EarthRise -Todd Dragert

I'd like to propose this mural to be created for the Mesa College Campus.This mural was inspired by a conversation I had with my grandfather a couple of years ago, before he passed away. He told me he'd always be watching over me. I liked the Michael Asher piece in the Stuart collection at UCSD. It's the granite water fountain.It's a monument the gives life/water.Instead of a monument that remembers the dead. My proposal is a thought provoking attractive 2 part outdoor art piece. Outdoor art is a great way to bring artistic creativity out of the galleries and into free public view. This campus needs more art outside to stimulate and inspire the students. This piece immediately invites curiosity and wonder.    Todd Dragert

A quote found so frequently in Looney Tunes, this work of art is meant to be both obscure and fun. A celebration of life, reminding the passersby of this major thoroughfare to take life a little less seriously and live a little. I chose a graffiti style of art rather than a more realistic style, because I believe it will make the art more accessible to everyone who sees it. I drew references from the abstract work The Persistence of Memory by artist Salvador Dalí. 

I would like to see this around the school, because during the hustle and bustle of our daily school day, sometimes we need something to take our cares away. - Paul Santillan

Geckos in the Courtyard -Walker Anderson

This is my proposal for the Mesa College Mural Art Project.  There is no deep philosophical meaning to the image.  It is only intended to be fun.  My original idea called for brightly colored Geckos crawling up the sidewalk.  However, the pavement reminded me of sandstone so it led me to a more aboriginal style that I had not envisioned.  Hopefully the more subdued colors and the white inner glow will remind the viewer of native rock art from the American Southwest or perhaps Australia.  I suppose since Mesa College is located in the American Southwest the theme is appropriate.  Perhaps I was subliminally influenced by Alexis Smith's Snake path at UCSD as I have walked that path dozens of times.

-Walker Anderson

Universal Gateway - Melanie Carpio

BEFORE

AFTER

Mesa has many bare/unattractive walls that lack color and inspiration, so I believe that a mural containing an interactive and positive message would be a fun and meaningful addition to the campus. I want the mural to have an interactive perspective almost as if you could actually walk into the mural itself.

Inspired by the Margaret Killagen video, I wanted to share my appreciation for "handmade" art, so I decided to use a personal painting of space for this project, because it has a broad perspective-- within the universe there is so much to see in life and knowledge and learning will take you there. I thought this would be great to have on Mesa's campus because of what the education here has to offer.

Hopefully, this mural would be a positive reminder to constantly expand your knowledge so that you can have a wider range of opportunities in the future. At the same time, I hope it would bring a little fun to a generally uninteresting looking part of campus.

- Melanie Carpio

"Mural at Mesa" -Lorena Verduzco

My proposal is the creation of a mural that showcases some of the characteristics of the Optima letterforms. In order to create this concept, I explored several fonts that I considered well designed. Being a typography lover and after some research, I decided to dedicate this project to Hermann Zapf, the creator of the 1958 typeface, Optima.

The collage of letterforms is meant to show some of the characteristics of the font, like the alternating weights of stroke and the consistent structure throughout the entire font. As part of my research, I also learned that the creation of the typeface was based on the golden rectangle proportions, and I decided to play with this element as part of the layout of my design. Each letterform was placed on a rectangle that represents the golden ratio proportions, showcased in different tones and sizes to add interest to the layout.

My proposal suggests placing the mural around the top of the building so it can be seen from a distance and from different views, an idea that was adopted after seeing Nauman’s Vices and Virtues for the Stuart collection. His work is an interesting piece that consists of seven pairs of words superimposed and that was placed around the Charles Lee Powell Structural Systems Laboratory, a work in which letterforms and color play an important role.

I believe that a mural on campus dedicated to typography could also inspire other students to visit the Art department in our colleges.

– Lorena Verduzco

Greetings from Mesa College- Hae Mi Lee

I would like to title that image "Greetings from mesa college" because I felt like that wall was leading me to the class whenever I passed this side of buildings. I saw everytime just the white clean wall of buildings, so  I wanted to design a vital one on the wall. I put that girl meaning of me, and I imagined I am walking that side. People would have all different life styles and emotions, so they could think all different feelings and ideas before the class by pasing that side. I hope everyone get excited before class in anyways so they can feel they are alive.  

I quoted this one. "It is generally agreed that Hello is an appropriate greeting because if you entered a room and said Goodbye, it could confuse a lot of people."-Dolph Sharp-

That's right!!! We are ALWAYS welcoming you!!

