In 2017, the University of Louisville began construction to expand and renovate the Swain Student Activities Center. Their goal was to make the SAC an improved version of itself by offering more dining, retail, meeting and office space. The renovations also included a new visitor space, where potential students will begin their journey at UofL by meeting admissions officials, picking up their campus information, and embarking on campus tours.

In 2018, as renovations were nearing their end, the university began the search for an artist to cover two walls, just outside the new visitor space, in murals that would creatively represent UofL’s personality and traditions.

Having graduated from UofL just a few months prior to the call for submissions, it was an incredible honor to have my designs chosen for these murals. From the start, I wanted to approach this project from an angle that would show how unique UofL is. When students are looking for a college, they have a lot of great choices, so it was important to highlight the reasons UofL would make a great home for them by focusing on the city and the traditions that set this university apart.

The goal for the smaller “selfie” wall is to make it a good place for a photo op. I decided to create an illustration of one of UofL’s widest known traditions, the “L” hand sign, and pair it with a call to action, “Raise Your L”. This would illustrate to newcomers what this tradition is, give photo takers a pose, and a start for captions.

The concept for the larger wall is an abstracted skyline, which came about for a few different reasons. I’ve always loved seeing the Louisville skyline as you drive across the bridge from Indiana, especially at night when it’s lit up and reflecting into the Ohio. Not only does this design evoke that image, but I could include important buildings from within campus and around the city. The horizontality of a skyline also allowed me to efficiently use the space I was given.