Murals at NVC's student housing project complete

Napa Valley College classes are in full swing, and students who moved into the college's new River Trail Village housing complex in late August can enjoy three completed murals and a fully finished complex.  The last mural, painted by the Rough Edge Collective's artist duo of MJ and Josh Lawyer, was completed Thursday. The artwork fully covers one side of the community room in the residence hall, which is the largest common space within the three-building project. 

The Santa Rosa-based muralist couple and artist duo are happy with their efforts and said the concept was a collaborative effort among students, staff, interior designers and their team.

“We hope to bring life into the community room, to add a sense of calm, we want the students to see themselves in the figures as they take flight in this new journey,” they said in an email.
The mural highlights two subjects: a female with a relaxed demeanor holding a mug, and a male looking behind him with a backpack and a baseball bat perched over his shoulder

The background of the mural highlights all things nature in hues of blue, green and orange. In the background are a forest, butterflies, birds, and a large orange tree next to one of the entrance rooms to the space. 

Both MJ and Joshua Lawyer are strong supporters of public art. Both artists grew up as immigrants and were drawn to beautifully crafted public art spaces. They hope their murals can do the same. 

“We also hope that introducing students to public art allows for them to grow an appreciation and understand how public art can impact a space,” they said.

Robin Darcangelo, NVC's dean of student affairs, said the third mural is of particular importance.

“The third mural is the largest and will be experienced by the most people, which includes our residents, NVC community and the larger community,” she said. 

Darcangelo noted that all the muralists had the challenging task of listening to student input, working with a design team and campus leadership.

“We believe that the artists created murals that truly complement the spaces in which they were painted,” she said.

The other two artworks were painted in River Trail Village's first and second buildings by another artist duo, Girls Who Paint Murals. Allison Dunavant and Christine Crawford are from South Carolina and travel around the country painting large-scale murals.

Crawford and Dunavant painted a scenic poppy field in the sitting area of building one. In building two, they created an artwork of two students in a lavender field facing a sunset vista and rolling hills, with backpacks that have pins to represent different student identities. Some of the pins represent LGBTQ groups, Umoja learning community and the Puente Project.

According to Darcangelo, the college put a call out for artists and asked them to consider NVC's core values in the eyes of students, including student accomplishment, respect and health. The college received seven proposals.

In a previous interview with the Napa Valley Register, Crawford said that Girls Who Paint Murals' NVC mural this is their first in California or in a student housing center. 
“We applied and we were compelled because ... Napa,” Crawford said in an email. “That's always been a place we wanted to visit. And we also have always wanted to get our work on the West Coast.”

Darcangelo said all three River Trail Village murals add something different and necessary to the spaces.

“Each in its own ways helps create a special, unique, welcoming space for the residents at RTV,” she said. “The murals incorporated our community, our state and our learning communities.”

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