Odyssey Mural Project

Creativity, Joy, and Community: Odyssey Project Students Co-Create New Mural

Earlier this month, Odyssey Project students collaborated with Chicago artist Rafael Blanco to create an interior mural in Levis Faculty Center over the course of three days.

The work, which spans nearly 20 feet wide by 6-and-a-half feet tall, features a background of bright, multicolored stripes with a portrait of an African American woman and a quotation from writer Maya Angelou: “Making a living is not the same thing as making a life.”

Funded by the Mellon Foundation, the Odyssey Project offers University of Illinois humanities courses to adult learners in the Champaign-Urbana community. Additional donor support has helped to make artist- and writer-in-residence programming—like the mural project—possible.

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Completed Odyssey Project mural in the Levis Center lobby
The completed mural in Levis Faculty Center.

Benji Davis, a current Odyssey student, was among the project’s participants. Davis, who plans to study costume design, is versed in figure sketching and making music but does not typically paint. “I've always been a huge fan of doing art collaboratively. Normally that's in a music context but working together to make this mural and then watching it evolve was a cool experience.”

“I'm a very hands-on learner,” they said. “It’s one thing to talk about art, but to be given the opportunity to speak directly to an artist, and then work with him on an art piece, brings new insight to learning.”

Eric Habing, also a current Odyssey student, described himself as a self-taught artist fond of watercolor work. Though he hasn’t painted recently, he said that participating in the mural project inspired him to revisit his hobby. “It kind of rekindled something, made me want to start back again,” he said.

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Students painted the mural background with rollers.
Students painting the mural background with rollers.

As an artist-in-residence with Odyssey, Blanco developed the mural design and then led the students—along with Odyssey alumni and staff—in co-creating it. Blanco described the painting’s background as “bold and messy,” but with a purpose. “I want to symbolize the color as being the diversity in all of us. All of these colors are very different, but yet so similar to each other. And each area overlaps almost every other color, so everything is intermingling together. We all have a different perspective, but how can we also do something that is going to be cohesive?”

While he initially trained and worked as a studio artist, Blanco eventually transitioned to public, large-scale murals. “I feel inspired by everything I see,” he said. “However, for each project, I can be inspired in a different way. It's not really about my style, it's about what I can do to create something impactful for that community. I'm interested in painting humanity in all forms.”

That theme was certainly noticed by the students. “He talked a lot about how he's interested in humanity, and I think it shows,” Habing said. “Rafael interacts with people as he's making these murals, and I think that he pulls some of that humanity into his art. It’s almost palpable.”

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Odyssey students, staff, and alumni standing next to the nearly completed mural.
Odyssey students, staff, and alumni standing next to the
nearly completed mural.

Working directly with artists like Blanco is integral to the Odyssey experience. “Having writers and artists come visit with our students helps bring life to the ideas we contemplate and discuss in class,” said Michelle Awad, visiting Odyssey Project advisor and instructor.

Davis appreciates that Odyssey classes incorporate such interactivity in addition to class lectures. “It's a lot more discussion based,” they said, “which can prompt new ways of thinking and sharing as people are asking questions I wouldn't have come up with.”

“I think that's how you improve your life—being open to learning new concepts and new things,” Habing said. “The Odyssey Project is a great example of helping people do that through the humanities, with philosophy and creative writing and art.”

“In a project like this my hope is that students see themselves as part of something that is in harmony with those around them and infused with creativity, joy, and community," Awad said. "My hope is that creative practice does not end with the artist residency or Odyssey, but that a spark is ignited within all of us.”

View more photos and learn about Blanco's process.

The mural can be viewed during business hours, Monday through Friday, in the lobby of Levis Faculty Center at 919 W. Illinois Street, Urbana. 

Rafael Blanco’s public murals can also be seen at the Urbana Adult Education Center and the Smile Student Living property. Read more on Smile Politely

Published 10/25/22