Student creates new mural on campus, represents VCU’s diversity

Hazel Hoffman, Contributing Writer

VCU’s Student Commons has a new look in the hall to the left of the Student Information Center, where a colorful new mural is the newest addition, according to Carole Dowell, director of The Commons at VCU. 

Dowell said the mural features three rams of various colors with their horns intertwined against a background of blue.

Surveys of VCU students over the past few years have made it clear that The Commons was not representing students in the ways they wanted to see, according to Dowell.

In an effort to address this, last fall Dowell and two co-workers got together to brainstorm, drawing inspiration from the city as well as personal experience with student artists, Dowell said. Soon the idea of a student muralist was born.

“In Richmond there are so many murals all over the city, it’s kind of weird that there’s nothing like this inside The Commons when it’s supposed to be the living room of the students,” Dowell said. 

The team decided it was important for the muralist to be a VCU student and compensated for their work, Dowell said. They also decided to pick a theme that would represent what The Commons stands for at VCU. 

“The theme for the mural was to represent VCU diversity or to capture how students feel a sense of belonging here — and we left it at that,” Dowell said. 

After spreading the word to professors, pinning up flyers and posting online, about a dozen students submitted their sketches and inspirations for the mural, and a top three were chosen to be interviewed by Dowell’s group to hear more about them and their inspirations for the mural, Dowell said.

VCUarts, now second-year Reese Bedinger, made a big impression during that process, and the group was also very excited to have a first-year involved, according to Dowell.

“We were entranced by the energy she had when she came to the interview and when she talked about the reason why she did this design,” Dowell said. “We really found a fit there.”

Dowell said she also advises students interested in being VCU’s next muralist to keep their eyes open on Handshake and other platforms to see what opportunities may be available.

Bedinger, a 19-year-old from Haymarket said she saw the ad online from The Commons. She submitted her proposal just hours before the deadline with a sketch of a trio of rams that she felt emulated that theme of diversity and inclusion at VCU.

“I made them different colors to kind of represent different races and then intertwine their horns, kind of like if they were to hold hands, but, you know, they can’t hold hooves,” Bedinger said.

A few weeks later, she got the email inviting her to the interview where she was able to share more of her work and her vision for the piece, according to Bedinger.

Bedinger said she wanted students seeing her piece to relate to the theme of diversity and inclusion.

“All three of them are different rams, but they all kind of come together in the end and it makes it a cohesive piece,” Bedinger said.

Once selected, Bedinger said she spent a month finalizing the sketch before coming into The Commons to start the process of bringing the mural to life, spending just under a hundred hours sketching, prepping and painting the rams.

“The sketch was the hardest part just because you have to figure out the proportions of everything on your iPad versus how it looks on the wall,” Bedinger said.

Painting was an easier part of the process since paint is easier to change compared to pencil, Bedinger said. 

While this is Bedinger’s first solo mural, she’s led similar mural projects with a team, notably a large rock mural. As a freshman, Bedinger said she often spent her free Fridays working in The Commons, enjoying the energy of having others around, and was excited to be able to contribute to that atmosphere.

She also had some advice for other students who may be interested in taking part in something like this, Bedinger said.

“Definitely go for it,” Bedinger said. “Really stick to it, show how much you care, and if you’re really passionate about it, you’ll get it.”