Featured Stories
District Heights Mural Project
By: Margaret Morgan Hubbard, Director
Murals are paintings on a wall, ceiling or other permanent surface. They can occupy a small space or wrap around an entire building. Murals are a powerful form of communication. Bringing art into the public sphere, their subjects can range from recording extraordinary historical events to illustrating ordinary life. They have been used to celebrate well-known public figures and to depict the unsung everyday people who engage in small and large acts of generosity, kindness, community-building and courage. Together with William Wirt Middle School art teacher and muralist, Curt Cunningham, and Architect and UMCP Assistant Professor Isaac Williams and his graduate students, the Engaged University competed for and won a mural commission with the Prince George's County Art in Public Places program. The mural will enhance two sides of a wall of the new District Heights Fire/EMS Station, making it visible from the intersection of Marlboro Pike and Old Silver Hill Road.
The Station was merely a set of drawings and an empty lot when the competition was first announced. Students from William Wirt Middle School's afterschool art club worked with Mr. Cunningham to conceive, design and draw the original submission. Because the site was to be a new Fire/EMS station, the students chose to illustrate the dangers of a night fire, complete with the rescue of an infant as well as the day time acts of community building that make firemen and EMS workers such respected community leaders. Words like HERO, mentor, protector and neighbor were inserted in the mural to underscore the many different roles they play in the course of their work. By far the most prominent figure in the mural is the fire truck itself, an image that looms large in the imaginations and fantasy play of children of all ages the world round.
Members of Professor Williams' team analyzed the site, drew up plans for the installation and produced a video of how the mural would look to residents as they walked or drove by the wall. The staff of the Engaged University helped to finalize the design, write and submit the proposal, and prepare the presentation for the panel.
That was many moons ago. The building held its grand opening in September 2008. The actual painting of the mural finally began in late August and was completed just before the Thanksgiving break. A number of University students, working with art education major, Angela Annecchino and recent ethnomusicology PhD graduate Dr. Isa Angulo, made major contributions to the work. The mural is expected to be installed at the site before Christmas.
This mural is the largest scale collaborative art project yet to be undertaken by the Engaged University. Partnering with others is very labor intensive and time consuming. Many different people with different approaches, experiences, sensibilities and abilities contributed to the effort. It is often easier to simply "do it by yourself." However the rewards of this kind of large scale collaboration are far greater than simply getting a job done. Working together, melding perspectives, sharing responsibilities and negotiating consensus amongst partners are important and enduring life skills that can be as longlasting and powerful as the artwork itself.