A Stroll Through Kresge College
When walking through Kresge college at midday, shrubbery is draped lazily over a stairway like mother nature’s shawl. Students spread their blankets and read on a grassy lawn; Kresge’s laid-back vibe is a canvas for artistic endeavors.
Artist Joanne Wang was a former slug who applied and was chosen to design a mural for Kresge college. At Kresge Town Hall, a blue mural greets students as they enter the hall. These subdued eyes peer out over the grounds of students zigzagging to class in pleasant ease.
While attending college, students try to expand their minds by acquiring
depth to the topics they study. Wang’s mural shows what learning might look like on canvas. Learning more, we become less of an individual and more of an entity swimming in ideas. Living on campus at college can feel like a lovely time warp of activity and insomnia.
There is also a celestial quality to this art piece, with an astronaut being sucked into the portal and a ringed planet on the side. Besides the abstractions, the most prominent sign is the artist’s take of an iconic piece of art – Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam. If these hands adorning the Sistine Chapel were dipped in tye-dye and wrung out in 1966, these would be the hands outside of Town Hall. Each hand reaches out to the other, giving the impression of art touching the mind.
Come as you are, says the Kresge mural. You will not treated like a toy rolling down the factory line towards a college degree. Kresge is a place to learn freely. Here, you may be exposed to any topic and the more taboo, the better. By graduation, students can hope to resemble the mural, observing and absorbing.
If you would like to see more art by Wang or read the story about the mural at Kresge college, please visit the Tumblr site of artist Joanne Wang.