SJU Students Discover Art and Service in New York City

December 16, 2016

Students in adjunct associate professor Judy Cooperman’s Discover New York class, which focuses on public art in New York City, completed a mural project to fulfill their Academic-Service Learning requirement in the fall 2016 semester. The mural depicts the four seasons in New York City, and is displayed in Ozanam Hall of Queens Nursing Home.

Before designing the mural, students met with residents of the nursing home to learn about the city from their perspective. They prepared a list of questions to ask the residents about their relationship with New York City in Cooperman’s class before their visit. From the senior citizens’ stories of their long experience with the city, the students began to see a very different side of New York. They also provided service to the residents through their engagement with and interest in their personal histories.

The students learned about public art murals in Cooperman’s class, and began discussing Academic-Service Learning and the specific project concept early in the semester. After visiting Ozanam Hall, the class discussed the information they collected from residents and what they learned. They were most interested in the specific New York City landmarks, old and new, that the seniors mentioned, many of which they had not known about before. As a class, they sought out visual representations of these landmarks that would connect them along a common narrative thread and settled finally on the different seasons of the city.

Cooperman asked the paint company Liquitex to send a representative to the class, and with paint samples that the representative brought, students learned about acrylic paints and how to use them. The students then developed their compositions, divided up the drawing and painting tasks, and painted their respective panels.

“This project was extremely successful on many levels and for both the residents and the students,” said Cooperman. “The interaction with residents at Ozanam Hall and the service students provided was an important part of this project. They found the stories that the residents told to be very interesting and enlightening. It was beneficial for students to learn to work together to set goals and complete tasks that would take them through a public art mural project. It was clear that they also learned about the joy and satisfaction that one gets when making art. In the end, students put into practice what we learned about the purpose of public art murals and making public art while learning about New York City. And, another important result of this project – the students completed a beautiful mural that shows many New York City landmarks throughout the four seasons.”

Students who participated in the mural project were: Nicole Castro ‘18C; Shane P. Douglas ‘20CPS; Lily Q. Eaker ‘18C; Genevieve S. Falabella ‘20C; Emily C. Fisher ‘20CPS; Tara A. Franco ‘21P; Ayana L. Ibarra ‘20TCB; Lawrence W. Krepela ‘20C; Stacy C. Lin ‘21P; John J. Malone ‘20TCB; Seresa S. Matias ‘20C; Erika L. Matrone ‘20CPS; Keira J. McIsaac ‘20Ed; Natalie Ng ‘20TCB; Brennan E. O’Gorman ‘20CPS; Kayla R. Rodriguez ‘20TCB; Kathleen J. Russell ‘20CPS; Lucy M. Ryland ‘20C; Alissa Santolo ‘20TCB; Maynard C. Santos ‘20CPS; Robert J. Slevin ‘20TCB; Julia A. Stratton ‘20CPS; Cole D. Sugrue ‘20TCB; Jingzhi Yang ‘21P; and Hajin Yang ‘21P.

St. John’s University’s Office of Academic-Service Learning, the Institute for Core Studies, and the Department of Art and Design provided support for the mural project.