WMU Art students to turn construction fence into a teachable moment

Some say fences make good neighbors. At Western Michigan University one particular fence makes an educational opportunity.

The fence to go up around the Sangren Hall construction site will not only be a site barrier but also mural with 21 panels featuring quotes from educators and philosophers.

“Instead of looking into the site at the backside of office trailers, the campus community will have the murals to look at. It also has a practical purpose, reducing dust blowing from the site onto the south side of campus,” says Michele Wreggelsworth, project manager for Miller-Davis.

One panel, for instance, will feature the words of universal public education advocate Horace Mann: Education is our only political safety. Outside this ark all is deluge.”

Another will honor Sitting Bull with the quote, “Each man is good in the sight of the Great Spirit. It is not necessary that eagles should be crows.”

The quote emphasizes the importance of educators seeing each student as an individual with unique abilities. It reminds the reader that the educator’s job is to celebrate and recognize these unique qualities in the classroom says Karen Bondarchuk, assistant professor in WMU’s Gwen Frostic School of Art.

She and a group of 23 art students are working with officials from construction management firm Miller-Davis to place the panels. The art students are working in teams of three to develop and create panels intended to spark thought about the role of education.

Construction of the $60 million building to replace the existing Sangren Hall began this summer and is slated for completion in 2012. The new building will rise in the partial footprint of the old building and will replace the facility that is WMU’s largest classroom building and serves students in all of the University’s academic colleges. WMU’s College of Education and Human Development will be housed in the new Sangren Hall.

Writer: Kathy Jennings
Source: Karen Bondarchuk, WMU