Merging: Art and athletics
Being a senior graphic design major with a minor in business, and member of the women’s golf team, how would one have time to create a great piece of artwork for all to enjoy? Ashley Seaton has done just that; she created the “Mural to Merge” now on display in the dining hall.
The mural came about as part of an honors project that was embraced immediately by various members of the UIndy community.
“With this project I wanted to demonstrate to the University of Indianapolis what I could accomplish with skills I learned here in graphic design, marketing and fine arts. I wanted to influence students to go beyond the projects assigned in class and to give back to their community,” Seaton said. “The combination of business, fine arts and graphic design involved with this project was the first time in my college career I had the opportunity to utilize these areas and bring them together for one purpose.
Senior golfer Ashley Seaton finished her mural, displayed above the serving lines in UIndy’s Marketplace. She said she drew her ideas about the mural from her experiences at UIndy, academically and athletically. She credits her teammates for helping her garner ideas for this project.
The ideas for the mural not only came from Seaton, they came from the rest of the campus community as well. Twenty notebooks were placed around campus, for students to pick up and sketch or write in their ideas for the design of the mural. Some responses included the following: “remember not to study too hard but laugh much harder,” “let your light shine,” “what does not kill us makes us stronger” and “where am I going, what am I doing, what will happen,” alongside of the picture of a person and “work on it together,” appeared beside a sketch of hands.
Seaton feels that her experiences as a college student helped her to understand the responses a little better. She also knew that she wanted the entire campus to be able to help create the mural.
“Being a college student provided me with a direct understanding of the response given and how to incorporate the responses into the design of the mural. Utilizing the responses from the journals, I incorporated objects representing time, navigation, travel, education and thought,” she said.
Students, faculty and alumni were able to help in painting the mural at Paint Day during Welcome Week 2009. Seaton looked to various pop artists for inspiration on how to make this easier, by creating simpler shapes and color to be pre-mixed and require no blending to help to accommodate the different levels of painting skills.
Seaton is a senior member of the UIndy women’s golf team and her teammates were more than supportive throughout the mural project.
“They actually helped me brainstorm for my project on our golf trips. It was difficult to decide on what to do for my honors project. It was the long car rides for golf that helped me come up with an idea. They loved the final proposal and looked forward to getting to help. They even proved to be wonderful painters on paint day,” Seaton said.
Had it not been for the many people involved the project might not have been possible.
“It was through the Honors College that I was given the opportunity to work on a large-scale project; however, this project could not have been successful if it were not for the Department of Art & Design, The Physical Plant and Kory Vitangeli,” Seaton said.
Associate Professor of Art Jim Viewegh helped Ashley in the wood shop on constructing the wooden structure. He also supervised the final painting and engineered the hanging system seen in Schwitzer Center.
The mural is now on display in the dining hall for all to see, and Seaton feels that nothing is more satisfying.
“From the beginning, I wanted the mural to be hung in the student center because it is designed for, by and of the students,” Seaton said. “There was no other place I wanted the mural to be hung; it would have been a huge disappointment if it did not get approved. There is nothing more rewarding than getting to see my work hung in the student center.”
