An art gallery that hosted a night of free-form group painting on a massive canvas hailed the event as a great success.

More than 100 people attended the sold-out fundraiser Art After Dark at the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art on Saturday.

Risa Hunter, the executive director of Masterworks, said that organisers were “completely blown away” by the level of attendance.

She added: “For us, I think, the real measure of success was seeing the level of engagement and the joy that people had in creating art.

“We look at our gallery space as an experience and a different way for people to tap into the experience of art, whether it’s looking at it or creating it.

“So for use to see people in the community — whether they’ve never picked up a paintbrush before or they were a seasoned artist — standing side-by-side and creating on this canvas together was really special.”

Art After Dark encouraged people to don protective clothing and paint on a wall-to-wall canvas in brush strokes and even paint splatters.

The event was organised by Swiss artist Gabriella Brunner, was intended to raise funds for the museum’s new Art and Design Centre.

Ms Hunter said that the funds from the event were still being counted but added that they received “several thousand dollars” — getting them more than halfway through their budget for the multimillion-dollar plan.

She added that, although it served its purpose as a fundraiser, it helped with the museum’s ultimate goal of offering people a chance to be creative.

She said: “Just to see the museum transform into this space of creative participation was what I think mattered to us the most.”

Blair Masters, the group’s head of marketing and communications, echoed the sentiment.

“This was an opportunity to us to spread the word about Masterworks to those who might not know about us or might not have been to our events before,” she said.

The canvas will take several days to dry and then will be cut and given to those who participated.

Ms Brunner, who had done several events like this in the past, said the event was “the most joyful experience” she had experienced on the island.

She said: “I loved the diverse crowd, the different age groups and just the joy people had and the laughter.

“There were so many happy smiles. It was a fantastic evening for me.”