Students studied Navigating by Our Grandmothers by Rosalie Favell (Cree Métis) and thought about family heritage and how artists use symbols in art to represent different aspects of culture and identity. Students also viewed Robin Tichane’s woodblock print series that explores color and color theory. His work incorporates layers of pigment that depict landscape scenes with water, earth, the sky, sun and moon. Nature can sometimes provide an escape from reality to process emotions. The visible galaxies and sky scenes in the art prompted students to think about their connection to nature.
During the mural design course, students created mixed-media paintings on locally sourced wood canvases. The knots and grains of each unique wood slab parallel students’ own artistic journeys and paths through life. In addition, students visited and hiked Spencer Crest Nature Center on the CCC campus to draw inspiration from the flora and fauna of the local environment. Elements from the individual student artworks are incorporated into the complex woodland mural scene.
The mural design features a young woman and a great horned owl framed by a glowing sunset and the deep growth of a forest. The sunset fades to a starlit night sky sparking our human connection to our local landscape and fostering a sense of place in the Corning community. Each student’s work is represented as a tree in the mural design, growing together to form an interconnected forest.
Worlds Collide will be painted at the CCC, Digital Dome Theater in mid-August. This year is an exciting expansion to the project collaboration with Corning Community College and the opportunity to create a mural on our local college campus. HSLC and CCC students will paint under the direction of Tori Burdick, Hiram Cray and Rockwell Education staff. A celebratory community ribbon cutting will be held at the completion of the mural project.
Worlds Collide Mural Description:
The design will wrap around the interior planetarium wall, creating an immersive experience as visitors walk around the dome to enter and exit the seated section. As visitors walk around the mural, design aspects and wood grain details of the trees will be revealed. The imagery tells a story of worlds colliding and creative sparks of ideas intersecting. The illustration prompts the viewer to consider how we navigate the world and appreciate artistic details found in nature such as wood grain, constellations, water reflections and the feathered wingspan of owls.
No pure black is present in this design; rather, indigo, violet, sepia, and shades of gray are used to represent the darkness in a way that is rich and reflective. Iridescent and metallic tones will be strategically incorporated throughout the design to shimmer against the surface.
Mural Location: Corning Community College Digital Dome Theater
Wall dimensions: 61’ 3.5” length x 7’ 7” height
