Honors housing mural project brings the world a little closer
4/13/2012
By Megan Dutill '13
College Relations Intern
Residents of The GLOBE, an honors housing option in Simmons Hall, helped paint a mural being installed on their floor. The mural, designed by Scholar alumna Elody Gyekis '09, is more than a map of the world. Words in more than 20 of the world's major languages appear on continents and oceans. This spring, some Schreyer Scholars have taken the idea of leaving their mark quite literally.
Residents of The GLOBE, a Special Living Option within honors housing, are celebrating the community's inaugural year by painting a mural that will be hung on their floor in Simmons Hall. The GLOBE focuses on cultivating a global perspective among its members.
The mural, a world map created out of words, is "the embodiment of the global citizen's view of the world,” says Preet Ahluwalia, a junior Scholar majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology in the Eberly College of Science. She is the floor's Scholar Assistant and works closely with the Honors College staff and other members of the Executive Board to plan activities and build the community.
"When you look at it from a distance, you see land and water and what your brain processes as borders and land masses. But when you get closer, you can't see the land masses as distinctly – you just see the ideals and values that make up the world," Preet says. "What will be really cool about this mural is that every time you look at it you'll get something different out if it, which is what we hope that everyone looking at the world will see as well."
The watermark overlay on the oceans is made of the words "globe," "earth," "home" and "world" translated into more than 20 of the world's major languages. The words creating the continents were chosen by the floor's residents as expressions of what global citizenship means to them.
"We started tossing out words, trying to figure out a way to pictorially represent all of the complex ideals we had," Preet says about brainstorming the design with The GLOBE's executive board and artist Elody Gyekis. "So we painted a picture in words. Art and literature are such a big part of how we learn and it seemed like the next logical step to make art out of literature and words."
Elody Gyekis, a 2009 Scholar alumna who graduated with honors in art and civic and community engagement, adds a few brushstrokes to a mural being installed on the floor of The GLOBE, an honors housing option in Simmons Hall. Elody designed the mural to reflect a global view based on conversations with floor residents. The mural is a collaboration between The GLOBE's residents and professional artist Elody Gyekis. But for Elody, creating the mural is not just another community art project – it's a chance to come back and paint for her alma mater. Elody graduated from Schreyer in 2009 as a painting and ceramics major in the College of Arts & Architecture. Now she has a studio in Millheim, Pa., where she does both fine and community art.
"Elody was the perfect fit," Preet says. "She understood so much of the emotion and principles that we were trying to get across, because she's a Scholar alumna and she lives the principles that the Honors College was built upon. And she does a lot of mural work, but she doesn't just pull together a vision, she makes sure that you are a part of that process every step of the way."
In addition to suggesting words for the design, each of the residents was given the chance to pick up a paintbrush and paint the mural themselves. On March 17, The GLOBE held a painting party for the Scholars to paint alongside Elody.
"It's always fun to get non-artists to play with paint and have something lovely come out of it," Elody says. "I like to give them an excuse to play and to have something at the end that they helped create and they can be proud of."
Toni Mastropieri, one of the Scholars who helped to paint the mural, is indeed proud of it.
"It's going to be hanging in The GLOBE right as you walk in," says Toni, a freshman double-majoring in energy, business and finance in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and political science in the College of the Liberal Arts. "The fact that we had a part in it and we helped design it and see what words would be on it is really cool."
The mural will be unveiled this Sunday during a special ceremony and reception, and Preet says it will hang in Simmons Hall for years to come.
"It's going to be an indelible part of The GLOBE," she says. "We're leaving a mark of what the community meant to us as inaugural members, and it's something that other classes of The GLOBE can look at and say, ‘Yes, that's why we're here.'"