Climbing the stairs to the Mount is about to get a little more colorful.

Sophomore Madelyn Minicozzi’s Fast Forward Syracuse project, Mural on the Mount, involves painting the stairway’s panels with different images and ideas of the Syracuse University community.

Minicozzi, an industrial and interaction design major, was one of 13 winners selected in last year’s Fast Forward Syracuse competition, which provided her with funding to help put her idea into action.

“I walked up and down those steps every day with my friends and I always thought about the possibility of how awesome it could look,” said Minicozzi, who was a resident of Flint Hall last year. “It’s something that people use every day but don’t really look at.”

Minicozzi said the idea of the mural is reminiscent of a collage, which she hopes will illustrate the diversity and differences of SU. The stairway walls are divided into 4-by-6-feet spaces, and each one will display a design that was submitted to her by an SU student, alumni or organization.

Right now Minicozzi is trying to fill 40 spaces, but if she receives plenty of submissions, she might make changes to the measurements so she doesn’t turn too many people away. The deadline for submissions is Sept. 6 and Minicozzi said she hopes they can begin painting the walls by Sept. 17.

“If a single student wants to send me an interpretation of a design that comes to their mind, that’s great,” Minicozzi said. “But for example a club, organization or fraternity might like to work on a space and design an image that’s an interpretation of who they are or what they do.”

Ellen King, who works in the special events office, has been one of Minicozzi’s mentors throughout the project. King said her guidance pertains particularly to navigating SU administration and logistics. This includes working with Physical Plant, SU’s division for maintenance for all academic and administrative buildings, in order to acquire paint and supplies.

“Madelyn has taken a lot of initiative on her own and reached out to alumni relations, student activities, greek life and the VPA development office,” King said. “She’s leaving her own legacy and letting other students leave their own as well.”

Minicozzi, who has been working with administrators at alumni relations, said that she hopes to have a lot of the mural done by Orange Central, an annual alumni event in October. She also wants the mural to be completed in its entirety by Thanksgiving break, in compliance with the deadline set for Fast Forward Syracuse winners by the university.

In addition to the submissions she receives, Minicozzi said she also plans to have one spot in the panels for her own designs and ideas. Everything is tentative, she said, but one of her ideas incorporates her interest in the capabilities of an individual mind.

“I feel that many times people allow things like the fear of messing up or rejection to get in the way of them communicating their ideas and the images capture the craving to become an individual and no longer keeping ideas bottled up,” she said.

Minicozzi said that she wouldn’t have a project today if it weren’t for sophomore communications design major Joey Marion, who helped her make her video submission for Fast Forward Competition. Marion, who lived in Flint with Minicozzi, said that once he learned more about the competition, he knew he wanted to help out.

Marion added that he thought the Mural on the Mount project was a great idea and he wanted to help Minicozzi communicate that idea in a way that would appeal to the right people.

“It’s going to be so well-done and well-received,” Marion said. “Students who are passionate about art and understand the need for public art, as well as just anyone who lives on the Mount, will really appreciate this.”

Published on August 25, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Clare: clramire@syr.edu