The William H. Hannon Library is proud to be the host of Loyola Marymount University’s most recent piece of public art. In collaboration with Curbside art collective, we have added a new mural to the library’s Media Lounge on Level 1, adjacent to Starbucks Cafe. Curbside includes recent studio arts graduates Jacob Johanson, Jack Alving, and Bobby Sutton, as well as their faculty mentor, studio arts professor Macha Suzuki. The mural was completed in June 2022.
In the artists’ words, the mural celebrates the phenomenon that occurs when individuals come together, from their own diverse backgrounds, cultures, and experiences to form a cyclical community of sharing, listening, learning, collaborating, and creating. As the heart and crossroads of the campus, the library cultivates this experience for groups of any and all studies, peoples, and cultures. “The library is a neutral ground that is both a blank slate and endless inspiration, where these moments can take place of individuals overlapping to build an interconnectedness with a foundation of curiosity, creativity, and boldness from diverse perspectives. The divine is found in these moments of overlap that create something beautiful and unexpected, that one cannot do on their own, but only with the help of others.”
In November 2021, the library formed a task force to explore the idea of creating a mural for the media lounge space. The group included Cynthia Becht, Shelby Hallman, John Jackson, Asia Jones, Nicole Murph, and student employee Veronica Urubio ’22. Through iterative conversations and by soliciting ideas from library staff, the task force developed a vision for a mural that would explore the Jesuit imperative to “seek the divine” in all things.
At the William H. Hannon Library, we believe that “seeking the divine” parallels the search for knowledge. This search for knowledge should not be exclusive to only a few but rather, offers an opportunity where we can build a world in which learning and action are connected and inclusive. For this mural, we wanted to see how Hannon Library fit into this idea of “a connected seeking that builds community and communities.” We believe that the library can be an active presence in diverse human experiences and, conversely, builds interconnectedness between diverse perspectives, stretching across and through time, geography, and cultures.
We could not be more pleased with the elegance and simplicity of the artists’ work at capturing this idea. They selected a color palette that is accessible and adheres to the space, utilizing a form that is known to all: the human body. From afar, the forms grow from below, stretching toward the ceiling in abstracted and dynamic ways. There is a warm, latent energy that is always present in their positioning, one which suggests co-mingling, conversation, and movement. Upon closer inspection, one can see the muted, dark colors of individual bodies contrasting with the illuminated, bright colors that inhabit spaces where the forms overlap. In the artists’ words, “This visual phenomenon painted on the wall is the invisible, divine moments of individuals coming together physically and intellectually, taking place all around this mural, all the time.”
We hope this mural will bring joy, reflection, and energy to our Media Lounge for years to come. Next time you are in the library or the Starbucks cafe, take a moment to check it out!
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