Twelve students from the University of Fine Arts Münster, Germany, unveiled their vibrant new mural in the Art Gallery on Monday, March 17.
The Art Gallery partnered with the Experimentally Structured Museum of Art extension to present the students’ mural as part of ESMoA’s “Stations” exhibition.
University of Fine Arts Münster student Finn Froböse, 27, fine arts major, shared that their main idea behind the mural was improvisation and collective creativity.
The students did not follow a strict plan but worked together passing around sketches and letting ideas develop naturally.
To give the artwork structure, they introduced the concept of a plate as a unifying element, symbolizing connection and shared experiences.
This collaboration is a milestone in an ongoing effort to integrate art into everyday campus spaces.
The project for the murals was initiated last semester by the Associated Students Organization.
Andres Osorio, 19, political science major and ASO director of Student Services, credited Dulce Stein, event coordinator and former ASO senator of Fine Arts, for spearheading a resolution aimed at bringing art to all departments on campus.
All students, in any major of study, are encouraged to submit proposals for the murals.
“Students from the math department would submit something with math and formulas because, in reality, everything is visual art,” Stein said.
Stein said the idea for the mural project evolved organically, beginning with ASO students painting a few murals, which then expanded to a campus-wide invitation.
Ultimately, the opportunity led to inviting students from the University of Fine Arts Münster to contribute.
Michael Sistig, interim professor of painting at the University of Fine Arts Münster, emphasized that international exchange programs benefit students by helping them connect, explore new places, and have meaningful discussions.
“Everyone was so welcoming, and wherever we went people had snacks for us and everything prepared for us,” fine arts major Leona Egelkamp, 26, said.
Sistig provided details about the arts program at the University of Fine Arts Münster.
“In the first year, all students come together and can study any discipline, sculpture, painting, film, etc. And then after this one year, you have to decide to go into one type of art class,” Sistig said.
As part of the project, there are intentions to pay for the travel expenses for five ECC students to travel to Germany for arts-related studies in the future.
“[ECC students] are going to collaborate over there, and this will hopefully change how they will look at the world,” Stein said.
Froböse and Merle Biesel, 27, fine arts major, both shared that their favorite parts of the trip to California was singing karaoke together with ECC students.
Anna Sofia Kofleir, 20, fine arts major, said her favorite part of the trip was going to Joshua Tree and seeing the rock formations.
Attendees of the event also enjoyed Meso-American musical performances.
The musical group Xochi Cuicatl performed traditional compositions with Meso-American stringed and percussion instruments.
Xochi Cuicatl, which translates from the Nahuatl language to “Flower Songs,” is a group which regularly performs at colleges and universities.
“I think I’ve caught a little bit of this American attitude to everything, the niceliness and supportiveness,” Froböse said.
The students’ mural is on display in the Art Gallery and will be available for public viewing until Monday, June 16.
Editor’s note: Links and tags were added Thursday, March 20 at 3:20 a.m.
