Created Spring Quarter, the mural lies on the exterior wall north of Spokane Community College’s Building No. 6. Artists who inspire members of the Art club are painted on three separate wooden boards. Claude Monet and Jaune Quick-to-see Smith among others are displayed on top of a geometric background designed and created by Seth Collier.

From left Seth Collier, Rachel McCoy, Brandon Johnson, and Jessica Pearson.

“I tried to take the background and essentially that idea by created references to space around here,” Collier said. “In the mural, you have inspiring figures in the same environmental context that we are as students. I took images from some of the art pieces on campus like the big three stones and the prayer wheel that some people call the donut. So, I took silhouettes of those and incorporated them to kind of a geometric background that was my contribution.”

The former acting president of the Art Club during the 2018-2019 school year, Brandon Johnson introduced the concept of the mural.

“I think Brandon originally pitched the mural,” Collier said. “The idea was to have artists that inspire us. So, everybody was submitting portraits of the artists that they wanted to try and put onto the mural.”

Johnson also helped organize the eight to 10 hour paint sessions, “but with everyone helping out it went by really fast.”

Not only was this an effort from students, but staff also helped out. Rob McKirdie, the adviser of the Art Club helped gather supplies and manage the budget. Mariah Boyel, an SFCC instructor, along with her finance, helped with the painting and planning of the mural.

The mural took a lengthy amount of hours to complete with multiple students and staff contribution their time towards collecting supplies and painting. McKirdie helped with managing the budget and gathering needed supplies.

Art mural painted by students and staff located by Building No. 6

McKirdie also made sure that everything was going to plan, “He’d find places that we needed to go such as Home Depot for wood, and then also Miller Paint downtown for the paint and you know, made sure that everyone was where they were supposed to be as well, “Johnson said.

Other members of the Art Club had a lot to contribute as well. Alan Rodgers painted the portrait of the famous German painter Otto Dix.

“Alan Rodgers, he actually helped put all the images together on Photoshop and really he came up with the color scheme.” Johnson said.

The current acting Vice President of the Art Club Jessica Pearson helped paint portraits of the famous artists shown on the mural.

“I painted Jaune Quick-to-see Smith,” Pearson said. “I painted her portrait from a sketch that I received, and I helped paint Monet’s beard.”

The current President of the Art Club, Rachel McCoy drew out Monet.

“So, my contribution was I drew out Monet on the mural, submitted it and painted it and (Art Club President Jessica Pearson) helped me with the beard because he took a lot of time,” said McCoy.

The mural took way longer than a couple days to complete with over a dozen people helping to plan and paint. 

“I think there was maybe 15-16 people had their hands in it, but we were able to knock it out in a short period of time,”  Johnson said.