Morrison Art Studio hosts collaborative digital mural for Arts Everywhere Day

The Morrison Art Studio is creating a virtual mural where UNC community members can share their artwork for this year's Arts Everywhere Day, an annual celebration of campus art. 

Participants can upload their contributions, like a meaningful selfie or a photo of a piece of artwork, to a digital collage. 

On Arts Everywhere Day, which takes place on April 9, the final mural will be revealed to the public and shared through social media sites and on the Arts Everywhere website. 

Morrison Art Studio’s student coordinator, Madison Logan, came up with the idea for a digital mural because COVID-19 made an in-person celebration for Arts Everywhere impossible this year.

“I wanted to be able to do a project where people still could make art together and create while respecting social distancing and all the new measures we need to be aware of nowadays,” Logan said.

The theme of Arts Everywhere Day this year is reflections, so the mural is intended to be a reflection of the community's experiences over the past year.

“If you could say something that was important or that happened to you in a picture or in a canvas or in an art piece, what would it be?” Logan said. “That is the mural.”

Senior Morgan Pestyk, the digital marketing assistant for Arts Everywhere, said the project aims to bring together the arts community on campus.

“We don’t get a chance to show off our art all the time, we don’t get a chance this year to get on campus and see everybody for Arts Everywhere Day, so we might as well put it somewhere that’s pretty accessible,” Pestyk said. “It’s really nice to have that out there and have a place where you can put your art safely.”

On April 7 at 6:30 p.m., there will be a Mural Creation Jam Sesh on Zoom where participants can ask questions, hang out and work on their art together while listening to music.

Arlene Medder, an auxiliary services administrative support associate at the University, is contributing artwork to the mural. Medder wanted to participate to help document what it was like to live during the pandemic.

“Contributing to the various projects that help us document what we were doing, what we were thinking during this time will help those people in 50 to 100 years realize what was going on,” Medder said.

Medder submitted a selfie wearing a mask she decorated with lace and a photo of a lace doily that looks like the coronavirus.

Junior Savannah Midgette is also participating in the mural project. She contributed a painting of a flower she made during the pandemic.

Midgette said the mural project will highlight local art and show how community members have been creating to express themselves.

“Having this big mural with many different works and a range of people and media and whatnot, I think it just really makes the members of the community shine,” Midgette said. “It gives people a highlight and brings some joy to the community in a time that is kind of dark sometimes.”

You can learn more about the project or contribute to the digital mural here.

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arts@dailytarheel.com