MVNU’s Education Department gets a vibrant mural through collaborative effort

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio — A collaboration between two Mount Vernon Nazarene University departments has come to fruition with a mural that not only highlights the importance of education, but also shows the university’s mission of educating the whole person. MVNU’s Education and Art Departments worked together to complete a mural outside the Education Department’s office suite on the second floor of Hyson Campus Center.

“The space outside the Education Department office suite included a long, plain white wall,” explained Jessica Grubaugh, Dean for the Jetter School of Professional Studies. “The department wanted to redesign this space with some kind of art installation or graphic design element to evoke some feelings of excitement for learning, represent the work we do in the department, and just generally make the area more welcoming for students.”

The Education Department reached out to John Donnelly, a professor in MVNU’s School of Arts and Humanities for 35 years, with the idea of the mural. Donnelly has extensive experience with mural work, which includes several pieces in the Mount Vernon area. They collaborated to come up with ideas and concepts for the mural, bouncing ideas off each other, until finally deciding on the direction that felt right. 

“I’ve always wanted to do a mural that was a little more abstract because my own personal work is naturally more abstract. I thought that the opportunity to do a mural like that would be fun,” explained Donnelly. “But the thought of ‘How do we also link it to education?’ … My thought came about with creating abstract books — so you have the idea of the books being a symbol for learning.

“On the wall is the idea of the books, … but also an illumination and spotlights that give the illusion of light filtering in. So that was my thoughts of education illuminating the mind, spirit and body.”

Donnelly worked eight days to complete the mural; some as long as 18 hours which provided uninterrupted focus.

“What I am hoping for is this feeling of energy,” explained Donnelly. “That this place isn’t your typical boring, conservative place. That there is an energy and a spirit of creativity that isn’t just artistic but creativity of mind and learning.”

The collaboration between the two MVNU departments shows the strength of the University community, and highlights the university mission statement – “Mount Vernon Nazarene University exists to shape lives through educating the whole person and cultivating Christ-likeness for lifelong learning and service.”

“I think this was an opportunity to showcase the talents of MVNU’s faculty and just generally that we are collaborative,” said Grubaugh. “The Education Department, in particular, collaborates with a variety of academic departments on campus because we prepare teachers for work in many content areas. Education and learning are obviously one of the central components of our work at MVNU.”

“At MVNU, when we fully embrace our liberal arts mentality — educating the whole mind, body, spirit — then that collaboration happens,” said Donnelly. “In education, teachers are always having to be creative. Whether you are teaching kindergarten or university-level, you have to be creative in how you think about work, and in how you see the world and how you teach that information to students. That cross-interdisciplinary exposure is important. That is why we do what we do at MVNU. … We value that education of the whole person.”

To learn more about MVNU’s education programs, visit mvnu.edu/majors.