Posted 9:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 3, 2014
Two UW-L students will take part in a major city mural.
Two UWL students will take part in a major city mural. Internationally renowned artist John Pugh has selected Alyssa Shurbert-Hetzel and Shelby Jo Phillips to work for four weeks at his Truckee (Lake Tahoe), Calif., studio while he works on a major city mural. Their lodging, travel and stipend are funded by three fall 2013 UWL undergraduate research grants, a National Endowment for the Arts grant to the city, and the Pump House Regional Arts Center.
“I was looking for exceptional talent and the ability to imagine an image and create it on canvas,” says Pugh. “It is one thing to paint from a scene or a photograph and quite another to be able to envision a three-dimensional scene. I hope to be able to instill the subtle use of color that is essential to convincing the mind of the viewer that what they are seeing, although not physically possible, is in fact real.”
Pugh says since the project has a prestigious NEA grant, it would be an honor if one of the students would eventually make a living by creating art. “It would be especially flattering if trompe I’oeil might be their focus,” he says.
Phillips, a senior majoring in English rhetoric and writing with a minor in art, hopes to learn the use of color in creating the effect of a trompe l’oeil.
“Some might expect that it is making things darker or lighter that creates the shadow or the depth,” she explains. “It is really a change in color that fools the eye. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from a master.”
Shurbert-Hetzel, a junior majoring in art, expects art to become her profession. “In addition to learning technique I’d like to learn how to make a living doing something I love,” she says.
Art Associate Professor Jennifer Terpstra is advising the students during the apprenticeship. “As part of their education, few students, at any university, have an opportunity to be in residence at the studio of an international artist,” she notes. “Shelby and Alyssa will have that opportunity and it will, no doubt, have a profound effect on their education and careers.”
The City of La Crosse was awarded a NEA 2013 Our Town Grant to fund the mural. The grants are for projects that engage the arts to help shape the social, physical and economic character of communities. La Crosse was one of 59 communities in 36 states selected by a national panel to receive funding. The mural is expected to be dedicated in June.