COLLEGE NINE ENTRANCE MURAL, 2013
Led by Diana Gilon at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Entrance of College Nine, Acrylic on Cement Wall, 103 ft.
Santa Cruz students spent several months imagining a public art piece that would powerfully express the themes of the International and Global Perspectives College they attended. The project was hosted by College Nine and was designed by participants from a student-led course called “Global Action”. The course focuses on international social justice issues and uses Oxfam materials to teach the course. Representatives from Oxfam America also collaborated throughout the design process by sharing their visual marketing strategies with the team and of course by providing inspiration with all their amazing endeavors around the world.
Words like rise, unity, and change rose to the top when students were asked to upload images, phrases and ideas onto a shared online photo album. The process was meant to spark creativity and foster a sense of sharing and community. Participants were asked to write the phrases in calligraphy pens and create shapes from their words. These words, which became drawings, were then scanned and turned into the word patterns that wallpaper the entire expanse of the mural.
The students and Diana Gilon envisioned an inspirational image that would represent the global development issues they were studying in their classes. Together, they produced a colorful mural that incorporates the themes of their College and elements of Oxfam’s logo, values, and beliefs.