Students and members of the Mount Pleasant community flowed into Dreamer Coffeehouse March 21 from to be a part of the speed art competition. The competition allowed competitors to show off their artistic abilities and be entered to win multiple prizes.

The winner of the contest and senior at Central Michigan University, Jamie Morse, received five free drinks from the coffee shop, a feature on the Facebook page, a free ticket to the upcoming Tree Love event and her own art show at the coffeehouse. The winner also will be featured as Dreamer's 'Artist of the Month.'

There were five contestants competing, making it a very close competition. The artists were allowed to choose whatever medium they wanted, and only had two hours to create. Morse decided to create a painting on a log based off of a sketch she had done.

"I usually paint on wood or logs over canvas because of the way the colors show," said Morse. "I don't like using very bright colors but I like what they do. The wood soaks up the color way more than a regular canvas, giving it more of a matte finish instead of a glossy one."

The winner of the competition was decided by the visitors of the coffeehouse. Each person wrote down the name and number assigned to the artists on a piece of paper and put it into a bowl. The votes were counted at the end of the competition and the winner was announced.

"Being an English major and not going to school for art, it's really nice to be the winner," Morse said. "It definitely validates my hobby and I'm just really happy I can keep my creative side busy and share my art with the world."

Another artist in the competition was Jalene Howard, a resident of Mount Pleasant. She painted a young woman's face on a small canvas with watercolor, encompassing an owl in a creative way.

"I haven't sat down and finished a piece in about eight months," Howard said. "I really needed something to help push me back into it. The time frame was a challenge but I really enjoy showing my creative side and just being involved with my community."

One artist in the competition decided to take a different route with her choice of medium and created a jumpsuit during the two hours given. Tate Verduin, sophomore, brought along her sewing machine and stitched a whole outfit.

The event wasn't only about physical art. Many performers attended and sang on stage to entertain guests and show off their talents as well. The music was all acoustic and reflected different styles of music, from MGMT to the Pixies to the Grateful Dead.

"I started playing music back when I was in high school because one of my good friends got me into it," junior Emily Parrish said. "I've played at Tree Love events and I play every week at Dreamer's open mic. I really like playing a lot of alternative music acoustically."

The coordinator of the Speed Art Competition was Jeremiah Bell, who is also Dreamer's art director as well as an artist and musician himself.

"Dreamer is a great place to see art and hear music," Bell said. "It's exciting to see people wanting to show off their talents. If anyone doesn't have a place to display their work or if they don't want to play music in front of their friends, Dreamer is a great place to get their name out there."

The competition was an idea Bell had to diversify events and see more unique artwork.

"I really like the idea of an all medium competition," said junior Jake Hesilinga. "There are some really unique pieces here and everyone did something different. It was hard to choose who I wanted to vote for in the end."

The coffeehouse displays multiple types of artwork including pottery, paintings and jewelry. Anyone can display their work and it's rotated about every three weeks. Art displayed at Dreamer may be put up for sale through the coffeehouse at whatever price the artist finds suitable. If anyone is interested, contact Jeremiah Bell on Facebook or through Dreamer.