“Monday Murals” adorn student center wall
More stories from Kristin Bomboy
Sheleta J. Webb, director of multicultural affairs and diversity education, looks at the most recent chalk mural drawn on a new wall-sized chalkboard in the Natali Student Center. This semester, fine arts major Alissa Petrosoniak and Associate Prof. Todd Pinkham launched the creation of the weekly “Monday Murals” art project.
Art has been around for centuries. In the stone ages, people took to the walls of caves with dirt and charcoal and drew stories with symbols. In the 15th century during the Renaissance period, a new material became prominent: chalk. Now in 2015, a California University of Pennsylvania student and her professor are taking to the walls of Cal U with chalk.
This semester, junior fine arts major Alissa Petrosoniak and Associate Professor Todd Pinkham made their way to the chalkboard in the Natali Student Union every Monday and started chalking large murals to be on display for the week.
Petrosoniak, who is also on the Cal U softball team and a member of the international club, started doing the “Monday Murals” when professor Pinkham mentioned the opportunity.
“He was mentioning an opportunity to do live murals in the union and said he would ask art club if they wanted to do it,” Petrosoniak said. “I said I would do it with him and he said perfect!”
Each week, Pinkham would pick a classic art piece and attempt to add a modern twist to it. Some examples are Salvador Dali’s “Persistence of Memory”, but with the McDonald’s golden arches added into the background. Another example is a rendition of “The Scream” by Edvard Munch.
“I think that they are interesting,” said Dan Bickerton, a senior tourism major. “I like how they change every week to completely different murals. It’s cool.”
One Cal U student, Thomas Chapman, was greatly impacted by the murals and was also particularly fond of the renditions of Sir Thomas Lawrence’s “Pinkie” and Thomas Gainsborough’s “The Blue Boy.” The paintings were chalked side by side, however “The Blue Boy” was Kanye West and “Pinkie” was Kim Kardashian.
“They provide inspiration to my soul that is damaged. Every time I wake up for an 8 a.m., I find light in the morning by seeing my fellow peers chalking such beautiful artwork,” Chapman said. “It gives life to all those who lost hope.”
“And I particularly like the Kanye West one,” he added.
Petrosoniak said that she is looking forward to continuing the ‘Monday Murals” in the future as long as her schedule allows.
In the words of Edgar Degas, “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”
