ANN ARBOR – Undergraduate students from University of Michigan’s Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design spent nearly five hours on Sunday creating a chalk paint mural outside the Rackham Graduate School to honor the class of 2021.
Located at 915 E. Washington St., the mural is a part of the university’s commencement celebrations and will be on view until May 2.
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The massive 18 x 400 foot mural reads “Go Blue Class of 2021″ and features “flying” graduation caps.
Stamps alumnae Liz Guilmet and Yen Azzaro led the project along with the Office of University Development Events and the Office of the President.
An artist and illustrator, Azzaro said students worked on all aspects of the mural, from the design to the installation. Split up into a grid, the sections were led by different students who oversaw team communications, materials and painting.
“Collaborating on this mural has been a testament to the talent and ingenuity of the students at Stamps,” Azzaro said in a statement. “Even during crunch time with finals nearing, students really stepped up to be team leads and offer a variety of concept possibilities.”
“This has been such a great project to work on with students during this time,” Guilmet, who is also a faculty member at Stamps, said in a statement. “It was a way for them to come together, to collaborate and to celebrate safely after getting through this difficult year.”
Students involved in the project include: Abigail Rankin, Alyssa Wilcome, Ashlee Freeman, Brianna Manzor, Coco DelVecchio, Emily Holtz, Erin Walski, Huanyuan Li, Isabella Kehoe, Jaymes Walker, Kyra Koprowski, Lee Hubbel, Madisyn Hicks, Michelle Ha, Natalie Guisinger, Nicole White, Riley Parrish, Saima Siddiqui, Samuel Turner, Sarah Dettling, Shivalika Kohli, Sophia Schwartz, Stephanie Li, Valerie Le, Violet Flores, Victor Garcia, XiaoYu Che, Yasmine Elhagehassan and Younji (Jinny) Jin.
The university asked that visitors to the outdoor mural wear face coverings and follow social distancing guidelines.