Mesa Innovation

Before starting my project I wanted to get some good pictures of the newer buildings on Mesa’s campus. I chose this building over the others because it was so different and vibrant.  After researching, I knew right away that I wanted to make a ‘street art’ mural. I was inspired by a mural painted in Poland, #4 on http://www.boredpanda.com/large-scale-street-art-murals/. The mural is an awesome piece of art representing a simple light-switch.  The first thing that came to mind when creating my mural in was innovation.  I used the symbol tool to make the light-bulb shape, and stretched it out was as big as the building. In order to get the right coloring I used the Eyedropper tool. I added these colors using the drop shadow, outer glow, and gradient overlay effects. After I used the text transform tool in perspective mode to fit the image on the slightly slanted building.

-Nathan Travis 

Unspoken words - Andrea Herman

My proposal is to put this mural on the wall at Mesa College. This building is located at the Dean’s office.  It is kind of plain on the campus and a little color wouldn't hurt. Also I have noticed that many students take music very serious. This mural would encourage and inspire more students. Music is a part of many people’s lives in one way or another. Music if a form of unspoken words. Music is inspiring in itself. I think that the Dean’s office should have inspiration. Why not with Music right? Inspire the students with something that draws us all together .

Andrea Herman 

Aarons Art Porposal

The project that I am proposing is for a building that is a dedicated dance building. I imposed an inspirational dancing figure in between the square windows. I also chose the words “dance, be fee” .I wanted to add color that mimicked a more inner city look with the graffiti. I feel that students and faculty members can have a place to let go and truly remember to be free. I chose to do this because it is a blank canvas on the buildings and can be boring also; this is a great way to inspire the campus. I got the Idea from looking at several tattoos as well as inner city graffiti. The way that it addresses and embraces culture, and life is amazing.  Most cultures all have a different type of dance style associated with them and we have come to associate all of them in the American culture. Which again I think would be a great eye catcher for our campus and provides great inspiration daily.

-Aaron Betz

Earbuds on a Motherboard at Mesa - Aaron Haley

Before 

After

Proposal

The project I am proposing is a mural picture of a motherboard from the computer with a pair of earphones.  I studied Barbara Kruger's artwork and thought of making this art wall for Mesa.  It is really cool that she combines words with images and she is a true artist.  I started with one of the boring blank walls to add a dimensional aspect.  I chose this area of the Mesa Campus because there are computer classrooms in this area.   The motherboard symbolizes the many educational adventures that Mesa College offers.  The headphones symbolize the students' ability to connect to the possibilities awaiting them.  I believe images like these help students explore the creativity they are bring onto campus.  I hope this image will make people enjoy the feeling this artwork is meant to project, and fill their minds with creative thinking.

-Aaron Haley  

"P + H (Peace and Hapiness)" -Shawnice Rozier

Before

After



This wall is located at the end of the K-400 building near the stairs leading down to the MV modules at San Diego Mesa College. The reason I choose this spot was because it is visible to people that walk by it every day. I chose the picture of recycled thoughts of being happy. This image came from reading about ancient folk Chinese philosophy and views of happiness in their culture. They say the people who have lived to be over 100 years old lived a life of happiness and positivity. It's always easier to tell people to forget the negativity and live positive but honestly, it's hard to live by your own advice. I felt this picture would be a good reminder to people to live life by their own choice and forget the worries. Now days, I kind of forget about my worries and my struggles and I have noticed that it has made many of my days better. If you can change it, change it. If you can't, oh well move on. My message here is to just be happy.

-Shawnice Rozier

OUR ENVIRONMENT-TIM PIPES

                                                                               
                                           

The project I am proposing is a mural dedicated to Mesa’s main entrance. The photos were taken on
the beach just below our Mesa. I chose this area of our campus because this is the Architectural
Department and the area I frequent the most. The inspiration of this work is inspired by the CLEAN
OCEAN PROJECT. The vision of “The Project” is an ocean free of pollution, and I feel this mural
would help remind us of
our environment and raise our awareness of our local habitat. The word Earth is added to show
Mesa’s involvement in San Diego’s future both academically and environmentally.  The Architecture
Department here at Mesa College would benefit from a mural like the one shown here. The location is
one of the main entrances to our campus and would be highly visible to our students and community.
I like how John Baldessari beatified the entrance to UCSD’s library.

Evolution - Gin Merritt

       
       Like many students at San Diego Mesa Community College, I am a “non-traditional” student. I am returning to school after obtaining my Master’s several years ago and working towards bettering my skills in graphic design. I am “non-traditional” because I have “been” where many of my peers "are". In this economy, as prices of classes increase while pay for degree needing jobs decreases, we need a light to help us refocus. There are many things in my life I earned, but the achievement of my degrees is different. As a friend said, it is “something no one can take from you” because of the work you put towards and into it. Keeping this idea of achievement and progress in mind, I reviewed several public art artists and murals throughout the world and also picked out a location for this mural.

Before
Proposed Location of Mural

       After a careful review of public art works, I found myself drawn more and more to Barbara Kruger, Barry McGee, and Shepard Fairey’s work. I loved the use of a monochromatic large image in Another by Kruger and enjoyed the inclusion of the red, green, and blue into the piece as I felt it brought life and attention to those areas. I found the same in Shepard Fairey’s Mayday; the use of reds, whites, and blacks with interwoven patterns and words. I loved Barry McGee’s method of spray paint and his belief that graffiti is a vital vehicle of communication.From these works, I developed and created my own idea to beautify San Diego Mesa Community College's campus.

