Edwards sculpture yard sports a new mural

Six Maymester art students have been busy transforming the concrete courtyard on the backside of the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts. The courtyard, which is becoming a sculpture yard, has gone from boring to brilliant. The space is now filled with vibrant colors – oranges and yellows, all the colors of burning fire, which is symbolic of the bronze casting that will be going on there.

The mural, designed by art instructor Brian “Cat” Taylor, is a social realism piece that portrays the working class as heroes. Each character on the mural is a different type of metalworker.

Using student athletes as models, Taylor and student photographer Emily Munn held a photo shoot, dressing the student-athletes as ironworkers. A “hotworks” pouring hot golden metal is displayed in the center of the mural. Those pictures were then projected on to the wall and traced, while students in the art class finish the details with latex paint.

Taylor is instructor for the Maymester mural painting class; student artists include Ashley Cochran, Sara Cox, Brittany Clark, Zoey Johnson, Lucy Romanik and Forest Watkins.

“We are all working as a team to make the mural look like one artist painted it instead of six,” says Ashley Cochran, paintbrush in hand.

The sculpture garden has been an area for art students to hang out and work on individual projects. Art faculty, staff and students are working on cleaning up the area so that it will slowly turn back into a space for classes, specifically bronze casting.