A mural in the Stores and Receiving Building, painted by an Ohio State staff member and student, reflects OSU President E. Gordon Gee’s vision for the future.
To create the piece, a novice realist and an experienced abstract artist joined forces.
Paulette Duffey, procurement associate at the Stores and Receiving Building on Kenny Road, has been painting since 1997.
Chase Ledin, a first-year in English, did not take a painting class until last year, his senior year of high school.
“Painting hasn’t really been my focus,” said Ledin, who focused on graphic design in high school.
Like two forms of media that come together to form a masterpiece, Ledin and Duffey merged their talents to create a piece of artwork that brought to life Gee’s progressive vision for OSU.
Upon his return to OSU in 2007, Gee said his goal was to propel the university from “excellence to eminence.”
Cristal Penn, associate director of purchasing services in the Office of Business and Finance, capitalized on that potential.
Penn said what her staff does affects students and the university. She decided to have a mural painted that mirrored what her department could do to support Gee’s mission.
Penn approached Duffey with the idea. Before their first discussion was complete, Duffey had a rough sketch of her vision for the wall space in the Stores and Receiving Building’s packaging area that Penn said “quite frankly, needed a little color.”
Duffey is an abstract artist, so she solicited help from a realist, a painter of the world in recognizable forms.
Ledin, the son of a strategic buyer in Duffey’s office, was quick to accept the challenge.
“I can have a lot more experiences at OSU and I can really reach out and go as far as excellence will take me,” Ledin said.
The idea was first verbalized in April, but paint didn’t hit the wall until the end of July.
Ledin and Duffey needed less than two months to transform the 5-by-6-foot section of wall.
A rich display of blended acrylic paint explodes from the bright yellow sun in the center of the piece. The warm colors radiate around a silhouette of a climber trekking up jagged rocks. A quote from Gee’s “excellence to eminence” speech is in the top left of the piece, reinforcing the meaning behind the work.
“I’m no longer calling it a mural, I’m calling it a piece of art,” Penn said.
The silhouette of the mountain climber symbolizes Gee’s idea of moving forward.
“There’s no light on the path ahead,” Duffey said. “It’s as if he’s going without knowing but determined to go.”
The possible interpretations behind the painting’s symbolism spark inspiration in observers.
“There’s even a sense of community with this art piece,” Duffey said. “It means so much to so many people because so many people are trying to get to the next level, whether personally or professionally.”
Duffey said she learned a lot while painting the mural. Painting with Ledin taught Duffey humility because she usually paints alone, she said.
“It taught me about being open to new ways of painting, to be able to share space and ideas, and that there can be more than one way to achieve an end result,” Duffey said.
Ledin was instrumental in choosing the colors, focusing on the realistic aspects of the painting and creating the lettering in Gee’s quote.
The artwork is located on a main wall in the office that employees pass frequently.
Penn said she is glad the mural is in her building and her colleagues can see it everyday.
Ledin, Duffey and others involved in the process said they hope Gee will come and view the painting, but nothing has been confirmed.
“I think this is going to be very instrumental in getting the message out even more. This is a reminder in the form of art of the mission,” Duffey said. “To climb is to excel and to excel is to reach eminence.”
