Class of ’28 mural adds a vibrant burst to campus
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Thursday, October 3rd, 2024
The arrival of the Class of 2028 also brought the arrival of a new class tradition to Pennsylvania College of Art & Design.
Traveling between classes in the Water Street stairway, students can get a vibrant look at that new tradition: a mural project that was concepted and created by the class under the direction of experienced muralist Salina Almanzar-Oree. Almanzar-Oree, who’s also Assistant Director of the College’s Center for Creative Exploration, says the project was a great opportunity for a new group of incoming Foundation students to collaborate and create something together.
“Murals offer communities an opportunity to coalesce around something and work together,” she says. “If folks want to talk, they can. If they want to zone out into the paint that’s welcome as well!”
When and where did the concept for this mural project originate? How did you become involved?
Salina Almanzar-Oree: (Assistant Dean of Student Affairs) CJ Crossett approached me about a mural project for orientation after learning about the temporary installation that I put together for the Class of 2027 that is now in the windows of the Chameleon. We discussed a few wall options and how many students are wanting to see more color on the walls throughout the school. We wanted to do something in a big enough place to have all of the incoming students involved and settled on the stairwell as a nice option to start a new tradition of murals on each floor by the latest incoming class.
Were there many iterations of the design before the final design was established?
S A-O: For this one there actually weren’t too many iterations BUT I did leave some things open for students to weigh in on. For example, we voted on whether or not to add faces to the flowers. I initially had the idea of incorporating the words from the survey students took that was the source material for this mural. Students felt strongly about having faces and wanted to see something fun and uplifting.
What was the process?
S A-O: CJ and I put together a survey that she and (Admission Counselor) Osmyn (Oree) presented to students during Chill, Chat, and Create events. Students responded to questions like “What does creativity look like to you” or “What does creativity mean to you?” CJ and I then sorted through the responses and found some common themes. Students’ responses included really beautiful, and poetic ideas about creativity. Some students said music, many said looking at other artists’ work, and even more stated that creativity was found outside for them or reminded them of nature (a sunset, flowers, etc.). I wanted to incorporate a rainbow as a lot of students also mentioned color in their responses. Once I had the idea, I shared it with CJ and we coordinated the painting sessions.
Do you know about how many members of the Class of ’28 took part?
S A-O: We tried to keep it to groups of 10 to 15 but at some points I ended up with 20 students.
How excited are you that it’s planned that projects like this become a new annual tradition here?
S A-O: Very excited! I think it’s great to see more color in our hallways and to get to know students. Often my work is more isolated to after hours or weekends with CCE so it was really nice to reconnect and bond with students this year. I’m excited to see what other ideas and other ways we can incorporate student input in the future.