water and a variety of different sized brushes to create specialized shadowing and watercolor paper to capture their brush strokes.
The event was organized to provide a relaxing space for students and faculty to take a break and de-stress from normal school activities, especially since midterms just finished or are right around the corner for most students.
Employees of The Bleu Pit Cafe, which is a local coffee shop located off Hospitality Lane in San Bernardino, volunteered their time and talents to treat students and faculty to artisan coffee.
“I enjoying making coffee to keep a smile on peoples face. I know that is super cliche, but I thrive off their excitement once they taste my coffee,” said Chase and April Charifa, husband and wife.
“The coffee is delicious and the painting is pretty easy to my surprise,” said Alfred Rodriguez, a faculty member. Jacabed McCormick, who is also a faculty member, accompanied Alfred and explained, “We saw an email go out to campus and it looked really interesting to us, the painting is easy, however, I struggled with the creativity but it’s really fun. It’s really relaxing and it’s nice to share a cup of coffee with a colleague and friend.”
With their coffee grounds, McCormick painted a steaming cup of coffee with the phrase, “I love you a latte” and Rodriguez painted a daisy with blooming petals.
Maia Matheu, a CSUSB graduate student was helping out with the event by gathering the coffee grounds and promoting individuals to try their hand as artists by painting with the coffee grounds they provided.
“It’s a good way for people to relieve stress. This event helps bring people together who enjoy art and coffee. Not only for the students, but for the faculty as well,” said Matheu.
The event was to promote RAFMA, the school’s museum which boasts one of the country’s biggest Egyptian artifact collections and is an extension of the world-famous Smithsonian.
“Our exhibit is one of the largest Ancient Egyptian exhibits in Southern California,” said Irigoyen.
Diego Irigoyen, a member of the museum staff, orchestrated the event to bring students and faculty together and promote the RAFMA.
“There are a lot of resources here that students are not aware of. So, by setting this up today, we thought it might give people an incentive to come visit the museum,” said Irigoyen.
In addition to the Egypt exhibit, the museum showcases art created by CSUSB students in the art program.
It is a good opportunity to get the rest of the student body excited about art and encourages students to support one another by visiting all of the beautiful artwork that the students made.
The RAFMA is completely free for CSUSB students to attend on any day and is located by the Visual Arts building at CSUSB. It is a tranquil environment that can provide an escape from normal school activity, and there is always something new and interesting to see.
The story was prepared by Ruth Marerro, Dayna Doidge, and Bobby Horner in the newspaper practicum class COMM234A.
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