Artist Tiffany Black, second from left, paints a section of mural with other volunteers and members of the Franklin College community on Jan. 12 during the open painting day for the “Spirit of Community” mural.
SUBMITTED PHOTO BY JACIE FARRIS
The images and iconography tell the story of 190 years of Franklin College history — and beyond.
Old Main’s iconic tower and Richardson Chapel’s pointed steeple rise over campus. The Wonder Five hone their championship basketball skills on the hardwood. Students from diverse backgrounds and experiences march with banners and flags.
When it is finished, the “Spirit of Community” will serve as a monument reflecting what the college has meant in the past, what it is in the present, and what it can be years down the road.
“A lot of it is about representation — who feels represented and included. When viewers look at each mural, we want them to see themselves in it,” said Tiffany Black, visiting artist at Franklin College.
About the project
“Spirit of Community” is the culmination of a special course at Franklin focused on public art. Students have been working with Black for the past two weeks on creating the mural, in addition to researching the role accessible art plays in the community and pondering how it can impact all different kinds of people.
Beyond the course itself, the project has brought in a variety of other contributors, from a group of Franklin College history students studying the school’s past to campus contributors helping create a frame for the massive mural.
On Friday, local residents were invited to leave their mark on the painting, filling in parts of the mural in a paint-by-number process designed to give everyone a chance to participate.
“We have various layers of community in this project,” Black said. “We wanted to open this up not just to the campus community, but everyone in the area — all ages and backgrounds. You don’t have to be an artist, but you can be a part of this.
“Franklin College is not just a bubble, in its own little world. The college is also part of the greater community, and this is another way to celebrate those relationships.”
The mural project was born out of a Franklin College course taught by Black, “Public and Community Art: Mural Creation.” Part of the school’s immersive term offerings each January, the course was envisioned by Black and college leaders as a way to explore the creation of public art. The January immersive term at Franklin College is a unique aspect of the college, offering students compressed specialty courses spanning just a few weeks to give students a chance to complete non-traditional classes.
Black’s experience would prove to be ideal for such a learning environment. The award-winning artist is based in Indianapolis, specializing in collaborative and community-based projects since 2003. She was one of 24 artists selected for the “Hoosier Hysteria” arts program surrounding the NBA All-Star 2024 event.
Maybe her most well-known work came in 2021, when she started working with evacuees from Afghanistan at Camp Atterbury. She offered the newcomers art programs as they worked through the trauma of fleeing their home country. Their work became a 20-feet by 8-feet mural titled “August 15” — referring to the day the Taliban took control of Kabul.
Black was invited to the college in April to showcase “August 15” and be part of an interdisciplinary panel discussion to discuss it in April. Following the experience, she was invited to be a visiting artist at the college for the immersive term through the school’s Clowes Visiting Artist Endowment Fund.
Throughout the fall semester, Black worked with a team of instructors, students and leaders at Franklin College to mold the public art course.
History professor Meridith Clark-Wiltz, library director Jessica Mahoney and art department chair Randi Frye all helped guide the different aspects of the project. Krista Flora, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college, and Betsy Schmidt, director of academic partnerships, were also active in helping bring it together.
“Throughout the project, Black has provided valuable insights and mentorship to the students as they have worked collectively to create something beautiful, engaging and enduring that connects the past with the present, leaving a lasting legacy not only for Franklin College students, but for future generations of community members,” Frye said.
Making the mural
The focus of the mural was paying homage to history. As such, Black’s students were aided by another group of Franklin College students, who had been compiling research into the school’s past. Their project, supported by the Council of Independent Colleges’ Humanities for the Public Good Initiative and the Community-Engagement Alliance Faculty Fellows Grants, laid the groundwork for the mural’s diverse imagery.
“I met with them a few times last semester just to sort out, how do we tell the story of Franklin College? What’s important to include, how do we talk about its present?” Black said. “And then another big component that I’ve been working on with the student was, what does an imagined future look like?”
Divided into four panels, the art piece takes a varied look at Franklin College. The themes of tradition, athletics, education innovation and diversity bring together different aspects of the school. Each panel includes arches and other architectural aspects of the campus. Ovals set into a stained glass-like background will show important alumni portraits and scenes of student activities.
Students have loaded the mural with a variety of images, symbols, people and places to fit into those categories.
“It’s impossible to include everything, but basically we have aerial campus views featured in each one,” Black said. “Then within each one, we have lots of little Easter eggs the students have come up with — nods to different stories or memories that happened. Little historical tidbits or a specific memory a student has.”
A plaque being mounted next to the mural will help explain most of the imagery. During the spring semester, a separate group of students will add augmented reality components to the artwork. They’ll be developing a smartphone application that will unlock even more information about the mural.
“If you put your phone over a certain part of the mural, it will give you even more of the story behind it,” Black said.
Coloring the work
Work started on the “Spirit of Community” mural on Jan. 2. Twenty-three students signed up to take part in the immersive course. Black relayed her own experience in public art, and then asked them to think about the ways artists can impact the community in their work.
“All public works engage people in some way, even if they’re not ‘community projects,’ because they affect public space,” Black said.
Students are completing research projects on artists who create public works. The rest of their time is centered on creating the mural.
A portion of the students have focused on the art-related aspects of the project, such as designing the mural, sketching it on canvases and mixing paint for the community paint day.
“It’s been a lot more complicated than I thought it would be. It’s really challenging. But it’s nice to be part of a team to do troubleshooting and be part of a project making a mural,” said Alia Sarris, a senior art student at Franklin College. “It might be something that I want to do later in life.”
Sarris was inspired to sign up for the public art course after speaking with Black and learning about her vision to sign up for the course.
“I saw her heart for this type of project, and the meaning to her behind her murals. So I was really excited to get involved,” she said. “It feels good to be able to say that I was part of something that is going to be at this school for a long time.”
Another group of students was in charge of marketing the project — promoting the course on social media, pushing out the community painting day with flyers and posts, and documenting the process on a special Instagram account.
For Lola Reed, the opportunity to work adjacent to both marketing and art was something she wanted to be part of. She has been able to help manage the project, which will ideally set her up for success after graduation.
Plus, her contributions will not be a permanent part of Franklin College’s legacy.
“The mural for Franklin’s legacy is a pretty unique opportunity to get. It doesn’t happen very often, so it was cool to be a part of both designing and leading some of my younger peers,” said Reed, a senior at Franklin College. “For years to come, knowing i was a part of something that not only touches on real people and our history, but also looks to our future, our hopes and goals and desires, being a part of that process will make the past four years worth something greater.”
While community members were able to paint a large portion of the mural on Friday, the rest will be finished by students by Jan. 19.
At 6 p.m. on Feb. 26, Black will give a lecture on the project at the B.F. Hamilton Library Auditorium followed by a ribbon cutting and a reception to unveil the piece. The mural will be on permanent display in the library’s skywalk following the ribbon cutting.
“It’s really meaningful to me, because I have been developing this practice for 20 years now. Being asked to facilitate and lead a project like this is such a big honor,” Black said.
IF YOU GO
“Spirit of Community” mural unveiling
What: The ribbon-cutting, lecture and reception on the mural created by Franklin College students and visiting artist Tiffany Black at part of an immersive term course.
When: Feb. 26, lecture 6 p.m., ribbon cutting 7 p.m.
Where: B.F. Hamilton Library Auditorium. Guests may enter through the main door of the library on the north side of the building.