After
Evolution - gin merritt

       To beautify and add a little push towards greatness in each student, I propose the installation of Evolution, a graffiti inspired art mural that utilizes simple graphics and forms to communicate the development of the human being in both physical and mental capabilities. From infant to student to graduate, this mural helps to remind students that their hard work is towards a life changing goal and they can achieve it, just as they have every other thing in their lives. As much as this mural focuses on the future, it also helps students to reflect on how far they have come as individuals and to be proud of each achievement.

-Virginia Merritt

Toward a Green Future - John Zeller

 Before

After

When approaching this project there were three primary thoughts that came to me. They were:

1.   Concrete is hard and cold. I wanted to do something to soften and "green up" the environment.

2.   "Green up" led me to think about how the generation passing through Mesa College will have to tomorrow's challenges regarding clean energy and the environment.

3.   Mesa College is an institution of learning so what I propose should provoke thought and provide inspiration.

First I researched quotes on "green quotes" and came up with several that I liked. The two I chose were my favorites but the others could be used in other places with similar artwork. I chose the grass and wind generator art to invoke the idea of green spaces and the appreciation of nature in an area composed of concrete.

I found inspiration in Thomas Tyrone Comfort’s WPA mural work, particularly his San Pedro High School murals that were painted 1937. Many of his works had a somewhat flat quality so I took it a step further and used flat vector imagery with a slight Art Deco quality. Where his murals focused on the then current California industries of farming and ship building, mine look toward the future challenges that will face today’s students—renewable energy and global warming.

John Zeller

Fading Mountains - Bill Pacheco

BEFORE

AFTER

For my mural, I wanted to invoke feelings that impress upon the viewer how I feel about climate change conditions currently affecting our Earth.  First off, I chose to contrast the empty redness with the symbolic greenness to express the contrast between the liveliness of the earth now and the bareness and desolateness that could result if the effects of climate change continue.  I decided to have the mural continue beyond the corner onto the next wall to express the idea that climate change is an issue that is extending on into our future.  For my inspiration, I really liked the vibrant colors and the geometric shapes of the Agents of Change.  Specifically, I enjoyed their mural in London (London’s largest mural) done with Remi/Rough, Steve More, and Lx.One from Paris, and Augustine Kofie. I thought this inspiration was appropriate as Agents of Change incorporate historical significance into their work, climate change is having an important historical impact, and who better to inspire a piece about climate change than Agents of Change. 

 

Fortunately I had a beautiful landscape picture where the snow formations, in a natural way, resembled the spatter of geometric shapes similar to the Agents of Change mural.  I thought that using one of the most beautiful natural landscape pictures I have ever taken to reveal the idea of what is at stake in climate change would be a perfect option for this work.  Rather than using the shapes to convey the color, however, I let the surrounding areas and background provide the color and the snow contrast in white.  I wanted to use colors that represented life and earthiness, so I made the bottom platform blue and yellow to represent the sun and water.  There is a green base to the upper area, representing the two sides coming together to support life (greenness).  However, I did not want to use colors as vibrant as the Agents of Change Manchester piece because I wanted to convey a sense of wilting, or dryness, as the Earth has become more wilted with the effects of global warming.  Thus, I used more faded-looking colors. 

 

Bill Pacheco

Slab Face Of Concrete Color

 Before                                              After

Inspired by the mural art at http://arrestedmotion.com/2012/03/london-largest-mural-by-agents-of-change/ , Streets: London’s largest mural by Agents of Change. I liked the creative use of vibrant colors and the number of insets and outsets. Unlike the mural in London I chose to use actual images instead of modern art but the use of colors and scale were my inspiration.  I chose the large flat wall because it offered a challenge to get my image to wrap the offset wall. I chose an image of a bouquet of flowers as the mural because Mesa College has a lack of color. I feel this mural turns a simple grey wall into a brilliantly colored piece of art. -Chris Boyer

"Hollywood Video Game Land" - Anthony Sefcik

Before

After

My proposal is to make a mural of a video game land in Hollywood at a science building at Mesa College. This painting will represent the talent and creativity of the students. It would also give life to the school and show our true passion for multimedia animation. I see that others find enjoyment with video games, and maybe a tribute to the 80's. This is also the time that Super Mario Bros was created, which is why I included them in the mural. I wanted to create the Super Mario Bros characters and locations in this art piece exactly like the original style created by the game's designers, Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. They designed the Super Mario Bros graphics this way because high-end 2-D and 3-D computer graphics were not available at the time. Older video games used 2-D graphics with 8-bit or 16-bit systems, making the graphics look like a bunch of squares, or pixels. Lastly, I added a roller coaster and Hollywood sign to make the piece look like a giant theme park.

- Anthony Sefcik

"Fish Tank" - Chelsea Cameron

Before

After

For this project I am proposing to paint a huge art piece on the outside of one of the building's walls at Mesa College. The art piece will be of a large fish tank painted from one side to the other. I was inspired to create this piece thanks to Augustine Kofie who spray-painted one of the largest murals in London. Kofie’s creation is colorful and original, which helped stimulate my mind into designing an art piece that was also very flamboyant. The location for my proposed art piece was chosen because of the environment around the wall; the plants in the photo almost look as if they can pose as seaweed, which makes the art piece sort of come to life. I think a fish tank would make a great addition to Mesa College because the college is located in San Diego, which is known for its beautiful beaches and oceans. The fish are fun and brightly colored, and I'm sure many people on campus would love to see something like this painted.

-Chelsea Cameron