A mural painted by about 50 students in Georgia College & State University’s Department of Art was unveiled Oct. 17 in the Peyton Cook Building at Central State Hospital (CSH).
In 2022, Communications Specialist at CSH Christina Mansfield reached out to GCSU Professor of Art Valerie Aranda to complete a mural for the Peyton Cook Building. The goal of the project was to create a piece that was welcoming, colorful, and inspirational for clients.
Mansfield hoped that clients would see a reflection of themselves in the mural.
“She said the hallways had a sterile environment and they were hoping the mural could change the overall vibe in the space.
Discussions began in fall of 2022, and we started working on the mural in spring of 2023,” said Aranda.
According to a press release, the mural’s theme is about wellness and exploring activities that promote health and wellbeing. According to Aranda, she used a collective process with her students to come up with the final design of the mural and have it approved by Mansfield.
Her students visited the site prior to working on a design. During a brainstorming discussion with Mansfield and CSH activity therapists, students created about five different sketches.
The team then broke the designs down into common themes and imaging, while Mansfield helped to determine what was excluded from the ideas.
“It was a collaboration with Mansfield’s staff and their art therapy instructors, Iesha Harris and Chloe Wilder, who are GCSU alumni from the art department. Christina (Mansfield) is also an artist herself, so she had ideas and concepts in mind from the beginning,” said Aranda. “She wanted the mural to reflect some of their activities and she felt the mural could model engagement, with both the activities and each other.”
According to Aranda, sketches were created using pencil sketches and digital drawings.
These sketches were then presented to Mansfield and her staff and the main ideas and themes they enjoyed were combined to create the final image.
Aranda noted that Elaina Perez was the main student designer behind the project.
“It was one of Elaina’s main ideas that was developed further to create the final mural. She led the development to create the final concept,” said Aranda.
Georgia College students painted on plexiglass prepped and provided by the hospital and used a grid method to draw an outline for the mural. According to the press release, this was done on 16 panels, each measuring 2-by 2-feet.
Then, another class of students created the color mix and began blocking out the mural. Students painted a portion and allowed patients taking art lessons in the hospital’s forensics unit to finish the mural.
“It took almost a year to complete the mural from the initial conversation,” said Aranda. “I’m so excited for the reveal so my students may see how they can have an impact on the community and how their studies of the art have a positive impact. And I’m excited for it to be shown to the public and for its debut for future clients at the hospital.”
The mural can be seen in the Center for Wellness, Hope & Learning located in CSH's Peyton Cook Building at 2450 Vinson Hwy in Milledgeville.
“This was a collective effort from my classes, and volunteers, CSH staff and patients and I’m proud we were able to unite as a community for this project,” said Aranda. Aranda’s classes will be working on another mural for The Oconee Center Behavioral Health Services: Family Directions, located at 900 Barrows Ferry Road in Milledgeville. Meetings about the project have just begun but the project will not begin until GCSU’s next semester.