On Monday afternoon, representatives from both the city and University of Arkansas joined together for the unveiling of a new public mural created by students in the School of Art’s Mural Painting course. The mural, titled “People Watching", is located on the Tsa La Gi Trail, on the wing wall of the railroad underpass tunnel near Hill Place Apartments in Fayetteville.
16 undergraduate students from the School of Art worked throughout the semester to research, design and install the mural as part of Assistant Professor of Art Su A Chae’s service-learning Mural Painting course, which engages students with community partners, public art processes and site-responsive design.
Student Brianna Delima Ifland shared her experience with the course, which was her first painting class.
“I do not have a background in painting. In fact, I specialize in film and photo and this is my first painting class. I told myself that I was not a painter. That drawing wasn't my thing. However, this course has taught me otherwise. I've learned a lot, not just about the medium, but collaboration and working with people to create a common vision that serves artistic expression and education, but also speaks to the community that we serve.
“Public art serves such an important role in building community and showing appreciation and consideration for the space that we exist in. I hope ‘People Watching’ is more than a simple ornament added to your morning commute, but can act as a small meditation in appreciation for where you are, especially in a time where oftentimes intangible worlds seem more real than the physical ones.”
The mural has vibrant blues, pinks, purples and greens, with two large insects native to the area placed beside a magnifying glass– looking into the tunnel as people pass by. Ifland says the piece is meant to shift the perspective of travelers, while providing context to the space the mural occupies.
“The piece is meant to shift the perspective of travelers while providing context to the space the mural occupies. This trail is named Tsa La Gi, referring to the Cherokee people in language. We are positioned currently along one of the routes parallel to the Trail of Tears. As such, we wanted to consider indigeneity when choosing the fauna depicted,” Ifland said.
“The rainbow scarab beetle is native to much of the eastern and central United States, including Arkansas. The butterfly is a diana fritillary, the Arkansas state butterfly. It is native to many mountain regions, including the Ozarks and Appalachian mountains. Appalachia's ancestral home to many tribes, including the Cherokee people. This shared relationship with Appalachia and then the Ozarks, and now the diana fritillary status as an Arkansas icon, made it the perfect subject for our piece.
“We also wanted to consider scale and illusion, using the magnifying glass to complement the tunnel's architecture and the scale of the bugs to introduce an element of wonder for the trail users. It harkens back to childhood, the feeling of the world around you being very big, and the feeling of smallness not as something bad, but as a comforting thing.”
Su A Chae, Assistant Professor of Art and instructor of the course, gave her thanks to the city, and to her students.
“I'm very grateful to our community partner at the city of Fayetteville for collaborating with us and providing this big canvas and opportunities that cultivate both our students’ development as artists and community awareness.
“Throughout the semester, students researched public art in Fayetteville, worked through several lectures, screenings, collaborative studio activities and completed an all-year partnership with the city such as the Community Artwork Project and the Utility Box Art Project. All of that prepared them for this final stage of the class — painting outdoors, in real weather, on a real wall for a real audience.
“Before we began painting, students came to this site to walk the trail, talk with the trail users, learn about the trail history and study the surrounding ecology. They brought these observations into the mural process, one that played with the scale shift to perspective and makes us imagine who might be watching us as we pass through this tunnel. This course asks students not only to learn how to paint at scale, but also how to navigate collaboration, negotiate different ideas and consider the environment and the people their work would meet every day.”
Mayor Molly Rawn spoke on the significance of collaboration between the city and the university for projects like this, and beyond.
“I want to start first with the university piece and how excited I am anytime we can partner. You know, the university is such a driver of the city's identity from an economic development perspective, but also from just the culture of our city. So I think anytime we can take advantage of all of that talent that we have right here, it's really important to do so. I love collaboration between the two.
“And then in terms of public art, the city has over the past decade really, I think, staked a flag in the ground, for lack of a better metaphor, on the importance of public art and just how it contributes to quality of life and just those little touches that help make a place more enjoyable and livable. It doesn't mean that it's the most important. We still obviously have to focus on infrastructure and meeting people's needs. But adding those bits of public art, I think, is really important for people's wellbeing as part of what people love about Fayetteville.”
This specific mural builds on earlier class work completed in collaboration with the City of Fayetteville, including the recently completed Tiger Twist mural at Fayetteville’s Community Art Wall and utility boxes as part of the City of Fayetteville Utility Box Program.
For a full list of public art efforts through the city of Fayetteville, you can visit the city’s website.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