"San Diego @ Sunset" -Peter Steinbach

As I walk through the Campus I find it pretty bland with a lot of poured concrete walls and straight lines, until you stumble upon the library.  But focusing on the area around H, I, K, and L, buildings I find a void of creativity. The project I purpose has no underlying meaning or any deep personal connections. It is a simple sunset and one appropriately set in San Diego. The colors and textures break up the drone of that long walk way. And as for many students sometimes it is nice to stop and watch the sunset, even at 11:30. The more stimuli and creativity you saturate a place of learning with, the more productive it will be. I personally enjoy observing the great design and engineering the library offers.  And even more the open art exhibits on Thursday night in the D-100 building. All these bring out mental exertion even before I step into class. So the more the merrier as I always say. As such I really respect the absolute functionalistic and also regionally appropriate mosaic/walk way by Alexis Smith’s “Snake Path”.  It incorporates the Rattle Snake found in the San Diego area. 

-Peter Steinbach

Adopt A Pet - Lisa Oschmann

My project proposal is for a mural at Mesa College that would bring attention to the problem of abandoned and lost pets with an emphasis on dogs. We can all relate to how playful, trusting, and loving dogs are and seeing a couple of them running freely along the beach brings these emotions to the forefront (at least for me).

For this piece, the picture of the five dogs under the caption of “Adopt a Homeless Pet, Make a Friend for Life” is a way to put on display how beautiful and happy your life can become once you give an animal in need of a home another chance at life through rescue.

It would be my hope, that in addition to making people more aware of animal rescue, what better way to invigorate and beautify an otherwise dull building than with a picture of a beautiful dog or cat.

- Lisa Oschmann

Just Another Day At The Circus- Nic Cunningham

I am submitting a proposal for my mural titled "Just Another Day At The Circus". I titled my mural this because college can sometimes seem like a circus. I think that with my art instillation on Mesa College Campus, students will get a sense of relief while on campus. College can be stressful and with a fun mural like this, one can relax. I propose that there would be some benches where students can just sit and enjoy some free time. This instillation would be that along the lines of what Mark Dion would do. Mark Dion goes against the grain of dominant culture to challenge perception and convention. I feel that this mural would go against the grain by not being the normal expected in a typical art mural. If you read bio about Mark Dion on the PBS.com website, you would agree that my mural is along the lines of Mark Dion. -Nic Cunningham

Celebrate Education- Jennifer Pranskevich

                                                                               BEFORE

                                                                               AFTER

My proposal is for a mural to one of the buildings on the Mesa campus which students will pass by on a daily basis.   The subject of the mural would be show people engaged and excited to be where they are.  I would have the subjects be in silhouette form so that anyone could picture themselves as the subject.  I would also use a sunny, bright background to reflect the positive emotions connected to the ocean and peaceful weather.  I think this would be a good way to add a sense of enjoyment to the campus.    Like Do Ho Suh’s Fallen Star project in the UCSD Stuart Art collection, I hope this mural offers a link to the idea that school as an extension of a home, or place of enjoyment.

- Jennifer Pranskevich

Fun Health- Aida Rodriguez

Fun Health at Mesa by Aida Rodriguez

Well my concept was born initially in favor of health. This whole idea started when i saw the mesa college picture, i like it so very much, the idea of the picture having so much space and so much clarity came to me as pure, as fun, as attention grabbing; so the idea came to me, to put human size pictures in the background simulating a walking/playing attitude.

When it comes to a persons health not everyone takes good care of them selves, and the initiative of seeing fun, freedom, and a care/stress free person, enjoying himself , can come across the mesa student as fun and liberating. I really liked the proposal of Abdiel de Leon, the greenhouse project is very innovative, my proposal comes to push people to live a healthy lifestyle doing sports or even taking a good walk, Abdiel's proposal of using nature to give it a green prospective comes across as a good idea for the earth.

I hope everyone see's what i'm seeing and that everyone has fun, even tough school and life can be some times stressful, but having a a happy feeling once in a while can be a nice idea and a nice outlet on life.

~Aida Rodriguez 

Cost of Education

The Cost of a Higher Education - Nick Frelin (Mult121)

            My mural is intended to promote interest in students to the affairs of the world that directly impact them.Every year the cost of being a student increases and many of those impacted dont fully understand why. Those that don't, blindly lash out and say that the system is against them. They seek change but believe that it is out of reach and that there is nothing that could be done. This is not the case just an instance where those who chose not to directly affect their condition want change to occur for them not by them. Unless we the students take a more active role in improving our own way of life with voting and petitioning the shift towards an increased cost of education will continue. Seeking the self empowerment of knowledge is what school is all about and what better way to start then to seek to change what can be foreseen as a current hurdle to all students. The cost of education will always be there but it should not be as much  monetary as the cost of time and diligence.  The first step is accepting the responsibility for change that we are all entitled to.
          The design is based off the work of Mr. Brainwash who studied under Banksy, Space invader, Shepard Fairey, and several others.
(Displayed is a child reaching for books contained in a computer monitor. Intended to reflect the general escalation of costs towards the tools used in education. Where we used to have books we now are required to use PCs. The barcode is used simply to insinuate a cost) 

