The whale mural was completed during the project’s first phase in late April. It represents the environmental angle of sustainability. Martha Rhine | The Crow’s Nest
By Dinorah Prevost
The murals started appearing in the spring.
Four in total, they cover the once-bland walls you encountered when entering the Student Life Center. In the center of the smallest mural, high above the pathway leading to most of the building’s offices, is one word: sustainability.
The idea for the murals came from Ann Wykell, the campus’s public art consultant and the Clean Energy and Resource Conservation Commission (CERCC), a student group, in an effort to raise awareness about three aspects of sustainability.
“We wanted it to raise the awareness for sustainability issues and we also wanted to highlight the three
facets of sustainability, which is the social, economic and environmental aspects,” Todd said. “The students, when they walk through that building, can see what sustainability means and these issues are affecting every one of us.”
In April and May, all four murals were done by Elio Mercado, a South Florida-based muralist known in the art community as EVOCA1, as part of a two-phase, $25,000 project.
Alana Todd, a 2017 graduate, was one of the students involved in CERCC who pushed for the murals to grace the bare walls. She is now a graduate student at the University of Maryland.
“Originally there was more of a push to get art on campus and the SLC was sort of the perfect space, making the campus a little more friendly for students,” Todd said. “I love painting, it’s my hobby, so I really liked the idea of getting the art on campus.”
Wykell put it more succinctly. She said she was approached by Todd, graduate student James Scott and other students in CERCC about the project.
“All the blank walls in the Student Life Center … didn’t speak well to students or to life.”
Wykell put together a project committee of students and SLC staff to set the criteria for the murals and choose an artist. The project was launched in 2015 with a Florida-wide call to artists, but suffered delays.
“It took a long time, we had a lot of delays, but eventually we came through with the designs that you see,” Wykell said.
Wykell funded the project with money from CERCC, Student Government and campus administration. The sustainability theme of the project was chosen to “honor and speak to the CERCC mission.”
“This really speaks to this campus’ identity, identifying itself as a green campus where various kinds of sustainable energy initiatives are developed … So we thought it was relevant,” Wykell said.
Todd wants the murals to bring attention to sustainability, an issue she heavily advocated for during her junior and senior year here.
