Who painted the mural in Sharples?

Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.

By Carolyn Whipple

According to Erica Turner ’99, this colorful mural was painted by girls in the Summer Community Learning Project, “a student-run organization on campus that worked with daughters and grand-daughters of faculty and staff at Swarthmore over the summer and during the school year.” Turner was one of the founders of the project; she explained that this particular mural was painted in the summer of 1998.

The SCLP “brought together girls from different racial and socio-economic backgrounds to learn about science, drama and other assorted subjects, become familiar with the college environment, think about being a girl and about others, and have a college-aged female mentor.” More information about the SCLP can be found in this article from the College Bulletin.

This particular mural was “conceptualized as an opportunity for the girls to reflect on the meaning of community and to work together on a major project.” The project was completed over the course of two weeks, “with great help of the folks from Physical Plant who helped to build the plywood frame and then to eventually mount it in Sharples.”

Are there other images on campus you’d like to know more about? Drop us a line at dailygazette [at] swarthmore [dot] edu.