When I was a senior art major at SUNY Oswego in 1973, I had the opportunity for planning art on a grand scale. Lakeside Dining Hall commissioned me to design and execute a mural on their double stairwell wall. My plan was semi-abstract shapes that suggested underground forms for the lower levels, and the main upper walls were landscape. Instead of tubes of paint, I had to use gallon pails of custom mixed paint from a local hardware store. My team and I (which included my future husband, Paul, and good friend, Charlie Brown,) worked long hours over Christmas break to complete the vast mural. We worked on scaffolding perched over the stairwell. First, we had to make a grid using a string line. Next we transferred the design, and began filling in the shapes with paint colors. After a week of twelve hour days, we completed the project. This weekend, our good friends from these college years are traveling from New York to visit us in Ohio. We'll be stepping back in time and re-connecting with our current lives.
