Ellie Owen, Arts & Life Editor—
As part of Denison’s Summer Scholars Program, studio art major Mel Wienandt ‘26, created a mural for Habitat for Humanity.
Wienandt took a class during her first year at Denison called “Making Murals” with professor Keith Spencer of the studio art department. Last winter, Professor Spencer and Denison’s Vice President and Chief of Staff, Raj Bellani, helped Wienandt get in contact with Habitat for Humanity Mid-Ohio. She then brought her ideas and showcased her work to the organization before agreeing to stay for the summer to complete the project for Newark’s Habitat for Humanity ReStore.
The entire process took the full ten weeks of the Summer Scholars Program. She likened the project to a typical nine to five job. She had to make sure to take breaks twice a week in order to avoid burnout from such a large and time-consuming process.
It took her a few weeks just to draft a design and plan out how she would create the mural before she even started painting.
She then painted the mural by using a projector and tracing the outline of the mural in black, then going in later with her base colors. Afterwards, she layered and blended the colors to create a smoother transition. The entire mural was painted with wall paint bought from Home Depot and she purchased about 20 gallons worth in the beginning of summer.
By the end of the program, the result was a vibrant mural that reflects Wienandt’s colorful and cartoonish style, which is largely inspired by sequential art and graphic storytelling.
“I really love graphic novels so that’s where that line art-esque style comes into play,” she said.
“I also really like pop art and like bright colors popping out from a black line, like Roy Lichtenstein,” she said.
Wienandt became more involved with art in high school and credits her involvement with helping increase her self-confidence and allowing her to express herself better.
“I think it was something that was a really good outlet in my life,’ she said.
“By creating art and moving beyond myself as a person I could see that I could provide some value to the world that was beyond me.”
Wienandt’s interest in community service is what originally attracted her to the project. She doesn’t think she would have done a mural if it were for a business, especially if it wasn’t a local business. Creating something that would benefit the broader Licking County community was her main motivation for tackling this mural.
“I like the idea of culture and of community in general,” she said.
She’s interested in continuing to create more art for other nonprofits in the area while at Denison.
“I like the idea of public service and helping a whole group of people.”