MSJ Art & Design students turn ordinary hallways and stairwells into immersive works of art through collaborative line art murals that explore pattern, movement and optical illusion.
外网天堂 2D Design students bring creativity, collaboration, and optical illusions to the walls of the Art Building. Students enrolled in ART 103: 2D Design, taught by Associate Professor of Art & Design Dr. Michaelann Kelley, recently completed a collaborative mural project that transformed the top floor spaces of the building into a creative display of line, pattern, movement, and optical illusion.
Using simple black tape, students designed and created their own large-scale line art murals directly on the walls. The project challenged students to take what they were learning in the classroom about the elements of art and apply those concepts to an actual architectural space.
Learning About the Power of Line
Line is one of the fundamental elements of art, but students quickly discovered that something as simple as a line can create complex visual experiences. Through repetition, direction, spacing, and variations in line weight, students explored how lines can create the illusion of depth, movement, rhythm, and three-dimensional forms on a flat surface.
Before beginning their murals, students studied contemporary tape artists Gustavo Fuentes (Flekz) and Darel Carey, along with influential Op Art artists Bridget Riley and Carlos Cruz-Diez. These artists demonstrate how geometric patterns, repetition, and carefully arranged lines can challenge the viewer's perception of space.
Students were then challenged to develop their own original designs, measure their assigned wall spaces, create scaled drawings, and transfer their ideas from paper to the walls.
What began as sketches on paper quickly developed into large-scale works of art. Working individually and collaboratively, students experimented with different arrangements of lines and patterns while learning to adapt their designs to the architectural features of the building. Some students worked in small elevator spaces, while others turned staircases into scenes from Alice in Wonderland. One group challenged themselves to turning the space into a kitchen view and another has a giant rabbit hanging out by the bathroom looking for carrots.
The project required students to think beyond the traditional boundaries of a sheet of paper. They had to consider proportion, scale, visual balance, craftsmanship, and how viewers would experience their artwork while walking through the hallway or exiting the elevator.
The collaborative nature of the project also encouraged students to communicate, solve problems, and support one another throughout the creative process.
Unlike traditional painted murals, these artworks were created using tape, demonstrating how an everyday material can become an innovative artistic medium. The other benefit is that using painter’s tape does not hurt or change the surface so when the murals are showing wear they can be quickly removed and the space will return like it was never there.
The mural project reflects the Department of Creative Arts' commitment to experiential learning and providing students with opportunities to apply classroom concepts in meaningful ways. By creating artwork in a shared university space, students gained experience designing for a public audience while contributing to the creative atmosphere of the Dorothy Meyer Ziv Art Building.
The project also illustrates that art does not have to be confined to a canvas, gallery, or classroom. Sometimes, creativity can transform an ordinary hallway into an unexpected visual experience.
The Department of Creative Arts invites the entire 外网天堂 community students, faculty, staff, alumni, and visitors to explore the top floor of the Dorothy Meyer Ziv Art Building and experience these creative line art murals firsthand.
