Fairmont State University professor and students create mural for local community center

Fairmont State University art professor Joel Dugan and his students are the creators of a new mural on the side of the Kelly Miller Community Center in Clarksburg, West Virginia.

The mural serves to honor the legacy and career of longtime Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation employee Mary Hunt, and was revealed to the public at a community celebration that was hosted by the West Virginia Community Development Hub in June. After Hunt retired, she and the Hub started soliciting artists to apply for the creation of the mural, which was supported with funding from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation. Professor Dugan’s portfolio of both professional and personal projects impressed the selection committee and was the reason he and his students were selected to create the mural.

Dugan was quoted in an article posted on Fairmont State University’s website about being commissioned for the project. He noted that he was grateful to be able to do it and sees creating public art to be the creation of a relationship between himself, his students, and the community.

“Public art creates an identity and a sense of place for the citizens of small communities while also creating the opportunity to transform a student’s understanding of how art can impact the regions in which they study and live,” he said.

Creating alongside Dugan were students Hannah Sprout, Zara Harold, and Dylan Allum. The four began painting the mural in April after holding meetings with the Clarksburg community to imagine what form the mural would take.

Dugan commented on these meetings, saying, “We always want to make sure the public is active in helping to create the vision.” Dugan is also the chair of Fairmont State University’s Department of Architecture, Art, and Design.

The mural stands 28 feet tall and is a tribute to the Community Center’s first use as a Black school in Clarksburg, which is a predominantly African-American neighborhood of Monticello. The Center now stands as a fitness center and a computer lab and hosts several other community programming and educational events. 

Dugan spoke more about the design of the mural, saying, “We wanted to enrich the space and represent the amount of vibrancy we have heard in the stories about the building itself. We also wanted to immortalize some of the community servants who have given so much to the well-being of the members of that building and the youth who they serve.”

M.O.R.E., a community leadership team in the Monticello neighborhood, and the W Black Heritage Festival board of directors, teamed up with the Hub to install the mural. Dugan and other groups of students will now turn their sights on creating two more murals which will be finished in the North Central West Virginia region later this summer.

Dugan talked more about the importance of public art, saying, “West Virginia doesn't really have galleries, so the open air gallery route is the most attainable for us. It takes us out of the comfort zone of the classroom and into larger community spaces. I cannot speak enough about transformation that takes place when students see the community come out and support them. There is so much excitement in seeing the walls of these spaces come to life.”

More information about Fairmont State University can be found at the school’s website.