The University of Arizona Office of Student Engagement recently awarded School of Art Illustration + Design Professor Ellen McMahon a strategic investment grant to fund work on the Sea of Support Tile Mural at the Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans (CEDO) in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico.
Students enrolled in ART 496F “Art, Design and Environment” and ART 266 “Illustration I” will make watercolor paintings of organisms of the region, which will be transferred onto ceramic tiles and installed in the interior courtyard of CEDO’s environmental resource center to create two large murals of life in the intertidal zone and the estuaries. This project is the extension of an existing tile mural, which is incomplete, and in disrepair. They will be creating two brand new floor-to-ceiling murals.
The grant will fund the cost of the transfer of student paintings onto the tiles for the first 68 square feet of the intertidal zone mural, and employment of three students for one month of work during the summer to research, plan, and design murals and help with CEDO’s environmental camp.
The funds are a part of the University of Arizona’s 100% Engagement Initiative to provide a framework for students to enrich their professional and personal growth. The Office of Student Engagement received requests totaling over $170,000 in support. McMahon’s is one of only five proposals to be funded.