Nick Frelin (Mult121)

The Future Gate- Farah Ali

The project that I am proposing is for the main entrance for Mesa community college. It is a huge space with a heavy structure that gives the students unwelcoming feeling, I tried to make it more welcoming and connect it with the sky behind it. The scenes of graduated students are welcoming of the new students gives the new student feeling of connecting with the others who passed and reached their goals. It gives them the hope of success. The sky behind the scene gives the feeling of the wide future that wetting the student after his graduate, so I called it The Future Gate.   

 By Farah Ali  

Looking Up - Valerie Vardaro

Before

After

My art installation proposal involves adding art to our outdoor ceilings. Many of us would agree that we spend a lot of time looking down; at our feet as we walk, the sidewalk and especially at our cell phones. These installations, starting with this one called “Looking Up”, will prompt us to look up once in a while and enjoy the beauty around us. The piece also includes a quote by Stephen Hawking that says: “Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet.” He was speaking to space exploration, but the quote is still applicable.

I believe that this proposal should win the competition because “Looking Up” makes people stop and think. This is a confirmation of what Mary Beebe, Director of the Stuart Collection at UCSD stated in her interview in “Naked Art”, “…art is about paying attention…paying attention can be just noticing and thinking about what you noticed….” Also, it is unexpected. One does not expect to see art on outdoor ceilings.

The Mesa campus is very monotone and the pop of color from this piece will bring life to the atmosphere and ambiance surrounding the buildings. Many studies have been conducted about the effect that color has on our moods. For example, blue is calming and great for a library, red is often used in restaurants and cafeterias because is considered an appetite stimulator and yellow which is considered the most agitating color, is often used in fast food restaurants, where the motivation is for patrons to get in and get out quickly.

I chose to emphasize green for this piece because it is located outside and close to nature. Green is known for its calming effect. This is the reason that people wait in a “green room” while they are waiting to appear on television…to relax. I also included some red and yellow to get people moving since most students will be on their way to class when they pass through this area. I believe that the college experience requires all of these mood stimulators, making this the perfect place for this piece. 

~ Valerie Vardaro

Face of the World - Wesley Krawczyk

This project is supposed to present how one can impact the world. Thus I have used the Arc de Triomphe (an important monument from France) and a photo of myself. If you work hard to create an impact in the world, you may have your face seen everywhere.

This photo was taken at one of the K buildings at San Diego Mesa College. Aside from using the vanishing point for both images, I had to use the polygon lasso tool to copy and paste parts of the background and paste them into separate layers in order to avoid ruining the background. What good is the vanishing point if it excludes the door, fire extinguisher box and other objects in this scene?

The Arc de Triomphe had the hard light layer mask while the photo had luminosity (to match with the black and white coloring of the Arc) with opacity being 75% and 50% respectively.

I did what I can to make this image as realistic as possible. I would appreciate some feedback.

- Wesley Krawczyk

Concrete Jungle -Nicole Meinholz

The piece that I am proposing for Mesa College involves a large blank wall in the busy area of the campus.  I chose this area because the project also sends a message to its readers.  "Clearly, then, the city is not a concrete jungle, it is a human zoo." -Desmond Morris.  It states that perhaps we are nothing more than humans stuck in our own zoo.  We build huge cities and highways, but many of us never leave these areas, making them more and more like exhibits that we don't know how to live without.  People come from all over the world to see these cities, and see the people that inhabit them, just like we as people go to zoos.  To see different species and exhibits and examine their ways of life.  This piece offers a different view of the world, and gives the students at Mesa College something to think about.
-Nicole Meinholz

Shamu jumps at sky-YaLi Huang

Shamu jumps at sky, I design two photo are compound together and some different blue bubble. We can color wall with the oceans scenic in Mesa College and we will feel close to nature. When students feel stress, this area are relaxing for students to stay. Shamu jumps at sky, it likes "A carp fish jumps at dragon door."  This sentence mean people are successful on the imperial examination system of Qing Dynasty in China. It like people pass exam and they can to be an official at the White House. They will be have success lives. So I design "Shamu jumps at sky" photo on the wall. It mean all students are successful in Mesa College and in the future, Wish anyone be success.