Katy Coakley
Contributing Writer
When walking down the halls between Lewis Hall and the Rebecca Crown Library, Dominican students will see a new and colorful mural that contains three different sections to view.
The size of the first panel is about 9 feet tall and 50 inches wide. The second panel is about 9 feet tall and 45 inches.
Painting began in May and is continuing as lead artist Fran Gregory and Dominican art students put finishing touches and final details on the mural.
Gregory credits DU President Glena Temple for coming up with the idea.
“She had seen murals at other schools and thought it would be great to have a mural here,” Gregory said. “She really wanted something that spoke to our student body and our diversity.”
The university’s student demographics show that 48.1% students are Hispanic, 32.8% are white, 6.5% are Black or African American, 6.2% unknown, 3.3% are Asian, 1.9% are international, 1.1% are multiracial and 0.1% are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.
University Ministry and El Centro helped submit various ideas and thoughts. Once the ideas were submitted, student groups like the Center for Cultural Liberation, the Black Student Union, the Minority Association of Pre-Health Students, and others also gave their input to help the Heritage Mural committee pick different concepts for the mural.
Once the ideas were chosen, Vice President for Enrollment Management and Marketing Genaro Balcazar and the committee presented the ideas to the University Council and Temple for approval.
Gregory explained in a recent interview that the different images and motifs have deeper meanings. For example, the butterfly, which can be found in Lewis Hall, has various representations.
“It’s symbolic of resurrection, it’s symbolic of our Christian heritage,” she said. “It’s also symbolic of immigration.”
By the library, students will see a section of the mural that features two people from Hispanic and African American backgrounds. Students will also see patterns on the mural that represent East Asian, Aztec, and other cultures.
Another section of the mural that is near the library features an angel, which Gregory says represents Dominican students.
“Our students graduate with ideas of how they can contribute to the world,” she said. “It’s an extension of the Caritas and Veritas.”
Dominican art professor Frank Spidale worked with Gregory to recruit student artists, Cesar Torres, and Callum Moran, to help with the painting.
“They were some of the top students in the class,” Spidale said. “Fran was looking for people, who could essentially draw.”
Torres was interested because the mural represented an artistic challenge. “I had never done a mural before,” he said. “I was really interested in participating for the first time.”
Moran explained the meaning behind the mural. “We wanted to focus on the story and group that makes up Dominican as a whole,” he said. “In our first iterations of it, we focused more on the religious historical aspect in terms of creating the design.”
The emphasis on diversity was a big part of the mural, Moran said. “It developed from feedback from the community into more of a showcase of Dominican’s commitment to diversity,” he said.
