By Marcela Murad, Co- Founder of the FABAIC
After a full day of learning from the best instructors worldwide, the jams are the place to share and practice what we learn at the Face & Body Art International Convention. The energy 400+ artists generate when they are thrown together in one room at the same time is hard to put into words. I can only tell you that the room is filled with smiles, anticipation, admiration, color and creativity.
Our instructors are there to encourage and further help you along your face and body art journey. Jams are the perfect time and place to approach them with your questions and concerns, or maybe to be painted by your favorite artist! We also have a group of volunteers we named “Good Ambassadors” whose job is to walk around making sure that no one is feeling overwhelmed, encourage people to participate, and help them network and make new friends.
Bodypainters usually start creating their living masterpieces around 9:00pm- a process which is amazing to watch. Because the time line for bodypainting is anywhere between 4 and 6 hours, my biggest challenge has become getting people to go to bed by 3:00am! What keeps us up is our desire to see the finish product because we know it is such a rare opportunity to see live art in action.
One of my personal favorite parts about the jam are all the surprises I have up my sleeve. In the past we have had flash mobs, wedding proposals, fashion shows, and lots of friendly competitions and creativity games. If that’s not enough, once our professional DJ gets the music going many jump in to celebrate with song and dance.
For me personally, I love to watch the kids trying to make it through the night. First they are so full of enthusiasm and get right into painting each other and some adults. The young artists will blow your mind- especially the older ones or those who have been coming to FABAIC for a few years. So much fun to watch them blossoming into talented face and body painters! Around midnight you start finding them sleeping with their heads on the tables or passed out from happy exhaustion. This is why I know for sure that the future of face and bodypainting is in great hands!
My advice to anyone planning to attend FABAIC is to book in the host hotel and start getting some rest because the only thing missing is SLEEP!
