Out with the old (mostly)

Earlier in the year, The Reflector lamented how little art we have here at MRU. However, one of the bright (if not the brightest) spots is the I-wing mural.

Most students who wander through the I-wing notice the three painted murals along the way. Yet, most don’t know much about them, like who painted them or why.

Painted two years ago by tech grads, this mural’s condition is good enough that the university will leave it alone. Photo: Nathan Ross

“(The mural is) one of those things that’s known around the school,” said Samantha Robb, a second-year technical theatre student. “Nobody really knows much about our program, so people are like, ‘What are you guys doing this for?’ It opens up conversations about that.”

The mural is painted every year along the walls in the I-wing by second-year MRU students who are enrolled in the Scenic Painting class, led by Angela Rees.

The scene to be painted is chosen each year by Rees, and each scene incorporates different techniques required of scenic painting, such as the marbling seen in the current mural.

So what is the mural this year?

Despite bets it was going to be a wave scene – or the most popular vote, a disco – the theme of this year’s mural is a chess scene at night.

Robb, who is one of the students working on the mural, said this is the first public mural the technical theatre students get to do. They work on a smaller one in class, but it gets painted over quickly, unlike the hall mural. “It’s fun to have a lasting image for a few years,” Robb added.

“The thing is,” Robb continued, “When we’re working on it, people come walking by and they say, ‘Oh! This again! I’m so excited!’ and faculty will (say), ‘What are you going to make this year?’ So, that gets us out there a little bit.

“We really want to be able to do it elsewhere, but for now it’s just I-wing. Someday it would be nice if they would let us do more around the school.”

It is unfortunate they are limited to the I-wing, as this is a display of some of beautiful student art, and it is in one of the least-travelled wings for students.

The mural-to-be is already showing signs of how beautiful it will be once completed. Photo: Nathan Ross

However, it brings life to what would otherwise be a drab, boring-looking section of the school.

Technical theatre students usually get their best work displayed during the productions that go up at the school with the theatre department, but those are only seen by people who attend the show and are quickly scrapped at the completion of a run.

Normally, the Scenic Painting class alternates through three designated walls in the I-Wing on which to paint their mural, however that number has recently been dropped to two. The wall currently depicting the Elgin Marbles has been declared off-limits to paint over.

“The school really likes it,” Robb said. “I’m not sure who, but they said ‘Don’t paint over it because it’s really pretty.’”