RCC’s Manicurist students display visual art in the form of nails

Skittles. Oreos. Gummy Bears. Cheetos. M&M’s. Jolly Ranchers. 

These are items you wouldn’t typically associate with getting your nails done, but for continuing education students at Robeson Community College it was the perfect source for inspiration as the Manicurist students created one-of-a-kind nail art designs for a special contest.

“The contest was designed to get the creative juices flowing for my students, giving them a break from basic state board practices, while building high classroom morale,” stated Jasmine Scott, the instructor of the manicurist program.

The assignment aimed to make students think outside-the-box and come up with new, exciting nail art designs that matched the product they had chosen.

“As a future beauty professional, the work my students will provide is a form of visual art,” stated Scott. “The Candyland project was assigned to help my students tap into their creative side, for some this was unchartered territory, and for others this was a way to push their talents to the next level.”

The winning design for this class was created by Taylor Locklear with “Jelly Bear.” She used Black Forest Gummy Bears as her source of inspiration for her award-winning design. The nails she showcased featured actual gummy bears glued to the nails with bright colors painted in a tie-dye fashion to give it an overall effect of being fun and youthful, contrasting perfectly with the candy that was displayed.

The contest was decided upon by cosmetology students, who had a chance to vote on their favorite design during the first week of class. 

Scott says that overall, the contest was a success.

“Hopefully we can do another before the semester ends,” she stated.

The manicurist/nail tech program is a 6-month comprehensive course at Robeson Community College that provides instruction and clinical practice in manicuring, nail building (application and maintenance of artificial nails) and pedicuring.  The course content includes nail anatomy, disorders of nails, and irregularities of nails; theory and salesmanship as it relates to manicuring; actual practice in manicuring; and arm, hand and foot massage. For more information on the program, please contact Natavia Townsend at ntownsend@robeson.edu or (910) 272-3447.