Who we are
The M.U.R.A.L. Committee creates opportunities and provides support for UCSC art students to create public artworks on campus. The committee was formed in Spring 2020 in the midst of the first quarter of COVID lockdown and in solidarity with the George Floyd racial justice rebellions and the Black Lives Matter movement.
How we started
A group of dedicated current and former UCSC art students began meeting on zoom on a regular basis with Art Department faculty members Laurie Palmer and Enrique Leal. (See a list of current and former M.U.R.A.L. committee members here). Over the summer and fall of 2020 we drafted a call for proposals for murals that could be installed safely outside in the Baskin Visual arts complex and, following a request by staff members in Physical and Biological Sciences, on Science Hill.
The committee received eight proposals by the deadline and produced and installed two murals in the spring of 2021 in Baskin Visual Arts.
Two installed murals Spring 2021:
“Dismantle the Criminal Injustice System” was created by MJ Hart for Baskin Visual Arts
“Place the Collective Good over Personal Benefit” was created collaboratively by Caroline Alfonso, Lucinda Gold, and Klytie Xu for Baskin Visual Arts
See the installation video here!
…And check out our installation process images here. (Thanks to Lucinda Gold for her video and photographs!)
Shout out to Enrique Leal for his time and technical help in printing and coordinating the installations!
Proposals that artists created specifically for Science Hill are on hold after encountering a more complex process of approval. Meanwhile, all the proposals that were submitted for the original call are exhibited on this site in an online exhibition dedicated to the persistent creative spirit of our beloved community of artists.
There will be more! Would you like to get involved?
The M.U.R.A.L. Committee will resume meeting in the fall of 2021. If you are interested in being on the committee, please contact us! apalmer1@ucsc.edu, eleal@ucsc.edu. And if you are interested in proposing a mural design, keep your eye out for the next call for proposals, which will also be posted on this website. Meanwhile, check out the proposals created in response to the original call.
Proposals submitted Fall 2020:
Naturalist’s Perspective Nature Scene, by Saul Villegas for Science Hill
“All Good Science is Art, and All Good Art is Science,” by Lily Kennard, for Science Hill
“What will be your legacy?” by Claire Apana, for Science Hill
(Untitled), by Serena Richelle, for Science Hill
“You Belong,” by Emily Aranda, for Baskin Visual Arts
Collaborative mural by Natalie Del Castillo, Jocelyn Lee, and Klytie Xu, with Timothy Young, for the Solitary Garden in Baskin Visual Arts
Mural by Erica Earl, for Science Hill
M.U.R.A.L. Committee current and former members
Emily Aranda
John Contreras
Marcus Cota
Natalie Del Castillo
Lucinda Gold
Valerie Jackson
Lucia Lazaro
Enrique Leal
Jocelyn Lee
Silvana Moiceneau
Laurie Palmer
Elijah Solow-Ohashi
Emily Tse
Isabella Tuell
Andrea Vidales
Klytie Xu