{"id":12678,"date":"2025-08-26T09:14:27","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T14:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=12678"},"modified":"2025-08-26T10:56:43","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T15:56:43","slug":"global-vision-local-design-uw-stout-students-transform-public-spaces-with-murals","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/global-vision-local-design-uw-stout-students-transform-public-spaces-with-murals\/","title":{"rendered":"Global vision, local design: UW-Stout students transform public spaces with murals"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo:<\/a>
Allison Seanor’s mural “To Travel is to Understand” was created as part of Florence, Italy\u2019s annual Palazzuolo Strada Aperta festival. \/ Allison Seanor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Art installations in Italy, Minnesota bring communities together<\/h2>\n

Two UW-Stout students \u2013\u00a0Allison Seanor<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Megan McDowell<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 recently completed two murals, half a world apart. Their public installations celebrate how art brings communities together, creating vibrant and welcoming spaces.<\/p>\n

Seanor, an\u00a0art education major<\/a>\u00a0from Wausau, studied abroad at Accademia Italiana in Florence, Italy, last spring. She participated in a city-wide mural festival with her artwork entitled \u201cTo Travel is to Understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDowell, an\u00a0animation and digital media major<\/a>\u00a0from Albertville, Minnesota, was commissioned by Koala Dental Care in St. Cloud, to create a multi-wall-to-wall mural for the office\u2019s reception area.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Megan McDowell’s mural for Koala Dental Care combines popular visuals of Minnesota with dental care objects. \/ Megan McDowell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018To Travel is to Understand\u2019<\/h3>\n

Seanor\u2019s mural \u201cTo Travel is to Understand\u201d is part of Florence\u2019s annual\u00a0Palazzuolo Strada Aperta festival<\/a>, which invites national and international street artists to work with residents to revitalize the city center through art.<\/p>\n

Her approximately 8-by-8-foot mural is painted on a retractable metal shutter at Via Palazzuolo 76 red. When shops along Via Palazzuolo close their shutters for the evening, the street turns into an art gallery. The street, close to Santa Maria Novella Square, is seeking to\u00a0revive its historical artisan character\u00a0and support the local economy.<\/p>\n

Seanor\u2019s mural reflects on the impact of mass tourism on Florence, as seen through the eyes of an American student.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a message of unity and shared respect, a reminder to travelers that to truly experience a place you must appreciate it, learn from it, connect with it, reflect on it and understand it,\u201d Seanor said.<\/p>\n

It is also a message to Florentines, acknowledging the challenges that tourism can bring, while offering a heartfelt reassurance: \u201cMany of us arrive with a deep admiration for this extraordinary city and a genuine desire to honor its culture, its people and its rhythms. In Florence, we can meet not as strangers, but as human beings moved by beauty, history and respect,\u201d Seanor added.<\/p>\n

At the heart of the painting is a portrait of Seanor\u2019s Italian teacher, Maria Antonietta, who motivated Seanor to do her best inside and outside of class. \u201cMaria was my inspiration. She is a world traveler and beautiful soul, and she symbolizes the desire to learn no matter where you go,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She was\u00a0also influenced by her own observations of the city. \u201cOthers might say it\u2019s bold to comment on tourism within art, when you yourself are an American. However, my goal was to hopefully close the gap between tourists and locals in Florence,\u201d Seanor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very happy with the results of this mural, with how colorful it is and how it\u00a0turned out physically, but also with how it changed me as a person,\u201d she added. \u201cI believe this mural and studying abroad have helped me really push myself to try to achieve more, and that is something\u00a0I am really proud of. It\u2019s not so easy to leave your comfort zone to try to reach your goals, but when you do, it\u2019s extremely rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo Travel is to Understand\u201d is visible and geolocated on the\u00a0Street Art of Florence map<\/a>\u00a0on Google Maps.<\/p>\n

An engaging, abstract collage for kids and families<\/h3>\n

McDowell\u2019s Koala Dental Care mural was commissioned by the owner through McDowell\u2019s aunt, who is a dentist in the office. \u201cI am very grateful I had an inside connection and was able to jumpstart a new passion of mine,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Within the mural design, Koala asked McDowell to combine popular visuals of Minnesota with dental care objects. \u201cThese are two completely different topics, so to combine them into one cohesive design, I had to be creative. I combined the ideas in an almost abstract way to create a collage of hidden things. I added a lot of motion and fluidity into the design, making it engaging for kids at the office to look at,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

McDowell had always wanted to learn about the process behind creating a mural, and two courses at UW-Stout provided her with that knowledge. Within the\u00a0Digital Illustration course, McDowell worked with a group of her peers to create a mural design for UW-Stout\u2019s\u00a0School of Art and Design<\/a>. It portrayed humanoid characters interacting with elements of art and design \u2013 film, ceramics, video games, music, studio art and more \u2013 in purple, blue, orange, yellow and red hues.<\/p>\n

Their design was chosen by university leadership to be completed by students in the Graffiti and Street Art summer class in 2024. McDowell enrolled in the class and helped bring her design to life, led by\u00a0Professor\u00a0Cynthia Bland<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Lecturer\u00a0Wade Lambrigtsen<\/strong>, owner and proprietor of\u00a0Vintage Sign Shop<\/a>\u00a0in Menomonie. It was the third 400-square-foot, student-designed, student-painted mural on campus, located on the east loading dock of the Applied Arts Building.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was inspired by the process. These courses allowed me to get experience outside of school, and I was able to use these skills to further my career and find a new passion,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMegan\u2019s Koala mural is a clear connective thread between the mural production here at Stout and setting up students to become muralists out in the real world,\u201d Bland added.<\/p>\n

McDowell graduated this spring and is currently\u00a0doing freelance work while seeking a full-time career. She wants to continue painting murals as well. \u201cWhat I love most about animation and digital media is the storytelling. Storytelling through visuals is something I greatly enjoy. I want to bring other people\u2019s stories to life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In summer 2026,\u00a0Murals in Menomonie<\/a>, featuring the\u00a0Walldogs, will transform and uplift the community through public art, helping make Menomonie a more joyful and vibrant place to live.<\/p>\n

The animation and digital media program is part of the\u00a0School of Art and Design<\/a>, one of the largest public art schools in the Midwest. Art education is offered through the\u00a0School of Education<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Written by Abbey Goers<\/p>\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/www.uwstout.edu\/about-us\/news-center\/global-vision-local-design-uw-stout-students-transform-public-spaces-murals<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Art installations in Italy, Minnesota bring communities together Two UW-Stout students \u2013\u00a0Allison Seanor\u00a0and\u00a0Megan McDowell\u00a0\u2013 recently completed two murals, half a world apart. Their public installations celebrate how art brings communities together, creating vibrant and welcoming spaces. Seanor, an\u00a0art education major\u00a0from Wausau, studied abroad at Accademia Italiana in Florence, Italy, last spring. She participated in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":12681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[90],"story_category":[147],"class_list":["post-12678","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-stout","story_category-community"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/12678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=12678"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=12678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}