A new initiative will soon transform the whitewashed walls outside the Gothic Reading Room in Perkins Library into a canvas for collaborative student artistic expression.
All students were invited to submit ideas and create original works of art for the 20-foot-6-inch wide and 8-foot-7-inch tall creation entitled “Me You and Every One We Know: The Wall.” The painting of the mural, which began Oct. 22, is still a work in progress.
“The vision is essentially to add color to space[s] on campus,” said senior Bibi Tran, chair of the Duke University Union Visual Arts Committee. “Walking around campus, a lot of walls that I saw were really, really blank. The buildings are very polished and perfect looking, but... Duke could have more public art, some not-so-perfect self-expression.”
Sponsored by the Visual Arts Committee, Perkins Library and the Vice Provost for the Arts, “The Wall” is part of an ongoing effort to make the arts more visible on campus.
“Duke prides itself on being well-rounded, but the visual arts are not as publicly represented as the sports culture or the Greek world,” Tran said.
Perkins Library staff were very responsive and enthusiastic to the Visual Arts Committee’s proposal, said Scott Lindroth, vice provost for the arts, who facilitated the collaboration between the three parties.
“[Perkins staff] liked very much the idea of people painting in public, of students studying while people work on the mural,” he said.
“The Wall” design features vertical rainbow stripes and painted frames dedicated to library-related content, such as a text from a poem or a portrait of a celebrated author.
“The mural beautifully accommodates an artistic point of view in terms of its design, but it also allows us to spotlight particular aspects of the library collection,” Lindroth said.
And in terms of the library’s overall decor, the exhibit will certainly stand out as something different.
“[The mural] is a great opportunity to brighten up the space and make it less sterile,” said Margaret Brown, exhibits coordinator and Special Collections conservator for Duke University Libraries. “I hope students feel like the library is theirs and that we’re open to helping them make the space more comfortable.”
Additionally, Tran said she hoped the mural would connect diverse groups of people through creating art.
“In my ideal world, five people would show up for a painting session and become friends,” she said. “I feel like it’s a problem [at Duke] that people don’t break boundaries enough. You learn the most from the people who are most different from you.”
Although Tran’s vision of groups of students painting together has not played out as she had hoped—a consequence, she said, of Duke students’ hectic schedules—”The Wall” may serve as a stepping stone for future art projects in Perkins.
Brown said there are plans to renovate Old Perkins three years from now and the space’s informal atmosphere made Old Perkins a prime location for a trial run.
“If we find a specific artist who has a proof or concept, we might be able to move [it] into other areas in the library,” Brown said.
Lindroth said he also plans to start working on two murals in the Bryan Center in the Spring. In collaboration with printmaker Bill Fick, a visiting assistant professor of the practice of Visual Arts, the first project will hang eight large canvas tiles on the two-story wall outside Griffith Film Theater.
Lindroth added that he plans to enlist campus-wide support in painting the second mural, which would then hang above the Office of Student Activities and Facilities.
“I’d love for this to be ongoing, something that really lasts on campus,” he said. “These are real opportunities for students to literally leave their mark on campus in a beautiful and long-standing way.”
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