In the Loop
General News : Apr 11, 2016

Site Specific Painting Class participates in 352walls

By Casey Wooster

Students from the School of Art+Art History's Site Specific Painting class are currently painting a mural in downtown Gainesville. The class reached out to 352Walls/Gainesville Urban Art Initiative, which is part of an international urban art movement attempting to strengthen Gainesville's cultural stature with creativity, to develop a series of proposals for a mural project.

"The university is part of Gainesville," said painting student Jasmine Laska as she helps on the mural project. "If the community is beautifying, we should be a part of it."

Julia Morrisroe, associate professor of drawing and painting, encouraged her students to visit the mural location to consider how the location and a mural could change or impact the public's use of the space. In preparation for the project students, also, studied a variety of muralists including artists that have participated in the 352Walls project as well as Shephard Farley, SWOON, Maya Hayuk and Sol LeWitt.

The student proposals were presented to a jury made up of two SA+AH Painting faculty and Raquel Vallejo of the Gainesville Department of Cultural Affairs. One mural inspired by senior visual arts student Rafael Moura's watercolor paintings was selected for execution.

Moura is serving as the project manager for the mural and the entire Site Specific Painting class is working as a team to help complete the project. When finished, the mural will feature a giant octupus with its many tentacles holding paint brushes in a giant swirl of blue and gold paint

The mural is located in the parking lot of the Sun Center and is scheduled to be completed by Monday, April 18.

To learn more about 352 Walls/The Gainesville Urban Art Initiative, click here.