“Oh wow, that looks amazing!”
A driver offers praise to the Texas Woman’s University mural painting students, stopping to look at the northern side of the now-empty Marketing and Communications building on Oakland.
A dozen TWU students stand, squat and stretch to dab paint onto the stucco wall. The man behind the wheel grins at TWU staffers who have gathered in the parking lot, across Third Street. The art students started to transform the stained, blank 70-by-17-foot wall on Oct. 7.
The emerging mural is a riot of color and metaphor — Oakley the owl, Minerva the Pioneer Woman, the Little Chapel in-the-Woods and a collection of symbols, color and motion.
Giovanni Valderas, the professor who leads the mural class, said the class conducted the project like a formal public art proposal. Four teams submitted requests for proposals, mural designs and budgets. A panel selected the winning design. The whole class has been painting it.
“I think the best thing about it has been that they have really worked together, and they’ve gotten to know each other,” Valderas said. “And they’ve learned some really important things through this. They’ve learned that when you’re an artist, you can’t always be too precious about your work.”
Diane Cox, a sophomore studio art major who is back at TWU for a second time after serving as a U.S. military nurse in Afghanistan, designed the winning mural.
“It wasn’t too good in those first efforts,” she said. “The process was really good, though. Gio was very direct. If something wasn’t working, he said so, and helped us understand why.”
WHAT IS - AND WHO ARE - IN THE NEW TWU MURAL
Texas Woman's University mural painting students are transforming the north wall of the now-empty Marketing & Communications building into a work of art. The painting pays tribute to the university's icons, Denton landmarks and diversity. Here's who and what is on the mural:
Minerva - The face of the famous Pioneer Woman, her inscrutable gaze peering across Pioneer Circle and the land west of Denton, looms large on the left side of the mural. Students made her face more lifelike.
Oakley the Owl - TWU's mascot, also known as Minerva's owl, soars above all else on the mural. Oakley references the student body, the school's legacy and school spirit. He clutches oak leaves as he surveys the mural below.
The downtown Courthouse-on-the-Square - TWU is a little further than a stone's throw from the historic downtown Square, but the famous courthouse gets its due near Minerva.
The historic fountain at TWU - The famous fountain that sits near Hubbard Hall and the Blagg-Huey Library. A favorite spot for gatherings, studying and graduation photos, the fountain is on the right side of the mural.
The TWU Little Chapel-in-the-Woods - The panel that gave the mural design a greenlight wanted the mural to be interactive, so the design team put the Little Chapel in the center of the mural, and at a size that is perfect for people to shoot a selfie in front of. The chapel is one of Denton's most important structures. It was designed by Denton's most famous architect, O'Neil Ford. TWU professor and modernist painter Toni LaSelle directed the art in the chapel, including the stained glass windows.
Monarch butterfly & Hummingbird - These creatures honor the butterfly garden on campus that attracts the Monarch and Ruby-throated hummingbirds to campus.
Heart rhythm pattern - A heart rhythm reached from end to end on the mural, referencing TWU's award-winning nursing program and the emotional connections that education inspires.
Diversity - The mural references the different cultural backgrounds of the student body with a kente cloth to acknowledge both African and African-Americans who have attended and earned degrees. A milagro, a traditional Mexican religious charm or altar ornament, references the growing Hispanic student population. There is also a pride rainbow to honor LGBTQ students, graduates, faculty and staff. The Monarch butterfly does double-duty on the mural, also honoring the culture of Mexican and Mexican-American students, faculty and staff at the university.
Books - You'll see a number of open books with TWU-maroon binding that turn into birds. The books pay tribute to education, democracy and the freedom of students — and Americans — to read authors and books of their choice.
Rheyna Antoine, a senior studio art major in the class, said she found the process challenging, but found the project satisfying.
“Usually when you’re doing painting and drawing, you’re working on your own, so it’s been really good, really interesting to do a project like this where you work with other people, and you come up with an idea as a team,” she said.
The painters said they know that the mural might be provocative to some people — especially the Pride rainbow, the African kente cloth and the Mexican milagro that frame the top of the Little Chapel in-the-Woods. The books in the mural communicate that TWU supports the freedom of inquiry and reference the artists’ objection to book bans in American public and school libraries.
“We understand that some people might get offended,” Antoine said. “There is a lot going on right now, with certain states, like Florida, making laws about how history can be taught, and teaching that slavery benefited the slaves. We’ve talked about it.”
Senior Felicity Sanders said the class talked about what university leaders wanted, as well — a mural that seconds the recent ”Dream Big” campaign, which aims to raise $125 million for the university’s 125th anniversary. But the campaign is also a celebration of the diversity at TWU.
“We wanted to do something that recognizes all of the different cultures and identities on campus,” Sanders said. “TWU is a place for everyone.”
Senior Flor Bejar and Sanders said the mural has taught the class about the reality of creating a mural, which often means changing techniques and designs after the project gets started.
“You just don’t know what’s going to happen until you start,” Bejar said.
The class had to clean the wall, then prime it. Valderas said the stucco wall soaked up several coats of primer, and the artists are having to press the paint onto the wall.
Colby Parsons, the interim dean of the TWU Department of Visual Arts, said the mural marks an important moment for art students.
“I’m impressed with what they’ve been able to accomplish together,” he said. “I’ve been here for 27 years. I don’t know if this mural is a first, other than the brick murals. But I haven’t seen a project like this here.”
Valderas said he has listened as students give voice to what they hope will be enduring inspiration for students and for the people who live in the nearby neighborhood.
“I know that, sometimes, I’ll be driving to campus and I’ll be so tired,” Cox said. “Sometimes, I find myself saying, ‘Can I keep doing this?’ But I get here and it’s like, yes, I can do this.
“I like to think that other students like me will see this and know that, no matter where they come from or what they’re going through, they can get through school. That they can look at this mural and see themselves in it and know that. You know? That they look at this, see themselves and know that someone else did it.”