ATLANTA — A new mural on Georgia State’s Atlanta Campus showcases the work of more than 100 students of the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design.
The 6-foot by 14-foot mural, titled “A Pattern Language,” was recently installed along the GSU Blue Line near the Atlanta Campus Greenway. It was completed as part of the Welch School’s Foundations program, which teaches fundamental concepts of drawing, research, and two- and three-dimensional design to students early in their degree programs.
The 126 students who took part in the project worked within a grid to create a 1-inch by 1-inch design, which they repeated in patterns. Students in seven sections of the Foundations course Two-Dimensional Design mixed paint and developed their patterns across color schemes and collaged them into a larger 6-foot by 2-foot design, resulting in variations among the seven different panels.
“When students are working by themselves on a color theory assignment, it can be exciting, but it can also be a little formulaic,” said Senior Lecturer Neill Prewitt, the Foundations coordinator for the Welch School and architect of the mural project. “But when you put it in a larger context and see your work next to other students’ in the classroom, and you see it at this scale, you realize that this foundational skill that you've been honing is actually really powerful when put in a larger context.”
When Prewitt shared his idea for the mural project with Art & Design Director Michael White, White recommended applying for a grant from Georgia State’s Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Online Education (CETLOE). The mural installation was dubbed “Our Place, Our Time: Showcasing Student Artwork” and given a prominent location along the GSU Blue Line, supporting a key pillar of Georgia State’s BluePrint to 2033: Our Place, Our Time strategic plan.
The pillar — Identity, Placemaking & Belonging — is aimed at cementing Georgia State as a place where people want to learn, study, work, live, play and connect. As more mural projects emerge, plans are to remove “A Pattern Language,” which students adhered with wheat paste, to make way for a new installation.
As the Foundations coordinator, Prewitt shared the curriculum for “A Pattern Language” with Foundations teachers Lizzy Storm, Darya Fard, Sophie Lee, Rachel Warren and Azin Yousefiani, encouraging each instructor put their own spin on the process.
When discussing the project, Prewitt references the 20th century abstract painter Josef Albers, who was known for his contributions to art education as a prominent teacher in the Bauhaus movement.
“Albers was known for saying he wanted to open people’s eyes,” Prewitt said. “He wanted to help them to see things that they see all the time but to see them anew. I hope this project can do that for our students.”