Holy Kiss (Human Art Project)
by Shaun Gibson
(Belen, New Mexico)
This is not original in that it is based on a festival in India, but it is a lot of fun. It is a human art project with color called Holy Kiss. We used this at our Christian school as an award and team builder.
Use Dry Tempera Paint about a pound for each person. Place each color in a ziplock bag and have everyone show up in a white t shirt. Each person is given a separate color.
Now everyone lines up facing each other. This is the color blessing. When told to start (whistle blow etc.) each person must say something nice about the person in front of them and then take a handful of their color and place it on the other person this is a "holy kiss". When that round is done everyone steps clockwise to encounter the next person. The process continues.
Encourage the artists to be strategic in placing their colors as this is a huge human art project. Depending on how many people you have doing it after about 8 to 10 rounds everyone starts looking amazing. Avoid the eyes, or ask the person to close them before placing the tempera. If a lot of paint is on the eyes simple blow on them forcefully before they open them. Throwing should be avoided unless it is for artistic affect.
Everyone gets blessed, everyone looks incredible and everyone has fun. Towards the end for a fun affect let everyone get a handful of paint get all together and video or photo everyone throwing their tempera in the air. It looks amazing.
