On Saturday, January 28th, two murals created by CCC Design and Painting students under the instruction of Art Instructor Kristin Shauck were unveiled in the children’s section of the Astor Public Library as part of a Martin Luther King Day event organized by Americorps member Kelsey Webster.

These two murals were integrated into the curriculum as final projects for both the Basic Design and Intro and Intermediate Painting classes this past Fall term. These murals were designed to the celebrate diversity of our global cultural heritage in honor of Martin Luther King. Each student chose a specific culture to research. The design students created an animal symbol to represent their specific culture, and the painting students collected images that in some way represent their specific culture, and worked together to create a single collage of all of the images integrated together within a single harmonious composition. Both the design and painting students used symbolic and arbitrary color to convey moods and ideas related to various cultural traditions.

Instructor Kristin Shauck: “It has been very exciting to join Kelsey and the Americorps volunteers on this Martin Luther King Event project in order to create these two collaborative murals for the children’s section of the public library. This project was a great opportunity to bring multicultural and interactive learning into the curriculum in a very meaningful way! I was thrilled to be able to present, discuss, and share images of this mural project at an international conference on the humanities in Hawaii with people from all over the world in early January. It is wonderful to be part of a faculty on a campus with such a strong tradition of active community engagement across the disciplines.”
Painting student Jeannette Davis: “I hope the children who see this mural will want to read about some of the peoples depicted on the mural and inspire them to want to learn about other peoples as well as learning about their own heritage.”

Painting student Tommy Rogers: “Through out all my work on this project I must say that unity and connection is what holds this world together. No matter what a person's religion is or what language they speak, they are the same as you, and you are the same as all the world. Every one deserves to be loved and respected….The key to having a fun and happy life is to have an open heart and love every one.”

Participating Students:
Introductory and Intermediate Painting
Pat Butterworth
Patsy Chapel
Jeannette Davis
Irene Drage
Tony Gardner
Lou Kister
Meghann Lynch
Bridget Rodasky
Tommy Rogers
Dawn Stevick
Chasmin Stover

Basic Design
Will Amaral
Shauna Bailey
Jonah Blanchett
Seth Cook
Tom Dean
John Diego
Ivone Drabik
Mona Foss
Devan Gill
Jesse Hinton
Michael Long
Rhiannon McKenney
Susan Rhoads
Scott Steif
Dan Tyler
Zach Wiegardt

From left to right: Basic Design students Rhiannon McKenney and Ivone Drabik, Painting student Bridget Rodasky (with her son Hunter), instructor Kristin Shauck, and Kelsey Webster