From left, Kristin Smith, Ben McCarthy, Jenny Paul and Alaina Westoby display their mural on the Fort Lewis College campus Tuesday./Photo by Todd Newcomer.

by Jules Masterjohn

It is legendary that life in the West embodies a rugged individualism, where the cultural icon is a lone cowboy traversing the land, satisfied to keep company with the jack rabbits, mountain streams and twinkling stars. A similar myth of independence lives in the art world where the isolated visual artist, alone in his loft studio, covered in paint and unshaven, powers himself with coffee and nicotine to produce masterpieces for the benefit of his own ego and private collectors.

Slowly over the last four decades, the conceptual box that defines art-making as a solitary activity for the pleasure of the cultural elite is opening up to a more inclusive creative ethic in the visual arts, one that encourages collaboration among the makers and places art on the streets for public enjoyment. Over the last five years in Durango, the increased number of sculptures and murals seems to indicate that public art is a growing community value.

The newest additions on our public art map are two murals on the Fort Lewis College campus. Temporarily placed and located outdoors on the northeast wall of Reed Library, these large-scale paintings on canvas were created through the collective efforts of 19 students in a class led by instructor and painter John Maxon. During the spring semester, two teams of students met each week to share their individual concepts and ideas and, through consensus, arrived at mutually agreeable designs.

Like a microcosm of community life, and not without its difficulties, Maxon witnessed what he called "a bit of the bump-and-grind inherent in the collaborative process." For most students, like Alaina Westoby, understanding what was required in the group decision-making process came naturally. "It is always difficult to put strangers with different opinions and artistic styles together. I was challenged in that I had to compromise my thoughts and ideas for the cohesion of the group and was rewarded in this same aspect. It is a bit humbling to stand down." Kristin Smith offered, "Just by knowing myself, I expected to run into a lot of ego. I knew that I'd be working in a group of people who each had their own unique idea of what they'd felt strongly about. I knew we'd all have to make a lot of compromises concerning the images." Torin Priem added, "In the end, it was a total group effort, everyone was very conscientious of what everyone else wanted."

Clearly, the lessons went far beyond the mixing of paint to provide the students with a broad learning experience. Ben McCarthy worked on the bridge mural, which involved a high degree of teamwork among the artists. "It's really nice to work as a team on a piece of art. At times it was hard to work collaboratively because you don't always know what to do with yourself. It helped to be urged on by your peers and given tips from them."

Kristin Smith found her leadership skills useful in assisting her group's process. She said she found that when her group met for discussion, many people were too shy or preferred not to speak. "I took it upon myself to try and get people who normally wouldn't speak up to talk about what they really wanted to see in their mural," she said. "The opportunity to communicate with my peers excited me."

Jenny Paul found gratification in her group's ability to take the mural to completion. "From an image in our heads, to seeing a little progress every class was the most rewarding part," she said. "I stepped back at one point when we had a majority of the painting done, and I was amazed. I said, 'Oh my God guys, it looks like a mural!'"

This was precisely the rich and interactive environment Maxon wanted to foster for students, a compliment to the more usual solitary creative experience. In the past, he had participated in the making of collaborative public murals where this juicy artistic and social climate had benefited all involved. Maxon summed it up, "I am proud that together, they worked it all out from the conception to the fruition, that they got to have some fun, experience a process and see a change happen."

In viewing these murals it is useful to remember the bold nature of the class project, that students of all levels of painting experience were involved, and that the goal, from McCarthy's point of view, was to "produce an extremely awesome visually stimulating mural." He added, "I want these two murals to reach out and grab people and suck them into the canvas."

McCarthy will be pleased to know that his desired impact was achieved when a young couple walking by disengaged from their smooching and caressing to view the mural. I watched as their mouths became tools for intellectual intercourse as their once entwined arms disentangled to gesture toward the mural. With a blaze of red pushing through the predominantly cool colors covering the canvas' surface, the composition as well as the subject matter, are attention getting. A deep-space perspective lures the viewer's gaze to a dark cityscape in the background where a bridge, visually, connects the city to the foreground. Walking across the bridge toward the viewer are people, lining up to wash themselves in a bathtub full of earth, a symbolic portrayal of humanity's return to nature. McCarthy offers the artists' intent: "Our mural depicts the complete difference between the gorgeous natural outdoor environment and the sometimes destructive and ugly city."

Thanks to the vision and effort of these students, Maxon and other college administrators, our community is temporarily home to fresh public art that records a direct experience, made with youthful intention and grown from nurturing the collaborative energy inherent within all human interactions.