During the spring term of 2018, the W&L students enrolled in Psych300: Pursuit of Happiness (taught by psychology Professor Karla Murdock) and Art275: Community Muralism (co-taught by art history professor Andrea Lepage and studio art professor Kathleen Olson) worked shoulder-to-shoulder with the Eagle’s Nest Clubhouse Members to produce a mural (6 feet tall, 32 feet long). Students facilitated the design and production of the mural. Ross McDermott, co-founder of the Charlottesville Mural Project served as the project advisor.
Meet the Assistants
Ellie Aburn is from Baltimore, Maryland where she attended Notre Dame Preparatory High School. She is currently a Junior at Washington and Lee University and is pursuing a degree in Business Administration and Accounting. However, she has always enjoyed taking art classes in her free time since she was very young. She finds art to be relaxing, like an escape from the busy world around her.
Grace Amaden is a freshman who is hoping to major in psychology and follow the pre-med track. She is also a member of the field hockey team, 24 and WITS.
Sarah Concepcion is a first year student at Washington and Lee University. She is from Richmond, Virginia and plans to study Psychology.
Erin Duffy is a senior Art History major at Washington and Lee University and has had a passion for artistic creation for as long as she can remember. The idea of community muralism and art as a form of therapy are two things that have interested her for quite some time, so the opportunity to work with the members of the Eagle’s Nest Clubhouse is truly incredible. Her time studying art history at W&L has led to her to graduate with employment in the advertising and marketing fields but, her hope is that she can continue to work with individuals in artistically supportive communities. After finishing her thesis on the appropriation of art from mental asylums in the surrealist and art brut movements this past semester, she has truly cultivated an appreciation for the idea of authentic ownership behind art and the right of the artist to personal claims of authorship. The combination of ideas and the many selves present in the inspiration for this mural make it a product of this particular community and that is something she finds very special.
Zoë Dobson is a senior Accounting and Business Administration major. The strong prevalence of murals in her hometown, Austin, TX, drove her interest in the class.
Alex Dolwick is a junior psychology major and poverty studies minor from Raleigh, North Carolina. He is a member of the W&L varsity cross country and track and field teams, and is the president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship on campus. His other interests include geography, architecture, baseball, and anything to do with mountains.
Emily Ellis is a senior neuroscience major at Washington & Lee University, and she is attending LSU Medical School next year. She has not taken a studio art class at W&L until now, but she has always enjoyed drawing. She frequently uses art as an outlet and believes it is an incredibly powerful tool for recovery. She is particularly interested in working with the members of the Eagle’s Nest because it combines two of her interests: art and psychology. She also believes that volunteering is the best way to become immersed and appreciate culture, so she is excited to utilize this opportunity to become more familiar with the Buena Vista community during her final few weeks at W&L.
Clare Essex is a first year from Greenville, South Carolina, who has demonstrated interest in the arts her entire life. It was not until arriving at Washington and Lee, where she plans to double major in Biology and Business, that she began to understand the power art has both psychologically and communally. She loves painting and working with color and plans to continuing studying art throughout college and beyond. For Clare, the most interesting aspect of the Eagle’s Nest Clubhouse mural project has been watching how the Clubhouse members and W&L students have mutually inspired and encouraged each other throughout the project.
Donovan Fiore, a sophomore at W&L, captains the Track and Field team and is a member of the Residential Life Staff. He enjoys playing music and leads worship on Sunday nights each week. He is especially grateful for the incredible amount of dedicated work that went into making this mural, and he has thoroughly enjoyed every moment spent working on it.
Elora Fucigna is a junior Strategic Communications major and Studio Art minor from South Florida. She has loved creating art her whole life, and has some experience with large-scale pieces, but this is the first whole mural process that she has been involved with. She enjoys using watercolors, sharpies, and Photoshop. The art classes she has taken at W&L have been Painting and Drawing 1, Graphic Design, and Plein Air landscape painting. Elora loves the outdoors and is excited to incorporate the beautiful Virginia scenery into the mural at Eagle’s Nest Clubhouse, nestled in the Blue Ridge.
Elliot Gilbert is a sophomore at Washington and Lee University majoring in Business Administration and Art History. She is from Bedford, New York and is a member of the Women’s Lacrosse team. While Elliot has no studio art training, she was interested in the community building process of making a mural and the team working aspects that went into the project. She is very excited to see the finished project!
Ashley Gillen is a sophomore Studio Art and Business Administration double major from Gainesville, Florida. Her primary focus in the arts is painting, which is what drew her to the community muralism class.
Layne Nalty is a junior psychology major with an art history minor. She took this class because it combines both of her interests in psychology and art history. She was especially excited for this class because she had not taken a studio art class yet and this was the perfect opportunity to do so. She has loved the mural process so far, with the actual painting and working with the Eagle’s Nest Clubhouse members with their drawings. For her, it has been incredible to watch this process come together and she cannot wait to see how the mural will turn out.
Sadie Pruett is a first-year at Washington and Lee University. Her plan is to double major in both Philosophy and Politics, and hopefully attend law school following graduation. This is the second art course she has taken during her time at W&L, and she is grateful to have been given the opportunity to continue studying in this field this term while working on such an amazing project. Because she has a background in painting, her individualized roles focus on painting and mounting the mural. She loves working on this project because she too is from a rural area in Virginia like many of the ENC Artists, and she finds that they share many of the same images of recovery.
Mary Stephen Straske is a first year from Tampa, Florida and is most likely majoring in Art History. She took art classes throughout high school and for both semesters her freshman year. She has loved watching the mural come together and has enjoyed building relationships with the members of Eagle’s Nest Clubhouse.
Haley Tucker is a junior from Manakin Sabot, Virginia, and is a Biology major and a Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Art History minor at Washington and Lee University. She is a captain of both the field hockey and lacrosse teams. She will be working in New York City this summer with Citigroup as a markets summer analyst. She does not have a studio art background, but her interest in mural making stems from her focus in art history and in particular her time studying the Great Wall of Los Angeles. She enjoys working with the Eagle’s Nest Clubhouse and looks forward to fostering relationships that will continue beyond the completion of the project.
Lorena Urruchua is a first-year student from Mexico City. She is hoping to study psychology and Romance languages with a poverty minor. She loves art but hadn’t taken the time to sit back and enjoy it- this class provided exactly that opportunity!
Mandy Witherspoon is a senior from Baltimore, Maryland. She will be graduating this spring with a degree in Business Administration and Art History. After school, Mandy will be pursuing a career in marketing and advertising in New York City. Mandy was first drawn to this class due to her interests in Art History and studio art. Muralism was a topic not yet covered in her previous studies, and over the past four years she did not have the opportunity to take a painting studio class. This class was the perfect last class of her W&L career, and she cannot wait to see the final product!